UNDP
to Cut 10%,
Off-Shore 20%,
Grumbling of
Clark Cutting
to Run for SG
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 18 --
There is a
drive to be
seen as saving
money,
throughout the
UN system.
Today Inner
City Press
profiles how
it is
happening
within the UN
Development
Program, and
why.
UNDP
under Helen
Clark hired
Accenture to
study ways to
cut costs,
calling
it the
"Structural
and Cost
Effectiveness
Review."
Accenture sent
a team, which
most staff
never saw if
heard of,
working
"on-site at
UNDP
Headquarters
from July to
October."
Inner City
Press has
obtained and
is publishing
the executive
summary
of the UNDP
Accenture
Report, here.
The
report urges
"moving
remaining
staff to the
field...
High-demand
countries such
as Afghanistan
and the
Democratic
Republic of
Congo
require
dedicated
teams; for
program
countries
below $50MM it
is
important to
ensure that
each desk
officer, moved
to the region
for
relevance, is
not
responsible
for more than
3-4
countries."
The
overall plan
they have
arrived at
involves a
straight cut
of 10%, and
sending
another 20%
out to the
field -- or,
in the
phrasing of
the
UNDP
"Structural
Review FAQs"
Inner City
Press obtained
and
is publishing
today,
"reversing the
current
HQ:regional
staff
ratio from
60:40 to
40:60."
UNDP
has "Global
Shared Service
Centers" in
Copenhagen and
Kuala
Lumpur.
A
similar
off-shoring of
jobs from New
York including
to Kuala
Lumpur
is underway at
UNICEF, run by
American
Anthony Lake.
Helen
Clark was
prime minister
of New
Zealand; her
right-hand
there Heather
Simpson is now
leading the
charge for
cuts at UNDP.
And why?
There's
grumbling
that while the
next UN
Secretary
General is
supposed to
come from the
Eastern
European group
and "probably"
be a
woman, there's
a move by New
Zealand and
allies to push
Helen Clark
for the job.
There's talk
of offers
directed at
Eastern Europe
to
back down.
A
high profile
campaign of
"reform" and
cost-cutting
at UNDP,
in this
context Inner
City Press is
exclusively
informed,
would be
part of a
Helen Clark
campaign for
UNSG. UNDP
staff grumble
that at
the most
recent
Executive
Board meeting,
it was not
said that 30%
had
to be cut (or
10% cut, 20%
off-shoring).
So what
changed?
Helen Clark
has held
even fewer
media question
and answer
sessions in
New York
than her
predecessors
Ad Melkert and
Kemal Dervis,
as documented
and protested
by the Free
UN Coalition
for Access
@FUNCA_info.
On these
extensive
cuts, she
should answer
questions.
Watch this
site.
, 
