United Nations Association and Development?
Today, I had the pleasure of speaking to the United Nations Development Association of Chicester with my friend and classmate Ngoni Marimo.
The UNA, when it first starte,d was a vibrant international body of citizens who care deeply for the cuase and values and visions of the UN. The UNA-UK describes itself as ‘ the UK’s leading independent policy authority on the UN…. critical of its decisions and activities when (needed) and can call for the organisation to be reformed so that it is better equipped to fulfil its fundamental functions: to maintain international peace and security, to promote development and to uphold human rights around the world.’ (www.una-uk.org)
They campaign and educate, working with UK ministers, parliamentarians and the media.
In many ways, it is a highly impressive organization: it is one of hte largest, far reaching intelligent secular platforms around; it has people who have lived in and worked around the world next to local citizens and has an incrediable network, a basic structure for youth involvement (including a young professionals association) and can be both supportive and critical of global governance. It is, in short, the ideal place to build informal relationships that are necessary for formal procedures to take place effectively and to learn on a global scale.
However, it is struggling. It is rarely visionaries membership is steadily declining, and is increasingly composed of an older generation. Their meetings can be boring.
But their potential is huge. So I was thrilled to be able to speak with them about the MDGs – the question posed to us was, why do international agreements fail? I mentioned the Hypocrasy Theory (what people do, say and decide are in no way inherently co-related) but focused on the inherent flaws in the MDGS: their formation and their execution. Their formation was not done by the people themselves; it was done by international heads of state. That just does not work. We are not corporations. Our roles are not so clearly defined. Also, implementation has not included co-ordination or sufficient capacity building. Aid agencies have different processes and objectives, even within the UN system, much less between the UN system and other systems. Ngoni and I agreed that while developed countries have failed to meet their target numbers for aid, lack of good process, co-ordination and ownership are perhaps more fundamental.
So can we deal with MDGs in a time of financial crisis and Climate change? We must; to not do so will mean a disastrous future for the children of developed and developing countries alike. But we must a)learn from our mistakes and find ways of developing global ownership and co-operation and b) revitalize organizational structures such as the UN A to educate, advocate and pull together diverse voices in informal conversations that can serve formal processes that are needed to effect change.
