The United Nations Children’s Fund is facing intense pushback from staff over its plans to sharply shrink its ranks and dramatically scale back programs from Europe to Central Asia, saying the plans would ultimately harm the children it serves, according to internal complaints from UNICEF’s hard-hit regional offices.
UNICEF staff representatives and regional heads have urged the agency’s leadership in a series of internal memos to halt its restructuring plan, dubbed the “Future Focus Initiative,” and conduct a thorough review of its assistance programs to consider what they claim are more efficient ways to achieve the inevitable financial cuts. It has urged the agency’s leadership to pursue other, less disruptive means to rein in costs.
The effort comes just weeks after UNICEF’s leadership outlined its plans to impose at least 25% cuts in its core budget, and to fold programming in its seven regional offices into four so-called Centers of Excellence, based in Amman, Jordan; Bangkok, Thailand; Nairobi, Kenya; and Panama City, Panama. It coincides with a four-day meeting of UNICEF’s executive board, which begins on Tuesday at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
About the author
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
