UNSIA Newsletter Issue 2, November 1998

Table of Contents

Trevor Gordon-Somers' farewell message to the UN

Mr. Trevor Gordon-Somers, Special Advisor to the Director of UNDP Africa and Coordinator of the UN System-wide Special Initiative on Africa since May 1996, was scheduled to leave SIA and UNDP on retirement at the end of October. A Jamaican national with a long and distinguished career spanning 33 years, he occupied many positions in the Organization in the field and at headquarters. He served as Assistant Resident Representative in Egypt, Deputy Resident Representative in Zambia, Resident Representative in Guyana and the Eastern Caribbean. He was also Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Director, Regional Bureau for Africa (1987-1990), and UNDP Chief of Staff (1990-1992). In 1992, Mr. Gordon-Somers was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Liberia until December 1994. In 1997, he acted as Director of UNDP Africa for 6 months.

Throughout his years with the Organization, Mr. Gordon-Somers' professionalism and dedication to the ideals of the United Nations have been clearly evident. His intimate knowledge of Africa and its people and unquestionable commitment to the development of the region has been an inspiration to all those who have worked closely with him.

Mr. Gordon-Somers outlines below several ways in which the UN can make better use of the Initiative in addressing Africa's development efforts as the millennium approaches:

• First, introduce greater clarity among participating UN organizations, including the Bretton Woods institutions, regarding the ways in which the Initiative adds value, builds programming capacity and mobilizes additional resources. This would help overcome ambiguities from the launch and reconcile expectations that this Initiative is new, different and special. Although good programmes are expected to attract resources, African governments and peoples are yet to be convinced that this will occur in light of resource realities.
• Second, support substantive discussions of Africa's priorities reflected in the Special Initiative, (e.g. poverty, debt, trade, governance, education, health, population, gender, water, food security) within regularly convened technical working groups, led by appropriate UN organizations. Discussions would be issues-oriented, pragmatic and outcomes directed. They would provide continuity of analysis from decisions of major UN conferences, ultimately reporting to the ACC through a reactivated regional level mechanism and the ACC Steering Committee. In that way the heads of the UN organizations and agencies would be kept better informed of how the Special Initiative is contributing to Africa's development, albeit with fewer formalistic meetings.
• Third, there is need for a realistic cumulative assessment of the impact of recent past and present initiatives on Africa from all sources, in order to determine what is actually being done and what has been achieved. This assessment could usefully be precursory to the evaluation of UN-NADAF planned for 2002. It might also serve to persuade the sponsors of the various initiatives to consolidate and rationalize their activities, reducing significantly the demands on the time and attention of Africa's leadership.
• Fourth, undertake an independent review of the institutional arrangements, administrative units and budgetary provisions for African initiatives within the UN system. Such a review should result in recommendations for more effective policy coordination and programme coherence, mainstreaming of Secretariats, and ultimately, saving of scarce resources.

Over the past thirty months, the view has emerged that the Special Initiative should spawn ambitious partnerships. Based on the premise that no organization can singly and completely deal with Africa's development goals, partnerships and alliances are recognizably crucial for sustainable progress. This has been echoed in recent G-7 meetings. "Despite enduring criticism," he notes, "the United Nations is strategically placed and endowed, in history and experience, to design the new architecture of relationships with and for Africa. The time is right to be creative and bold."