StaffVoice UNECA STAFF UNION · STAFF UNION UNECA Inaugural Issue ... procedures and staff rules,...

UNECA

StaffVoiceEconomic Commission for Africa

Issue 1, January 2012

Per iodic Check-up - I t ’s f ree at the c l in ic

Gender equa l i t y and the empowerment of women (UN-Woman) ST/SGB/2011/2

Conversion to Permanent AppointmentsReference: ST/STGB/2011/1, Chapter XIII, Rule 13.1 & Rule 4.14

ECA GYM JUST Birr 125, 175 & 225

Special Post Allowance (SPA) Ref: ST/SGB/2011/1, Rule 3.10, ST/AI/1999/17 & Amend.1

STAFF UNION

UNECA

Inaugural Issue - Compliments for 2012

Coffee originated in Ethiopia, probably taking its name from the province of Kaffa, where coffee grows wild. One can

only marvel at the ingenuity of the people who discovered how to make coffee from the coffee bean. Most of the basic food stuffs and drinks are fairly simple. For coffee, they had

to go through a long and elaborate process in order to get drinkable coffee from the beans that grow wild in Kaffa. But

it happened, fortunately for all of us.

Coffee was imported from Ethiopia to Yemen, from Yemen through Arabia in the sixteenth century to Egypt and Syria, then to Turkey, and from Turkey to Europe. “From Babel to Dragomans”, Interpreting the Middle East (2004) by Bernard Lewis one of the world’s leading authorities on Middle East-

ern and Islamic history.

Contact Address: Head Office TEL. 251-11-371 6565 FAX 251-11-372 0346P.O. Box 23322/1000, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Email: kaldi’[email protected]

ContentsEditorial 3

Foreword 5

InterviewsMakane Faye, Chairman of the UNECA Staff Council 7Mulutsega Legesse, Vice President, Staff Executive Committee 9Abdalla Hamdok, Deputy Excutive Secretary, UNECA 11Jennifer A. Kargbo, Outgoing Deputy Executive Secretary, UNECA 15Kidist Belayneh, Vice Chair, Staff Council UNECA 17Alemayehu Haile, Member of Staff Council, UNECA 18Thokozile Ruzvidzo, Director, African Center for Gender and Social Development (ACGSD) 19Aida Barbara Opoku-Mensah, Director, ICT, Science and Technology Division 21Dr. Grace Fombad, Officer-in-Charge (OIC), United Nations Health Care Centre (UNHCC) 24

The Staff of the Union Hiwot Tadesse 28Tsetargachew Zewdie 29Tibebe Mulugeta 30Asamench Yegezu 31

ContributionsEtienne Kabou, Chief, Publications and Conference Management Section, PCMS 32Ousseini Ouedraogo, Chief, Security and Safety 33Rose Aderolili, Chief, Human and Social Development Section, ACGS 36Adyemi Olayiwola Dipeolu, Chief of Staff, OES 39Charles Mwango Ndungu, Chief, Documents Publishing Unit (DPU) 40Tedla Teshome, President, Association of Former International Civil Servants, AFICS-AA 42Dagnatchew Kebede, President, United Nations Staff Savings and Credit Association (UNSSCA) 44Yemesratch Tewolde, Conference Planning Supervisor 45Message by the Under-Secretary-General, Mr. Shaaban M. Shaaban, DGACM 47Amdu Yirgetta, Service Desk, Team Leader, ITSS 48Didier HABIMANA, Communication Officer, SRO-EA 50Tigist Awoke, IT Trainer, ITSS 51Workneh Gossa Girma, ITSS 52Yared Abebe, Security Officer 52Mekbibe Petros, Security Officer 53ASSOCIATION DU PERSONNEL DE LA Commission économique pour l’Afrique 55«Cadre d’action et de coopération pour le renforcement des capacités d’adaptation aux changements climatiques au Maghreb. 56ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA, Office for North Africa 58

2 UNECA - StaffVoice

Editorial Committee / Comité de rédaction

Makane Faye, Council Member

Mulutsega Legesse, Council Member

Kidist Belayneh, Council Member

Seble Demeke, Editor-in-chief

Ebenezer First-Quao, English Editor

Adjoa des Bordes-Imboua, English Editor

Andrew Allimad, English Editor

Marcellin Vidjennagni Zounmenou, French Editor

Abou Lawan Mahmane, French Editor

Abeba Selatial, French Editor

Dad Ould Maouloud, Arabic & Spanish Editor

Dereje Wondimu, Photographer

Special: Empowerment Of Women 60Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 60Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai 60Yetunde TERIBA 61Mulutsega Legesse 62Meaza Ashenafi 63Adjoa des Bordes-Imboua 64Seble Demeke 64

Recent EventsDeputy Secretary-General Opens the 12th Session of the Regional Coordination Mechanism 65

Staff Union CornerUN Day Celebration in United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) 66ECA Triumphs in David Kamara Cup 68

UNECA - StaffVoice 3

EditorialWhere there is unity there Is strength

The “UNECA STAFF VOICE”, is a staff magazine of the United

Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), the first of its kind in the history of the organization to be launched by the Commis-sion’s Staff Union. The Staff Execu-tive Committee took this initiative with the primary aim of creating a communication channel among the staff of ECA, its subregional offices and other United Nations (UN) family organizations located in Addis Ababa. The purpose of this channel is to allow staff members to exchange information on policies, procedures and staff rules, and help them understand decisions taken at the top management level. Staff at the bottom ladder of organizations do not always understand what is changing and why the change is taking place. Those at the top management level of organizations are not always fully aware of how changes are being received without a neutral channel of feedback from the staff. A reliable and sound com-munication system, therefore, not only makes for successful man-agement but also helps to create a healthy work environment for staff and management alike.

When ECA was established by the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations in 1958, its mandate was clearly to promote the economic and social development of Africa. While the mandate remains the same, the needs of the people and chal-lenges of its member States have

increased significantly. The Commission is, therefore, expected to provide support and assistance to meet these evolving needs. To serve Africa better and meet new chal-lenges, ECA, in addition to its regular programme of work, hosts several meetings and conferences throughout the year (including those of the Afri-can Union Summit and ministerial meetings) bringing together Heads of State and Government, national experts and heads and staff of UN organizations. There are also many non-governmental and civil society organizations, research institutes and academicians who have estab-lished their offices in Addis Ababa, capital city of Africa and, in most cases, use the ECA Conference Centre services. The Commission is therefore, not only the face of the United Nations in Africa, but also a convention centre of reunion and a melting pot where different ideas are born and decisions are taken for the benefit of the people of Africa. Hence, staff and manage-ment of ECA carry the responsibil-ity of facilitating and supporting the different social, economic and development activities for which meetings are convened at its Con-ference Centre. The ECA STAFF VOICE will contribute substantially to enhance such activities.

This magazine will also foster the culture of dialogue between differ-ent parties, groups and nationalities to encourage and accommodate

different opinions and view points. It will have a special section for reporting Staff activities. There will also be a section for the Directors of substantive programmes. Innova-tive ideas and approaches to pro-mote staff welfare will be welcome.

Articles from ECA subregional of-fices will be highly appreciated as the magazine equally attempts to become the voice of ECA staff in the field. An editorial board, which will include representatives from sub-regional offices (via e-mail), will be set up to review texts contributed by staff members. All articles are sub-ject to the approval of the Editorial Committee. While views expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of ECA Management or the Staff Union, individuals are responsible for the articles, news and ideas they contribute.

Readers will find a series of inter-views conducted with stakehold-ers among staff and management on the initiative of publishing this magazine.

The initial issue of UNECA STAFF VOICE magazine has been made possible thanks to the support of Division of Administration (DoA), in particular the Publications and Conference Managment Section (PCMS), Documents Publishing Unit (DPU), Information Technology

Services Section (ITSS) and its clients for publicity. The magazine is also available on the ECA Staff Union website.

Seble DemekeEditor-in-chief, UNECA Staff Voice, and

UN Special Correspondent in Africa

Bon CafÈTHE GREEN HOUSE

with


UNECA STAFF VOICE is a timely magazine initiated by the Staff Un-ion of the Commission to serve as the voice of its members, represent-ing diverse opinions and aspira-tions, in a bid to forge a closer and more effective staff-management relationship for the benefit of the staff at large. This type of team work is always welcome and encouraged by the ECA secretariat. Staff and management, each with their own responsibilities, stand together to focus primarily on the ultimate goal of the organization. This will no doubt result in achieving the objec-

tives of the United Nations in gen-eral and those of ECA in particular. ECA is one of the five regional commissions under the adminis-trative direction of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its mandate is to promote the eco-nomic and social development of its member States, foster regional inte-gration and promote international cooperation for Africa’s develop-ment. Therefore, any purposeful contribution which will assist to achieve these objectives is appreci-ated.

Under the banner of One UN and as the arm of its Secretariat based in

the region with a mandate of leading the Organiza-tion’s socioeconomic work in Africa, ECA staff play a pivotal role in successfully implementing the Organi-zation’s programmes. Ac-cordingly, ECA secretariat assists member States and the many organizations on the con-tinent in forging common goals and coherent policies to support Africa’s development through conferences and major meetings, including the ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning

and Economic Development and the African Development Forum. Thanks to the hard-working staff and management of ECA, these programmes have been successfully implemented in the past and will continue to enhance the role of the Organization.

“Staff and Management, each with their own responsibilities, stand together for

focus primarily on the ultimate goal of the organization.”

Abdoulie JannehUN Under Secretary - General, Executive Secretary, UNECA

Dr. Jean Ping, Chairperson, African Union Commission and Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary, UNECA at the UN Day Celebration in the ECA compound.

Foreword


InterviewsMakane Faye Chairman of the UNECA Staff Council

This magazine is the first of its kind to elicit inputs from different UN agencies and the African Union located in Addis Ababa. I am confident that it will become an effective tool of communication, not only between UN Staff, staff and management but also among sister organizations located in Addis Ababa.

Q1. There is a need to have some clarifications about the struc-ture, responsibilities and account-ability of the existing Staff Union bodies. Could you kindly explain how the Staff Council and its Ex-ecutive committee work together?

MF: We have the Staff Council, which is composed of staff repre-sentatives elected from the differ-ent electoral units, namely ECA Divisions and Sub-Regional Offices (SROs). The Executive Committee is the executive body of the Coun-cil composed of officers elected from among Council members to deal with a wide range of matters relating to staff welfare and admin-istration. According to Article 5 of the Staff Union Statutes, “Decisions taken by the Staff Union Council shall be binding on the Staff Execu-tive Committee.”

Concisely, the Executive Committee is the operational arm of the Staff Council, which oversees and guides its operations. The Executive Com-mittee is accountable to the Coun-cil, which in turn is accountable to the General Assembly, which is a General Meeting of the Staff Union members.

Q2. Are SROs represented in the Staff Council?

MF: SROs are represented in the Staff Council by one staff member, based in Addis, who is elected by SRO representatives. In addition, SRO staff representatives take part directly by email, telephone confer-ence or video-conference in various discussions related to staff matters. With current information technolo-gies, the location of staff does not really matter anymore. We believe that this is the best arrangement which could be put in place.

Q3. Do you believe that the Staff Union contributes to the pro-motion and achievement of ECA’s goals? If so, how?

MF: Like other UN Staff Unions, the ECA Union was established un-der Article 8 of the Staff Rules and Regulations which reads “The Sec-retary-General shall establish and maintain continuous contact and communication with the staff in or-

der to ensure effective participation of the staff in identifying, examin-ing and resolving issues relating to staff welfare, including conditions of work, general conditions of life and other human resource policies”. Accordingly, there is continuous dialogue with Management to see how Staff representatives could participate in the achievements of ECA’s goals. I believe we have contributed to their achievements through various joint staff-manage-ment bodies to discuss general and sectoral issues in Central Review bodies (CRP and CRC), the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC), the Staff-Management Coordination Committee (SMCC), etc. You may also refer to the Circular issued

by the Executive Secretary on 20 October 2010 entitled “Reform con-tinuing at ECA”, which shows the amount of quality work which was achieved due to fruitful cooperation between Staff Union and Manage-ment to support staff welfare and

“There is a continuous dialogue with management to see how Staff representatives

could participate in the achievements of ECA’s goal.”

Makane Faye Chairman of the UNECA Staff Council


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the goals of the Organization.

Q4. How do you handle dif-ferent staff grievances? Are there established Committees? Is the staff aware of these Committees? Who do they report to?

MF: There are several committees, established statutorily by the UN to deal with staff grievances such as

the following:

Panel on Discrimination and other Grievances; The Classification appeals commit-tee (CAC); andThe ePAS Rebuttal Panel.

All the above committees are composed of staff representatives and management on an equal basis.

However, we avoid escalating griev-ances and try to use negotiations and dialogue between concerned staff and Management to solve problems and find a consensus which is in the best interest of the Organization and its staff.

Q5. How often do you organize a General Assembly meeting? Does it include staff representatives from

the sub-regional offices?

MF: A regular General As-sembly is organized every time a new Staff Union bu-reau is put in place. However, an Extraordinary General Assembly is organized ac-cording to Article 8 of the Statutes “upon a decision of the Staff Council or at the written request of at least one third of the paid-up Union members.” In line with Article 12 of the Statutes of the Union, the General Assembly is always held at ECA headquarters, “unless, circumstances warranting, they are convened elsewhere by a decision of the Staff Council.”

All SRO staff who are mem-bers of the Union take part through video conference.

Thank you Mr. ChairmanInterview by Seble Demeke

Interviews


Mulutsega LegesseVice President, Staff Executive Committee

It is nice and comforting to see young women staff members like yourself get involved in the ac-tivities of the Staff Union of ECA. Congratulations.

ML: Thank you very much for the interest you show in this magazine. This initiative of starting a Staff Magazine is an invitation to involve all staff, both professional and general service, to participate and contribute to the new magazine.

Q1. As the current V/President and replacing the President for some months now, what have been your experiences and challenges?

ML: Well, I must say it has been quite challenging, mainly due to the sudden departure of the Presi-dent. The idea was to be the second person in the office and learn the process on the way, but I had no time for that luxury and needed to catch up quickly and represent the staff who elected me to office.

Q2. Do you believe that the ECA staff is well informed about the function of the Union? If not, what do you think should be done to involve the staff more in the Unions activities?

ML: No, I don’t believe staff are aware of the Union’s functions. We have made some efforts to highlight some achievements of the Union, such as the loan scheme, and gym facilities. There is, however, a lot more to be done not only to cre-ate awareness but also to invite and motivate staff to participate in the activities that are taken up by the Union. The Union is only as strong

as its members make it.

Q3. What do you see as a major problem from the side of the staff?

ML: Staff seem to be hesitant to take ac-tion when it comes to defending their rights. They only address issues and come to the Union after problems have reached a difficult stage. At times, cases become irreversible and the damage leaves a big hole. I think this is mainly due to the type of con-tract that staff are provided. They serve in such contracts for a very

long time and have built their life around it and do not want to rock the boat to lose acquired benefits so they compromise their rights for the sake of job security. As the saying goes, sometimes the choice is not between the good and the bad but between the bad and what could be worse.

Q4. How do you see the exist-ing staff mobility policy and how it applies to ECA staff?

ML: I believe that the mobil-ity scheme was initiated, with a view to breeding highly qualified

international civil servant within the system having diverse skills to meet global challenges and to make qualified staff available throughout the Organization. Even though the initiative was well intended, its im-

plementation is not without prob-lems since only very limited staff movement is being carried out.

I have two concerns about mobil-ity; First, I am afraid, that we, as an Organization may lose the special-ized labour that comes through long years of experience on the job. Second it is to me one- sided policy as long as it does not include the General Service category. Here in ECA, we have just launched a pilot scheme not so long ago, again for Professional staff at P4 level. We have to wait and see the outcome.

“It is to me one-sided policy as long as it does not include the General Service Category.”

Mulutsega LegesseVice President, Staff Executive Committee

Interviews


Q5. Are you aware of any measures taken by Management to improve the representation of women in the different pro-grammes of the Commission?

ML: Not that I know of.

Q6. What methods do you think should be used by the Staff Union to raise awareness about the improvement of the status of women in the Commission?

ML: One way will be to work close with the Commission’s African Centre for Gender and Social De-velopment (ACGSD) and explore the Organization’s policies on advancement of women and its ap-plication within the Commission.

Thank you Madam V/President.

Interview by Seble Demeke

Interviews


Interviews

Abdalla HamdokDeputy Excutive Secretary, UNECA

Mr. Deputy Executive Secretary, first of all congratulations on your new appointment as Deputy Executive Secretary. Thank you also for agreeing to be interviewed by the UNECA STAFF VOICE Magazine. Its aims and objectives are explained below:

The magazine is the first of its kind to be prepared under the auspices of the Staff Union. The primary purpose is to share useful and relevant information among staff members of the UN System or-ganizations located in Addis Ababa and in the sub-regional offices of UNECA. Its secondary purpose is to enhance the communication and negotiation mechanisms with the administration and manage-ment of the organization. Further-more, the magazine will focus on information that are pertinent to staff rules and staff affairs. It will be posted on the website of the Staff Union for easy access to its contributing members and other stakeholders.

Q1. What do you think of this initiative by the Staff Union?

AH: First of all, welcome back home. I think this is a very useful and timely initiative which has my full support. I see the objectives are wide and broad but achievable. Besides looking at the UN system, it should look for input from other contributors in Africa. It should also go beyond staff and manage-ment relations to address develop-mental challenges of the continent. It should not be limited to ECA management and staff or indeed, is-sues of One-UN in Addis alone but

also address wider issues of Africa; and management will support it all the way. Our doors are open for you to make it sustainable in the Commission and Africa at large.

Q2. Tell us briefly about your background?

AH: Just a highlight of my back-ground. I am Sudanese, started

my career in the Ministry of Economic Development Plan-ning and Finance in Sudan. I am an Economist by training and did my BSc at Khartoum University, Sudan and Masters and PhD from Manchester University, in the UK. After finishing my studies I came back to Africa and started work-ing first withDeloitte and Touche and then UNDP in Zimbabwefrom 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 2001 I worked with the African Develop-ment Bank (ADB) as a Principal Policy Economist. From 2001-2003 I worked with the ECA Develop-

ment Management Division, now the Governance and Public Ad-ministration Division (GPAD). From 2003 to 2008: I was a regional Director for Africa and the Middle East, for the Pretoria-based Insti-tute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). From 2008 to 2009 I worked again in ECA as Director of NEPAD and Regional Integration Division (NRID). From

2009 to 2011I worked as Director of GPAD until November 2011 when I assumed the responsibility of Deputy Executive Secretary

Q3. How do you feel about your new responsibilities?

AH: As a development practitioner who lived and worked in all corners of the continent, East, West, South, and North, this job provides an op-portunity for contributing to address the continent’s development issues. I am an optimist and I believe that this continent of ours has a lot of poten-

“A messenger in NASA was asked ‘what do you do here. He responded by saying, my mission is to put someone in the moon’. I strongly believe in this.”

Abdalla Hamdok,Deputy Excutive secretary, UNECA


tial and together we can contribute to its development. I see my respon-sibility within that context as a big challenge to which I must rise and offer my contribution. Q4. What are the challenges that you face as the new Deputy Ex-ecutive Secretary of this major UN Organization.

AH: I think I can divide the chal-lenges into two major categories:

A: The usual challenges of the conti-nent have to do with developing and providing policy advice, analytical work and research that is relevant to Africa which I take as a major challenge. Our main clients are our member States, who should be able to value our contributions and ap-preciate our relevance in addressing their needs and responding to their demands. B: There are also challenges to the institution, which I call management challenges. Here, I, along with my colleagues, under the direction of the Executive Secretary, should work towards creating a conducive envi-ronment of staff activities, favourable work conditions and a sense of col-lectiveness in a UN that also gives a sense of purpose and direction. We should work towards making ECA a place where young professionals aspire to join and stay.

Q5. How are you planning to communicate with your staff here in Addis and also at the subregion-al offices?

AH: I dearly value communica-tion. I think communication is extremely important and vital for any modern organization. I would like to think mis-understandings and mis-conceptions are due to lack of communication. Therefore, com-munication is very important. This

is a knowledge providing organiza-tion and if we did not do that we have failed.

Between management and staff, communication is a two way pro-cess which is very important for feedback. I would like to see this as a normal practice. I think currently we are using Town Hall meetings and other means but there is much room for improving communica-tion with the staff. That is the only way to ensure that staff and man-agement work together. The staff is our capital.

Q6. Any other points that you wish to express to the staff at this point?

AH: I will follow with what I said above. I value too much our staff in all their categories and every-

body here is an important person. I would like to see the institution collectively improving and seriously working and achieving the ECA mission. Whether you are a Direc-tor, a Security Guard, a messenger, we are all working to achieve ECA’s goals and mandate of serving Africa better and responding to its needs and aspiration. The quotation be-low is one that I remember during the 1960s: “A messenger in NASA was asked what do you do here. He responded by saying, my mission is to put someone on the moon”. I strongly believe in that.

Thank you Mr. Deputy Executive Secretary for your collabora-tion with UNECA STAFF VOICE magazine.


Interviews


Message from Doreen BONGOY-MAWALLA,

Director of Administration (DoA)

I congratulate the Staff Representatives of the Commis-sion for the initiative of starting a magazine with the purpose of enhancing dialogue between the Staff and Management.

As ECA staff members, our goal is to “Serve as One” and make our Commission responsive to the needs of our member States. In accomplishing our responsibili-ties and meeting the obligations as UN international civil servants, our primary focus must be to ensure that our member States are served in the most effective and efficient manner. We need to have institutional com-mitment and believe in what we are doing.

The Division of Administration will continue to extend the required support to staff members with a view to achieving the goals of the Commission.

Through open and constructive dialogue between the Management and Staff, we could identify issues of concern to the staff and work together to address them. Such productive partnership will strengthen our

healthy working environment and facilitate the imple-mentation of the mandate of the Commission.


“We are together”

Doreen BONGOY MAWALLADirector of Administration (DOA)

Interviews

Interviews


Jennifer A. KargboFormer Deputy Executive Secretary, UNECA

On behalf of the ECA Staff Union and myself, I would like to thank you for agreeing to be interviewed despite your heavy schedule. Also, congratulations on being one of the very few African women who have made it to the top echelon of the Organization. We are proud of you.

To brief you on the background of our discussion, the Staff Union of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in cooper-ation with the Administration and Management of the organization, will be launching the magazine entitled “THE UNECA STAFF VOICE”. It will be the first of its kind to be prepared under the auspices of the Staff Union. The primary purpose of the magazine is to share useful and relevant information among staff mem-bers of the UN System organiza-tions located in Addis Ababa and the ECA subregional offices, its secondary purpose is to enhance communication and negotiation mechanisms with the adminis-tration and management of the magazine will focus on informa-tion pertaining to staff rules and staff affairs. It will be posted on the website of the Staff Union for easy access to its contributing members and other stakeholders.

Q1. You have been once a staff representative, what is your view about this new initiative by the Union?

JK: Even though I have never been a staff representative, I have been deeply involved in staff matters, most importantly, staff welfare

issues. This initiative to enhance communication is most welcome and timely and resonates with the ECA drive to enhance communi-cation, outreach and impact. This focus on enhancing communication between management and staff will,

no doubt, strengthen staff /man-agement relations to the benefit of the Organization and the clients it serves.

Q2: Would you kindly tell us briefly about your background and how you were chosen to fill this top-level management position in the Commission? What is your secret for achieving such success?

JK: I have a Development Man-

agement background with broad experience in providing strate-gic leadership in policy research and analysis to develop a body of knowledge, strategies and their application to economic, social and sectoral development programmes

at national, subregional and re-gional levels. I have a rich blend of policy research and application that cuts across many of the work focus areas of ECA, including its programme planning, human re-source management, private sector development, governance, women’s empowerment, civil society partici-pation in development and regional integration thrusts. I want to believe that this rich blend of experience straddling the many focus areas of

Jennifer A. KargboFormer Deputy Executive Secretary, UNECA

“The biggest challenge younger women should expect is how to combine family

and work responsibility.”

Interviews


the work of ECA and my attitude of exploring possibilities and personal ability to reach out and work with people across the “House” (as we refer to ECA) must have contrib-uted to having been chosen to fill the position of Deputy Executive Secretary. Having shared that, I must say ECA staff pride themselves in being agents of change who strongly believe in contributing to help shape Africa’s development and, as such, approach their work with passion and commitment. I al-ways try to give of my best, encour-age others to do likewise, and see myself as a hands-on person ready to roll up my sleeves and get work done…, very much open minded and known to talk straight to the point, which, sometimes, is not very advisable. Most importantly, God is always at the centre of my work. Believing that the opportunity to be where I am was a gift of God, I feel compelled to give of my best.

Q3: Having been a staff member of ECA for a good number of years, what is your view about the ad-vancement of women in the Com-mission and in the UN Secretariat as a whole?

JK: From my observation, the re-sults from the many strategic efforts at the level of the ECA and the UN Secretariat on the advancement of women have been mixed, despite the genuine purposes for which they were proposed and adopted. ECA, like the UN Secretariat, is yet to achieve the targets set at each level. More needs to be done and I should be excused to boldly admit that we need to spend more effort on the advancement of women in the UN in general, and ECA in par-ticular. Just as we expect member States to deliver on their commit-

ment to gender equality, we at the ECA and UN in general need to hold ourselves accountable to these principles and increase our focus on attracting more women to ECA and the UN at large. Q4. What are the critical areas and challenges facing younger women colleagues who expect to climb the ladder?

JK: From my experience, the biggest challenge younger women should expect is how to combine family and work responsibilities. Younger women, by ably combining fam-ily and work responsibilities in a mutually-reinforcing manner, will be able to first deliver and then take on higher-level responsibilities. Q5: Looking at the programmes of ECA, do you believe that sufficient attention and focus is given to the issue of women and/or is it like déjà vu some 20 or thirty 30 years ago?

JK: ECA has come a long way in giving focus and attention to the issues of women. ECA was, if not the first UN agency to do so, among the first to have a programme on women way back in 1978 just after the Mexico conference on women. ECA has continued to give atten-tion and focus to issues of women through a number of measures including, at one point, raising the profile and importance of women’s issues within the work programme. Most recently, as part of its reposi-tioning, ECA established gender as a priority area within its thematic activities and a stand-alone subpro-gramme with opportunities for also mainstreaming gender into all its thematic work.

Q7. Does your office communicate with the staff representatives of the Commission? If so, what is the mechanism?

JK: The Office of the Executive Secretary, under which the DES op-erates, holds regular staff/manage-ment consultation meetings on staff and management related issues. This is done with a view to obtain-ing staff positions and inputs as part of the process of evolving policies and modalities for the implementa-tion of centrally defined rules and regulations.

Q8: How do you assess current staff/management relations?

JK:This process of consultation and continuous dialogue has been very helpful in current healthy staff/management relations. The big-gest asset of ECA is the staff and therefore management is cognizant of the need to build a healthy staff/management relationship to ensure a conducive work environment that enhances staff performance.

Q9. Any conclusion to draw and/or a message to pass through this interview to readers in general and your women colleagues in particu-lar?

JK: Working in ECA carries with it a big responsibility to deliver the quality services and policy advice that this continent so dearly needs. To my dear women colleagues, “hard work pays,” self-confidence is key to staying the course.

Madam Deputy Executive Secre-tary, thank you very much.


Interviews


Kidist BelaynehVice Chair, Staff Council UNECA

Q1. Why have a Staff Union?

KB: It is the basic need for an organization. It is a means to deal with staff welfare. That does not mean that the management is not working for the staff but having an organized staff union will open closed doors for negotiations.

Q2. How does the Staff Union work and what is the Executive Committee’s role?

KB: There is the Staff Union, its Executive Committee and the Staff Council. The Executive Committee brings issues to the Council and the Council endorses after which the Executive Committee executes so that we have checks and balances.

Q3. What concrete results have you achieved for the staff during your tenure of office?

KB: The best mechanism created by the current Staff Union group is the establishment of the Joint Manage-ment Committee (JMC) because it is a mechanism for creating dia-logue between management and staff, establishing a smooth relation-ship with Human Resources Section for mutual benefit, which is trans-parent with the aim of updating and understanding the method of work.

Q4. Do you believe that the Staff Union is contributing to the success of ECA? If so, how?

KB: Yes, it is contributing by being a bridge between staff and management. If there is no Staff Union, there will be no relation-ship between staff and manage-ment. We are the missing link.

Q5. What opportunities do you offer to staff for improving their position?

KB: The opportunity we create for the staff is to enable them to be part of their Union. It is only after participation by the staff that the work follows. The first step is getting involved. Here is where the UNECA STAFF VOICE magazine will contribute to motivate and cre-ate awareness about the usefulness of a Staff Union.

Q6. What kind of advice does the Staff Union offer to the ECA Staff?

KB: On current issues, we publish and distribute circulars about new developments or changes that are taking place in the Organization and which are of concern to the staff. We jointly work with offices such as UNHCC, HR and DOA to inform and brainstorm on new developments. In addition, our Staff Council is ready to consult and advise

on any issue that the staff would like to discuss. In some cases, we have succeeded to bring amicable solu-tions to staff problems.

Q7. Any message that you would like to pass to the staff?

KB: What I would like to say to the staff is to become part of their Union. We need to get involved and contribute. It needs everyone’s participation and contribution in order to be effective. Unless staff gets involved personally, there is no way of knowing what is happening. The rumors on the corridors are not helpful.

Thank you Madam V/Chair


Kidist BelaynehVice Chair, Staff Council UNECA

“Unless staff get involved personally, there is no way of knowing what is happening.”

Interviews


Alemayehu HaileMember of Staff Council, UNECA

Q1. You are one of the staff members who have been involved in the issue of Staff and Management for a very long time. Could you tell us about your past experience?

AH: We have to look at the issue from different angles. In the l980s and 1990s, the Staff Union was considered as a Trade Union. That has changed and we now work within the framework of Staff Rules and Regulations. Staff has to sit with management and negoti-ate. The concept has changed from confrontational to working together to achieve the ultimate goal of Africa’s development. Since the 1990s, I have joined the Union because of the need for dialogue. My focus was how best to achieve progress within the rules and regulations and also work with management. I believe that this goal has been achieved. In the past, election of staff representatives was a problem; there was con-frontation even between the General Service and Profes-sional staff. In order to solve this problem, we prepared the 2004 Statutes modeled on the New York Staff Union. Under the new Statutes, the Council can remove the President any time; there are checks and balances. We have also ensured putting committed staff in the Union. My personal view is that the Staff Union is not a Trade Union and that the Staff should know the rules and regulations. The Management should also ensure that, in the process, staff regulations are adhered to and that disputes are solved amicably. We still have problems and challenges. We need to improve staff recreation facilities and make the Organization effective.

Q2. What concrete results have been achieved by the Staff Union for improving the situation of staff?

AH: We have come a long way. For any problem we address, basically there is progress and improvement. For example, the jobs of about 100 temporary staff members have been saved through negotiation and no one was fired. We have created an enabling environment for work. We fought for the cost of living salary increase which was evaluated based on the last two years. As a result, we have achieved a 29% salary increase. The post adjustment for professional staff has also increased. In the area of sexual harassment, we can say that, in ECA, sexual harassment is con-tained and training is being provided. Whoever comes as the head of this organization should always look at staff/ management relations and engage with the staff. This will make us all winners.

Q3. What about staff from the Sub-regional Offices (SROs)? Are they represented in the Staff Union? If so how are they participating?

AH: In the past, the problems of SRO staff were not addressed ad-equately but now all the issues go to administration and the problems are solved. Our new Statutes also include SRO representation. We are always engaged with them and find solutions to their problems.

Q4. Is there a forum with man-agement for solving staff problems?

AH: We have a biweekly meeting with the Division of Administration.

We meet the Executive Secretary on a quarterly basis. We have also the JNC where management and staff at highest level interact mutually. The ES has convened town hall meetings at least twice. All these forums are created to solve staff problems and to create an enabling environment for working peacefully to achieve the higher objective of contributing to the development of Africa.

Q5. Do you have a meeting with other organizations’ staff repre-sentative located in Addis Ababa?

AH: We tried for the last several years to establish such a meet-ing. We are still discussing it

under the One-UN principle.

Q6. Do you have any message that you would like to pass to the staff?

AH: The challenge and disappoint-ment that I have is that the ECA staff does not realize the importance of the Staff Union. They must edu-cate themselves to know the work of the Union. More participation is required. This is to ensure that staff have the highest quality representa-tion from the Staff Union on the vari-ous Staff/Management Committees.

I thank you for your time and con-tribution.Interview by Seble Demeke

Alemayehu HaileMember of Staff Council, UNECA

Interviews

“The management should also ensure that, in the process, staff

regulations are adhered to and that disparities are solved amicably.”


Interviews

Thokozile RuzvidzoDirector, African Center for Gender and Social Development (ACGSD)

Q1: First of all I would like to thank you on behalf of the Staff Un-ion for accepting to be interviewed by the UNECA STAFF VOICE. What is your opinion about this initiative?

TR: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share some thoughts and ideas with you. Congratula-tions! The UNECA STAFF VOICE is a good platform for engagement with colleagues on issues that mat-ter to us. Sometimes we are all busy with our individual outputs and little time is spent in sharing views that cut across our work.

I hope the UNECA STAFF VOICE will also highlight the lighter side of our lives (like reminding us to have fun), whilst enabling us to reflect at individual level and organizational level on the achievements we are making and those we aspire for.

Q2: The first World Conference on Women was held in 1975 in Mexico City and since then the issue has been continuously on the Agenda of the United Nations. What kind of improvements did all these confer-ences, meetings and discussions have brought on the daily lives of African women?

TR: Let me start by saying that the UN and all other stakeholders rec-ognise that achieving gender equal-ity and women’s empowerment is a long journey; the UN has put in place so many structures, pro-cesses and programmes to take us many steps forward in this journey. Whilst the 1975 Mexico Conference was a landmark in terms of cement-ing the commitments by the world

to achieve women’s em-powerment, the work to broaden opportunities for women and achieve their full rights began way before this.

What we have succeed in doing in the past three decades since 1975 in Mexico is to ensure that the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment becomes a global agenda; ‘gender’ is now part of our everyday language. Member States have also put in place policies, programmes and laws that recog-nise the rights of women and men, and also seek to remove the barriers women face in all spheres of life in order to achieve their full potential. I can give an example of laws that pun-ish offenders who perpetrate violence

against women, including harm-ful practices such as female genital mutilation. A number of Member States are reviewing policy and law to ensure women’s access to and control of land. Almost all African Member States have a gender/women’s policy, and all have structures and mecha-nisms such as ministries and depart-ments to push the gender equality agenda. More recently we are also seeing strong moves towards increas-ing financing and other resources to promote gender equality and women’s

empowerment, as a necessary pre-condition for achieving sustainable development.

Whilst the developments I have out-lined look good on paper, the reality on the ground can make those of us who have been working on these is-sues for many years despair. You may be aware that ECA., through ACGS

undertook a Fifteen Year Review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in Africa last year to determine progress but also highlight persistent challenges. The Review revealed that whilst we can be proud of our successes, clearly we have many challenges and indeed crises. Briefly I can say that violence against women, including new forms such as sexual slavery, in on the increase. This is worsened in some cases by conflict situations where the rape of women, for example, is used

Thokozile RuzvidzoDirector, African Center for Gender and

Social Development (ACGSD)

“What we have succeeded in doing in the past three decades since 1975 in Mexico is to ensure

that the achievement of gender equaliyt and women’s empowerement becomes a global agenda.

‘Gender’ is now part of our everday language.”


as a weapon of war. Poverty still has a woman’s face in Africa and the recent global financial crisis has deepened it; food insecurity and persistent lack of access to productive resources make it very difficult for vulnerable women to pull out of their situation. Whilst Africa is doing well to respond to the challenges of HIV and AIDS, women are still harder hit, and also suffer from high mortality rates; a woman can still die from preventable com-plications whilst giving birth on this Continent. Africa is progressing well towards achieving universal primary education, however, in many coun-tries for a variety of reasons girls are persistently left out of the system or drop out.

Having said all this, there are sev-eral messages if we want to succeed in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in Africa and globally. We have to match commitment to action; it is not enough to have a policy, it must be matched by finance that gets the job done. We must have strong and dedicated leadership and cham-pions. I can say the UN is one of the leading champions, so we have a strong base as UNECA to push the agenda forward. Finally in my view it is critical to innovate; there is very little we do not know and many lessons we have learnt over time. The key is to use these experi-ences to achieve the greatest impact and maximum benefit for women and men on the Continent.

Q3: From your personal experi-ence what does the future hold for African women?

TR: The future of African women is the future of Africa, and it is a bright future, but our foundation must be strong. It depends on the Continent meeting some seemingly impossi-ble challenges over the next decade:

putting an end to the phenomenon of mothers dying while giving birth, carving out a place for itself in the global economy, helping farmers grow enough to feed their families and communities, educating the next generation of leaders. Africa won’t be successful unless we invest in the future of its women – as farmers, mothers, doctors, entrepreneurs – and allow them to thrive and drive change, from their homes to the halls of government.

We know that Africa’s future de-pends on economic and social transformation, and this means that both women and men are a resource and should be seen as equal part-ners in catalyzing the process. So all African member states need to make sure that the future is a bright one, by stepping up investment in women and girls education, eco-nomic empowerment, reduction in maternal health, and increasing their participation in decision making, at all levels. But remember the change must start in our homes; policy and development financing will enhance the process.

Q4: Most African women need to play both roles of being responsi-ble for their family and at the same time pursuing their profession. I believe you are one of these women and you have made it to the top. Please tell your readers, in particu-lar your women colleagues in UN-ECA how this could be achieved?

TR: This is a challenge for most women, as we have many identities as mothers, career women, wives, aunts and daughters (and more). As women we have been brought up to take care of everything and everybody; multi-tasking is the order of the day. I am continuously seeking a balance so that I address all the demands and interests in my life. I have learnt some

lessons, namely to do what I can to achieve my goals, and to take good personal care of myself. I love my career and tend to be a workaholic; however, working with and nurturing good people, delegation and building good team energy is very key to suc-cess as a leader. At home I also make sure I have good support, involve family and dedicate time to enjoying family life. Unlike most women in ECA, I probably also have the latitude that I am alone in Addis, though this can be very lonely.

Q5: Would you like to pass any messages to African women who are expecting a great deal from the United Nations to make a differ-ence in their daily lives?

TR: The UN has pushed very hard to make sure there are standards set in terms of the achievement of the human rights of women, including the Convention on the Elimina-tion of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, amongst others. It remains the leader in ensuring that the limits, barriers, and harmful practices that limit women’s enjoy-ment of their rights are eliminated. The UN system is dedicated to supporting governments to deliver to women in many ways, including promoting good policies, pushing for more financing to support wom-en’s empowerment, working with governments to not only enact laws that are gender sensitive but to en-sure they are successfuly enforced, as well as promoting best practices. The UNWomen is a gift to the women of the world and more so in Africa. It will be the best avenue for delivery to the women with the partnership of the rest of the UN including ECA.

Thank you Madam Director for your time and valuable contribution.


Interviews


Aida Barbara Opoku-Mensah, Director, ICT, Science and Technology Division

Q1. What do you think of the cur-rent initiative by the Staff Union Group?

I think this is a worthwhile and innovative initiative in that it gives voice to UNECA staff, which is im-portant and the objective of sharing information among staff members is also essential. Staff members will therefore get the opportunity to get to know initiatives going on, learn more about each other and hopefully contribute to this initiative.

Q2. You are one of the Directors in the ECA Secretariat responsible for a sector which has become funda-mental for the economic and social progress of the African continent. Would you kindly tell your readers what your job en-tails?

As you know, the work of ECA is considered one pro-gramme within the Secretar-iat and the work of the ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD) is known as sub-programme 4: Infor-mation and science and technology for development. And basically, the

programme implemented within the division is to increase the adaptation and application of ap-propriate and integrated information, science, technology and innova-tion strategies into Africa’s development agenda, whilst ensuring that these strategies also contribute to Africa’s integration into the global knowledge economy. This particular area of work is challeng-ing. The division is made up of four sections: ICT Policy; e-Applications (focusing on geoinfor-mation/spatial technology & applica-tions); Science and Technology and

the ECA Library. The division was formerly the Development Informa-tion Services Division (DISD) with three sections: ICT, Geoinformation & the Library but with the reposi-

tioning in 2006, Science and Tech-nology was added to the division and it then became known as the ICT, Science and Technology Divi-

sion (ISTD), at the same time, the Library was located in the Division of Administration but has subsequently returned to ISTD.

ISTD’s work is also based on regular budget as well as extra-budg-etary resources for us to support both national and regional initiatives in the area of ICT, geoinformation, S&T, delivering technical and advi-

Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director, ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD)

Wenchi is a crator lake situated in the Western Shoa of Oromiya Region.

“One reward of doing this job is the tremendous acknowledgement we get from Member States for the

support we give them”

Interviews


sory services to ECA’s member States, RECs and the AU/NEPAD. For instance, our cooperation with the Govern-ment of Finland has provided us with the opportunity of supporting member States put in place National Informa-tion & Communication Infrastructure (NICI) Plans. Based on our work programme on the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), assistance has been given to coun-tries such as Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Swaziland, as well as assisting some other countries with Science, Technology and Innovation policies (countries like Mali).Another area of our work is with WHO on the African Drugs and Diagnostic Innovation Network (ANDI).

Q3. As a woman, what are the challenges and rewards of your responsibility in the ECA Secretariat?

There are many challenges to our work, not just because one is a woman. One of the key challenges in my work is getting the continent to embrace science, technology and innovation at a faster pace than is currently the situation. As you mentioned in your first question, the sector hap-pens to be fundamental for economic and social progress for the African continent. Though this realization is in-creasingly becoming obvious to many countries, the rate of investment in this sector is still slow and a lot more needs to be done. To raise awareness on this fact, we’ve launched a few initiatives to boost the adoption, investment and focus on S&T. This includes the IPA and ASBC.

One reward of doing this job is the tremendous acknowl-edgement we get from member States for the support we give to them. It has been satisfying to know that through the work of ECA, we have been pivotal in pushing the Information Society agenda in Africa and accompanying countries in their ICT4 development agenda, notably in Rwanda, Ghana, Swaziland, Burkina Faso and Niger. Seeing the impact of the work that we do is also very rewarding as in the case of Creatic4Africa.

Q4. What would be your advice to young women in the Secretariat who are aspiring to succeed like you?

My advice to young up-and-coming women is to take their work seriously, not least because this continent needs all is human resources, both men and women. The other advice is that hard work always pays. If you approach your work with conviction, dedication and passion, it pays off. At the very least, you get tremendous job satisfaction in knowing how much you are contributing to Africa’s development.

Madam Director thank you again for your time. Interview by Seble Demeke

Interviews


Dr. Grace FombadOfficer-in-Charge (OIC), United Nations Health Care Centre (UNHCC)

Dr. Fombad, thank you so very much for accepting to be inter-viewed by UNECA STAFF VOICE Magazine. Q1. What is your opinion about this initiative?

GF: Thank you for this question. When you talk of the voice of some-body, that voice may be the voice of expression of joy and concerns. This initiative is a good one to express views, acquire knowledge as well as exchange ideas. Therefore it is a welcome initiative.

Q2. How does the UNHCC work?

GF: The clinic was established to serve UN staff and their depend-ants. This was very necessary some decades back when the private health care sector was not yet devel-oped in the country. It was difficult to care for staff in Government Hospitals. UNHCC is, however, limited in the type of specialties which differentiates the clinic from a hospital. It provides the first line of treatment and 24-hour emergen-cy coverage and any critical condi-tions must be referred to hospitals in the city for specialized care and in-patient treatment. After normal hours, which are from 8.30 until 17.30 hours, there is a skeleton staff made of one doctor and one nurse to provide emergency services and, if necessary, direct patients to other Hospitals in Addis Ababa. In its day-to-day activities, the Clinic pro-vides such core services as pre-em-ployment, periodic and exit medical examinations, travelers’ medicines and, currently conducts preventive activities to ensure the general well-

being of the staff and their families. In addition to this, regular medical consultations represent the cura-tive activities of the Clinic. What this means is that different consult-ants from different specialties of medicine come to provide services to UN staff and their dependents. Except in an emergency situation, it is important for staff to understand the working hours and what each period provides so as to plan the best time to come for such consul-tations. Also, knowing that the con-sultants are not regular staff of the UN system, it would be good for staff to understand the usefulness of the appointment system. Once a slot has been given to staff mem-bers, they are expected to respect that time slot and if, for unavoid-able reasons, they are to be absent, a call must be made to the clinic within a minimum of 12 hours to allow time enough for the recep-tionist to fill that gap with another patient. Failure to do these results in time loss by the consultant and in congestion with many staff suddenly finding themselves at the clinic at the same time wanting to see the same person. This increases the waiting time for others and creates unfriendly feelings.

During a consul-tation with one specialist, there may be need to bring on board others de-pending on what is required or the staff

may even be referred to outside hospitals when the specialty is not available in UNHCC. It is impor-tant to note that ours is a health centre and, by its mandate, not all the disciplines of medicine can be present here. Even in the most modern hospitals, some disciplines are not always available and patients must go to these highly specialized services to get the required atten-tion. When all the local options to handle a case are exhausted, the patient may be referred abroad for

Interviews

Message from UNHCC: “We recognize the value of every person.Our commitment is to high quality client

centered health care.We respect and respond to diverse needs

of the people we serve.We empower our clients with reliable and accessible health

information.”

OUR WORK IS ABOUT PEOPLE’S HEALTH.

THAT IS WHY WE STRIVE TO ASSURE YOUR WELL-BEING.


further investigations and manage-ment. This is recommended for acute or emergency life-threatening conditions that can not be handled locally. Certain conditions that are not acute but can result in the death of a staff member or dependant that have proven not to be available locally may warrant medical evacu-ation outside the country. This is done by decision of a medical board composed of the treating doctor and two others. It is not demanded by the patient or relatives. The jus-tification for the decision also takes into account what the patient will benefit from an evacuation abroad. If it will not benefit the patient, then the evacuation cannot be approved as this will only increase the suffer-ing of such a patient who should benefit from palliative care (support care).

The UN rules and regulations gov-erning medical evacuation must be respected at all times. It is to be noted that we have restrictions as to where patients are to be evacuated upon approval. Usually, evacuation is ap-

proved to the nearest treatment centre with good medical facilities within the continent but staff can choose to go wherever they want bearing the ad-ditional cost of ticket, DSA and, some-times, of treatment when the official evacuation site is not respected. Some countries have a very high cost of medical care. Most of the insurance companies will hesitate to reimburse the cost of treatment obtained from these countries.

Having spoken about the curative component, the clinic also has preven-tive activities. Since this is a staff voice which is meant to educate ourselves, it is good for staff to know that UN-HCC conducts workplace ergonomic assessments to assist staff to reduce some of those illnesses that come with poor posture in the work place or working too long behind their desks etc. A very good programme that has also been instituted is the workplace blood pressure measurement. It has helped staff who did not know about their condition to be diagnosed and followed up with treatment. This pro-gramme can be life-saving in an Or-

ganization like ours where staff work under a lot of stress and can mistake a high blood pressure symptom for sim-ple headache. The consequences are that some staff have collapsed at work from stroke and lost their valuable working and social life. Unfortunately, this programme is misconstrued by many staff as investigative research by UNHCC conducted in an attempt to dismiss individuals from work. This is pure rumour and is unfounded. Medical ethics require to be sought in advance the consent of any person used for research purposes. Also, since nobody has been refused employment because of high blood pressure, which is a treatable condition, staff should maximize the opportunities given them to improve its monitoring and treatment. Other activities include health campaigns, first aid training, workplace HIV/AIDS training, fitness and screenings.

Q3. Do you believe that staff is regularly and clearly informed about the medical benefits they get through UNHCC?

Interviews

UNHCC Staff ready to serve you


GF: The answer to this question here is yes and no. Yes, in the sense that when they get sick this is the first place they get help and can be directed accordingly. No in the sense that, staff does not know the importance of regular check-ups which are paramount for early de-tection of certain health conditions which require prompt management to reduce complications and con-tribute to their general well being. Some staff have not understood the role of insurance and its benefits. While medical care can be obtained in most parts of the world, medical insurance has limitations, being a cost shared responsibility where the member (staff) pays 20 percent of the total cost of treatment. There is also a language barrier component which hinders some staff from un-derstanding information (staff rules and regulations governing medical care included) about the Clinic and all the benefits it provides. . Nor is the difference between a Clinic and a Hospital properly understood by staff who insists on seeing every service in the medical field repre-sented in the Clinic. To underscore what is beyond the clinic’s scope and mandate, there is a need to continuously sensitize staff about the services of UNHCC.

Q4. Do you think that staff members are aware that they can do a voluntary check-up free of charge once a year and, also, what is the importance of this exercise?

GF: Staff members are aware of their entitlement to voluntary checks but fear that the discovery of disease can lead to the loss of their jobs. The UN is one of those few organizations that care about the welfare of their staff and so it is better to know on time and man-age the health situation before it escalates into a critical condition.

Doing a voluntary check-up will also allow us to discover diseases like cancer. Each of us can certainly benefit from early detection and management. It is just a joy to know when we are healthy and a medical check-up is not a bad idea. UNHCC has already initiated a programme to talk to staff in small groups and individually to sensi-tize them about the importance of regular check-ups. Staff should also be informed that some of the tests done during a voluntary check up are outside what organizations require for employment or peri-odic medical examinations and so will require payments by staff to be reimbursed at 80 percent by their insurance companies. The value of the 20 percent co-payment from staff cannot be over looked when a disease condition is diagnosed on time and appropriate action taken. Q5. What are the facilities and assis-tance provided to HIV-positive staff in the Organization?

GF: HIV/AIDS is a topic which is very dear to our hearts. The first as-sistance that is found at UNHCC is the HIV Unit organized in the Clin-ic. There are doctors and nurses assigned to this. We do anonymous screening and provide medication accordingly and the medication is free. But some new products in the market are not free. Medical insurance also covers 80 percent of the cost of therapeutic medicines. Apart from this, compulsory train-ing at the work place is one of UN-HCC’s regular activities. This train-ing is provided to all UN staff and includes every aspect of HIV. The idea is to help staff avoid stigma and discrimination, while seeking early diagnosis and treatment. Once a patient is on treatment, the viral load (number of germs in the body) reduces enabling the person to go on with his or her normal working life. The opportunistic infections that come with HIV are treated and the community is protected from illnesses like tuberculosis. It also makes couples having an HIV-pos-

Interviews

Teshome Zelleke, part of the UNHCC team


itive status take informed choices when they want to have a baby. Most importantly, staff learns ways to prevent infection and to pro-tect their partners when infected. A better quality of life is achieved and, these days, nobody should die prematurely from HIV/AIDS.

Q6. Does UNHCC cooperate with the national hospitals in Ethiopia? If so, in what ways?

GF: First of all, UNHCC cooper-ates to identify hospitals that can serve the best interests of UN staff and their dependants. Since the clinic does not hospitalize patients here, the hospitals form a backup for admissions and management of critical cases. Apart from referring patients to the hospitals, UNHCC conducts hospital visits to ensure the proper care is given to patients. During such visits, possibilities of medical evacuation are discussed where the treating doctors are not happy with the output of local pro-cedures. UNHCC also collaborates with diagnostic centers to get the necessary laboratory work done for tests not performed at the Clinic. Some specimens are collected and

sent abroad through these centers to reduce cost on staff.

Q7. I attended a seminar organized by UNHCC on “Cancer Awareness” with doctors who came from Thai-land. Was that beneficial for the staff and do you do similar seminars regularly with doctors from Ethiopia and other African countries?

GF: In fact the seminar with the Thai doctors happened to be a unique opportunity when they were visiting Ethiopia. UNHCC contacted them to give the lectures to the staff. This does not mean that UNHCC depends regularly on foreign doctors for such seminars. Ethiopian doctors have been used to organize such workshops and this will continue. In the past, doctors have come from South Africa, Kenya and Ghana to give health talks to UN staff and create awareness on Diabetes and Hypertension.

Q8. What is the attendance level when you organize such seminars?

GF: This depends on the topics. At-tendance was very low for the smok-ing seminar, while diabetes attracted a very high population. UNHCC

would be happier to see more staff and their dependants attending. In these seminars, staff can ask questions when they need clarifications on is-sues not properly understood.

Q9. What messages would you like to pass to the staff concerning UN-HCC and/or other issues which are of interest to the staff?

GF: The UNHCC is at the service of all UN staff. As human be-ings, we are liable to errors but these will not be intentional as a life lost cannot be recovered. Constructive criticism will help us to improve and give the best of ourselves. There are so many promotion ideas that the Clinic staff can pass to the general public. The administration and all the staff strive to make a difference at our work place. We want to see a healthy UN family striking a bet-ter work/life balance and achieving a reduction in some of the health problems that can be prevented.

Thank you again for your time.


Interviews


The Staff of the UnionHiwot TadesseAdministrative Assistant

Q1. You started with the Staff Union recently. How do you like your new position?

HT: It has been eight months since I have been engaged in this position. I found my new job very interesting because it gives me the opportunity to work closely with staff issues which are different from one staff to the other. It also gives me the chance to work in new areas such as in the financial field.

Q2. Who do you report to?

HT: To the Vice-President of the Executive Committee, Ms. Mulutsega Legesse, and to Mr. Makane Faye, Chairman of the Council.

Q3. What does you job entail?

HT: In addition to my day-to-day administrative tasks my job entails facilitating bid processes, collecting proformas, selecting best vendors and assisting in the Green House Cafeteria process which is going to open very soon. Further more, I have the re-sponsibility to control and administer the Gymnasium Fitness Centre which is under ECA Staff Union custody.

Q4. Is this what you expected in your new position?

HT: I found the job challenging and beyond my expectation. It is also an additional experience that I am doing different and complicated tasks.

Q5. Are you planning to make any changes on how the Union func-tions administratively?

HT: YES! we already are making some administrative changes, to establish efficient controlling system and in the near future we have a plan to computerize the Staff Union filing system so that we can coor-dinate better with HR and other relevant departments.

Q6. Do you think the Staff is fully aware of the services provided by its representatives? If not, how do you intend to improve the situation?

HT: I think staff members are aware of our union services mainly via our flash announcements but we could do more in the information-sharing area. Q7. Do you have a channel of communica-tion with the Staff Representative of the Sub-Regional Offices (SROs)? If not, do you believe that there should be a mechanism to ex-change information with your colleagues in the field?HT: No, right now we don’t have the contact and I do believe that there should be a system to communicate with our colleagues at SROs.

Q8, What is your advice to make the Staff Union more effective?

HT: We are doing our best to make the Union more effective but I believe comments and feedbacks from the staff will make the Union more ef-fective. We have a suggestion box in front of our office and we are open to receive suggestions from our mem-bers, on how to make our Union more effective.

Thank you.Interview by Seble Demeke

Hiwot TadesseAdministrative Assistant

The Staff of the Union


Tsetargachew ZewdieTeam/Finance Assistant

Q1. How long have you been with the Staff Union?

TZ: I have been with the Staff un-ion since October 2007.

Q2. What are your direct re-sponsibilities?

TZ: As a Team Assistant, I assist Committee members as needed, but, my direct responsibility is handling all accounts of the union in collaboration with the Treasurer of the Executive Committee.

Q3. The Staff Union is sup-ported by staff contributions. How many members do you have?

TZ: Totally we have 574 members. Out of this, 114 members are pro-fessionals and the rest are general service staff. When we express this number in terms of percentage, more than 80% of ECA Staff are members of the Staff Union.

Q4. How do members join the Union?

TZ: Membership is open to all who would like to be members of the Staff Union. However, when I started working with the Union office the number of members was about 195. As a result, we decided to make a campaign (by going door to door) in order to increase the number of members. We distribut-ed the forms to the staff. As a result, the membership increased signifi-cantly as I mentioned earlier.

Q5. After Staff members join the Union what do you do to retain them and get new members?

TZ: We clarify the obligations and

expectations of members of the Union. And we also make maximum efforts to serve members better. In order to attract new mem-bers, we work in collabora-tion with HRSS since they are the ones who will inform us when there are new staff members joining the or-ganization. Accordingly, we brief the new comers about the Union and invite them to join. If they are interested they will fill membership form immediately. If not we try again at a later date.

Q6. What does the Union do for its members?

TZ: The main task of the Union is to safeguard the rights and benefits of the staff. In addition, the Union provides soft loans up to a maxi-mum of 10,000(ten thousand) ETB with a small interest and facilitate GYM access with a reasonable fee. Q7. To better serve staff, what do you think needs to be improved?TZ: To start with, the Statutes of the Union should be revised and a full time President should be as-signed for the Office. If these two issues are implemented, the Union can give better service to the staff at large.At this time, mem-bership contribu-tions are not as significant as they should be. There-fore, the financial situation of the Un-ion is weak Efforts need to be made in order to sub-stantially increase

membership which will result in the increase of the financial position of the Union. This, in turn, will enable us to give more loans and other services to the staff...

Q8. Do you have any messages to pass to the staff?

TZ: My message for the staff is as follows: Don’t hesitate to work with your Union. Support your Union because, without your sup-port the Union will get weaker and will become unable to assist you. Therefore, show that you are the back-bone of your Union.


Tsetargachew ZewdieTeam/Finance Assistant



Tibebe MulugetaManager, ECA Sports Club, GYM

Q1. Tell us about your back-ground as a sports person? What did you do before joining ECA?

TM: I started sport since my childhood and was involved in different activities at the YMCA. I used to play table tennis, basket ball, badminton, wrestling, and so on…. As an adult, I started playing basket ball for different clubs and badminton for the National Team. I was also a referee in volley ball giving courses to different prov-inces. Finally, I took two coaching courses in boxing, weight lifting, hands balls and basketball. I finally went to Germany for a diploma programme in weight training. Im-mediately after coming back from Germany, I joined the Sports Com-mission and worked for four years as Section Head of Educational and Mass Sport and Assistant Coach of National Team in Weight lifting Federation. When I left the Sports Commission, I joined the Hilton International Club as a Gym coach and senior supervisor. After work-ing with the Hilton for 15 years, I joined UNECA.

Q2. How many staff (trainers, clerks etc.) are working under your supervision?

TM: I have an assistant of the Gym, who is also helping as a financial controller, and two aerobics instruc-tors, who are highly qualified. They are very knowledgeable and are role models for a preventive health and fitness lifestyle.

Q3. You are responsible for man-aging a sports club of a huge UN Regional Commission. How does this make you feel?

TM: The Gym has many responsi-bilities which includes managing, organizing and ensuring that the entire operation is running smooth-ly. Motivating and supporting mem-bers is my duty, and I try to do that to the best of my ability. As a result when I discover that their personal health is improving due to the GYM they do in the Club, which gives me a lot of satisfaction. But there is a lot more to be done in order to increase membership. This could be done by combining efforts of the Staff Union and Management together. E.g. organizing a visit to the GYM, informing staff regularly what the club is doing and how they can profit from the activities.

Q4: Is the club open to other UN organizations?

TM: Yes, it is opens to all UN agency employees working in the compound. It is also open to other staffs who are working with some service-providing organizations sit-uated in the ECA compound, such as banks, travel agencies, airlines, duty free shops and others.

Q5. Who do you report to and how often?TM: There are two kinds of report-ing: the first one is financial report-

ing to the Staff Union office and the second is dealing with maintenance and reporting to the Facilities Management Section (FMS). The financial report is done on daily basis through Lotus Notes for each concerned staff and Committee. The second report to FMS is done by telephone whenever problems arise in the Gym.

Q6. How many members do you have?

TM: Around 75 people. Most of these staff members are assigned to field missions and due to this fact the members who are attending regularly varies.

Q7. What actions do you take to increase the number of members?

Tibebe MulugetaManager, ECA Sports Club, GYM



Asamench YegezuAssistant to the Manager, GYM

What is your responsibility in the GYM?

My duties include cash collection and receptionist. In the absence of the manager I assist clients on how to use the exercise machines. I am also re-sponsible for the cleaning part of the GYM. Concerning the clean-ing of the GYM, there is a need to clarify the responsibility between ECA and the private contractor.

Keep on working hard for providing us with a clean GYM club and thank you for your participation.

TM: Previously, we used to advertise through internet and through the notice board as well as weekly magazine of - ECA NOW. But now most new members join by hearing from friends who are already members. I hope through this new magazine THE ECA STAFF VOICE, more staff members will be informed abut our activities and come to join us.

Q8. What is the current status of equip-ment in the gym? TM: When we started the GYM we had 7 treadmills, 4 bikes, 3 steppers, 3 rowers and different types of bench press ma-chines. Unfortunately, at present most of them are out of order because they are home used machines. When they were purchased they were not heavy duty or commercial type machines. At present we have only 3 duty treadmills which are working. Lockers and shower rooms have been improved.

Q9. Any suggestion and/or advice you would like to pass to the staff?

TM: I would be pleased if all the ma-chines at the ECA Gym could be replaced with the latest heavy duty sports equip-ments to enable the members who are always very eager and try very hard to keep fit and come regularly to the club. As we all know, physical activities are very important and the up-keep of our Gym with improved equipments will draw many more staff to become members. I do therefore, suggest that the Staff Coun-


cil take the necessary action to continue the uninterrupted support it has been providing and if possible up-grade also the equipment. On behalf of all Gym members as well as myself, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you the ECA Staff Union for your continued sup-port and encouragement.



Etienne KabouChief, Publications and Conference Management Section, PCMS

Q1. What is your opinion about this initiative?

EK: It is a very good initiative. It allows the staff to be aware of what is happening and expresses their views. It is an excellent com-munication tool between staff and management.

Q2. Would you like to take this opportunity and tell your read-ers, briefly, about the Conference Centre of ECA?

EK: We pro-vide confer-ence services with simultaneous interpretation to ECA, UN agencies, Ethiopian government institutions, private

sector, NGOs and Civil Society Organizations. We also provide printing services. We bring in some income by provid-ing printing and crea-tive services. Any one who would like to use our service is more than welcome. For further information on all our services please see ECA’s website, PCMS and DPU. ecainfo@

uneca.org

Q3. Any messages that you would like to pass to ECA Staff in general and

other readers of this magazine?

Let us hope that this magazine will

be a tool that UN staff will use to express their views and that the Staff Union will also use it as a means of promoting good commu-nication in the house.

You are one of the Senior Man-agement staff who gave your full support and assistance in realizing this Magazine. The Staff Union is grateful for that support.


Etienne KabouChief, Publications and Conference

Management Section, PCMS

United Nations Conference Centre(UNCC - Addis Ababa)

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“We provide conference services with simultaneous interpretation to ECA, UN agencies, Ethiopian Government institutions, private

sector, NGOs and CSOs.”


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Ousseini OuedraogoChief, Security and Safety

Staff Security and Safety at the United Nations Economic Commis-sion for Africa (UNECA)What does the task involve?

Q1. I would like to thank you on behalf of THE ECA STAFF VOICE for accepting this interview. Please tell us about your background?

OO: I served in the military in my country, Burkina Faso and have always worked, since 1983, in the security area both at the national and international level.

Q2. What does it entail to be Chief of Security and Safety at UNECA in Addis Ababa, where, official meetings and visits of personalities, including African Heads of States and governments Ministers, and national experts are taking place several times a year?

OO: It involves managing the service, planning and coordinating various issues such as compound security, conferences, close protec-tion of senior officials assigned

to the duty station and training security staff, raising the awareness of staff on safety and security issues, maintaining and updating ECA contingency plans and supporting the office of the Security Advisor for Ethiopia for the implementa-tion of the Ethiopia country specific security plan. Not only do we pro-vide support to staff, delegates and

visitors at ECA but also we provide similar support, with others, to joint ECA/AU Conferences of Minis-ters held away from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Q3. How long have you been a Security Officer?

OO: Since 1983, but I joined the UN in 2006.

Q4. What are the responsibilities?

OO: Coordinating with host country security officials both at and away from headquarters since the primary responsibility for safety and security in any country is that of the host country as part of its ob-ligation for hosting the conference.

Q5. How many people are work-ing under your direct supervision?

OO: Basically we have staff who are on regular budget. Others are on General Temporary Assistance Funds (GTAF). All in all, we have about 150 staff including those who

are not security staff but are admin-istrative assistants, administrative clerks, and the PACT store keeper. Of all offices away from headquar-ters, Regional Commissions and UN Tribunals, ECA has one of the highest numbers of female security staff which responds to the policy of maintaining gender balance in any sector of activity.

Q6. Have you been stationed as a UN Security Officer at other duty stations?

OO: Yes, in Darfur, the Sudan and in Arusha,Tanzania at the Inter-national Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Q7. What are the requirements to be an effective Security Officer?

OO: Professionalism, sound knowl-edge of the security environment, proactivity, team work, client orien-tation, discretion and humility.

Q8. What is the stress level? Is there a stress management pro-gramme?

OO: Stress level is medium to high for all of us. It can be summarized as follows:

(a) You don’t have a private life, you are always at the service of those who need your help and you don’t know when that help will be needed. (b) There is a high level of stress at the ECA entrance gate. Certain clients (some staff members) do not always facilitate our work. This is

Ousseini OuedraogoChief, Security and Safety

“You don’t have a private life, you are always at the service of those who need your help

and you don’t know when that help will be needed.”


due to the fact that they don’t meet the security check requirements.(c) There are about 950 UN and private vehicles entering the ECA compound on a daily basis which have to be accommodated with the limited parking space available.

(d) In addition, we are dealing, on a daily basis with more than 1,600 staff, dependents, contractors and visitors excluding conference par-ticipants and exhibitors.

(e) We are associated with the ac-tivities of all UN agencies, divisions, and sections when they organize conferences, meetings and invite Special Guests.

The stress level is due to concurrent activities and auxiliary activities of providing security to VIPs, high UN officials, and large numbers of conference participants. In order to facilitate these activities, we need to avail car parking spaces to accom-modate our clients. Here due to the relocation of car space, staff mem-bers are inconvenienced. However, their security and safety requires their understanding and coopera-tion.

Q9. Is there a systematic training programme designed for Security Officers? If so, what type and how often are they provided?

OO: Any time we hire security of-ficers, they do one month’s on-the-job training. Also, we have training programmes organized by Head-quarters in the area of technical, managerial and leadership train-ing programmes in which we take part making optimum use of the allocated budget for training. We also, from time to time bring some instructors here for special training in order to benefit from the mul-tiplying factor which includes less

cost for more benefit.

Q10. You are aware that a number of our colleagues are called upon to carry out urgent missions to dangerous areas and several have lost their lives while on duty. Do you think that this danger could be minimized if more training is given to Security Officers at the different duty stations?

OO: More training of security officers is only one component. It should be combined with:

(a) Close coordination with Host Country security structures.

(b) Implication of managers at all levels. Managers need to be in-volved in the security of their own staff. E.g. when they are planning activities, they should plan as well for the safety and security of that gathering.

(c) They should also budget for security as a required expenditure. This should not be a last- minute task and should start at the begin-ning of the plan.

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Q.11 From your long experi-ence as a Security Officer at the different United Nations offices, what advice would you like to give to those working under your supervision? OO: My advice is as follows:

(a) They should first under-stand that security work is difficult and needs full dedica-tion.

(b) We can be firm yet polite in dealing with clients.

(c) Humility and teamwork is key to success.Timely response is very impor-tant.

Q12. Do you have any mes-sages to the staff, the public, and others who come to ECA as visitors and conference participants?

I would like all our clients to understand that we are only here thanks to them and for them. However, we need to enforce UN rules and regula-tions on Safety and Security measures and that may from time to time, inconvenience them. We, therefore, plead for their understanding and coop-eration in order to ensure that the task is carried out smooth-ly. Although our unit strives to provide the maximum service to the staff and their depend-ents, we also expect feedback on our services and/or request for some information which will help us to improve our services.

Thank you again for your pre-cious time.


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Rose Aderolili Chief, Human and Social Development Section, ACGS

I would like to thank you on behalf of the Staff Union for accepting to be interviewed by the UNECA STAFF VOICE Magazine.

Q1. What do you think of this ini-tiative by the current Staff Union Group?

RA: First, let me give thanks to God Almighty for the opportunity to be one of the first staff mem-bers to feature in this magazine. Secondly, I thank the Staff Union sincerely for this initiative whose objectives are indeed very useful and noble to both staff and manage-ment alike. May I also add that the magazine provides an opportunity for the UNECA community to know one another in a much deeper way as a family. I am indeed very privileged and honoured to be part of this initiative. Hearty congratu-lations.

Q2. The special issue in this first issue of UNECA STAFF VOICE magazine is the empow-erment of women. What are the main facts you can tell your read-ers when we talk about the empow-erment of African women?

RA: Let me start by paying trib-ute to all women of the world, but especially the African women for their resilience, dedication, passion and hard work that has made our continent what it is at the moment. African women are indeed the solid foundation of our societies. These days, we have great African women in many high places, within govern-ments, civil society organizations and the local communities. Many

African countries have now achieved gender par-ity at the primary school level and gender ma-chineries now exist in all African countries.

However, the truth of the matter is that the majority of African women do not have access to equal op-portunities in the econ-omy, government and in terms of their human rights.

Why talk about empowering women? Well, the realities on the ground clearly show that women and men do not have the same status and quality of life in every so-ciety. For example, of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty worldwide, 70 percent are women; according to the United Nations Millennium Campaign, women work 2/3 of the world’s working hours, yet they earn only 10 percent of the world’s income; they own less than 1 percent of the world’s prop-erty (and the figure could be much less for Africa where cultural and traditional practices deny women property ownership); women make up 2/3 of the estimated 876 million adults globally who cannot read or write,; in many societies in Africa, women never belong wholly to themselves – they are the proper-ties of other throughout their lives. Their physical well-being – health, security and bodily integrity – is of-ten beyond their control. In many African countries, violence against women and girls are a daily occur-rence the World Banks estimate

violence rivals cancer as a cause or morbidity and mortality for wom-en of child bearing age, systematic rape as a weapon of war has left many millions of girls and women traumatized, forcibly impregnated, and or HIV positive - in Sub-Saharan Africa more than twice as many women as young men are living with HIV.; maternal mortality among African women remains the highest in the world, and yet it can be easily avoided. The list is very long, and it is precisely because of these situations that there is s need for women’s empowerment.

When we talk of women’s empow-erment, we mean in simple terms helping the most vulnerable in our society to overcome suffering, to build their capacity and to provide them with opportunities to take control of their lives and to make decisions that affect them. This can be done through innovative health, educational, agricultural and busi-ness programmes that build on the courage and resourcefulness of the African women to help them realize their potential and to improve all

Rose Aderolili Chief, Human and Social Development Section

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their families and communities. In the African Centre for Gender and Social Development of the ECA, in which I am the Chief of Human and Social Development Section, we have a mandate to assist mem-ber States to strive towards gender equality on the continent. Progress has been encouraging in some ar-eas, but as I said before, a lot yet has to be done, especially in terms of implementing all the various poli-cies and commitments governments have made to-wards the goal of creating societies in which equality in opportunity and welfare and everyone enjoys their full human rights.

Q3. In 2010, you were given an award by the Academic and local community in Australia. Could you tell us about that event, why you were chosen to receive such an award?

RA: This was one of a series of recognitions by the academia, government and the community in which I am part of in Australia. It was to acknowledge my contri-bution to women’s empowerment by being a role model and by sub-stantively excelling as an academic and community worker. I was to receive this on International Women’s Day 2010, and to address up to 20 groups in all Australian major cities. When I could not be there in person because of work commitments at the UNECA, the Prime Minister sent his wife to stand in for me. I was to ad-dress a large audience, including very high church, academic and government officials. If you visit the web and type my surname, you will come up with lots of

advertisements and various places where I was to speak at that time The events that I was supposed to speak at raised a large sum of money which went to helping the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and to combating trafficking of women and girls in Asia. It was indeed a great honour and to God be all the glory.

As far back as 1991, I was celebrated for being the first academic black

woman teaching in an Australian University, and later as the first black to be appointed to an Execu-tive level position in the Australian Federal Government public service – as Head of the International Eco-nomic Policy Unit at the Austral-ian Federal Government Treasury. It was then that I was featured in Australia’s leading newspaper, The Cairns Post (a copy of which I have just shared with you) , in which I had to tell my life journey of how

I managed to come from a very poor background to being a leading academic in Australia. The recog-nition from the government was due to the contribution I made as a member of the Far North Queens-land Economic Board which was made up of representatives from government, chambers of com-merce and academia. In particular, I was the government economic budget analyst.

The academic recognition was based on my contribution to graduating hun-dreds of young and mature Aus-tralians through James Cook

University. A few of my former students are members of parliament in Australia and bank managers, amongst others. I can also mention that the newly appointed Deputy Director of UN-Habitat, Aisa Kirabo, was also one of my former students at James Cook Univer-sity, Australia. . The University Community also helped build the first water pump in my village and donated a good sum of money to the local hospital in my home town

“In the first instance, no matter what age or background, put God first, hold on to

your integrity and principles in life. Let your professionalism be your greatest asset.”

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in appreciation of my academic contribution.

The community gave me the recog-nition for the work I was doing with elderly and sick people through the Australian Anglican Church. In my spare time from the University, I taught religion in primary schools around Cairns, Northern Australia. Not many people know that I am indeed a Deacon in the Australian Anglican Church. Also to appreci-ate my contribution, the Anglican Church in North Queensland spon-sors poor children from Uganda and provides for all their needs.

On top of that, the Aboriginal Community of Yarrabh also gave me recognition for being a role model to the black population. I have a few other awards, which time and space will not allow me to enumerate. But my dream now is to do something to assist the hundreds of new Africans who are being resettled in Australia by the UNHCR. I feel they need role models and spiritual and intel-lectual direction which helped me

get to where I am today. I am also proud to say that my daughters have already set up an internation-al NGO called Otino International to provide free vaccination to African children in refugee camps all over Africa. My three sons are also involved in community youth activities both in Australia and Uganda. The recognition given to me in Australia also quoted these as part of my achievements as a role model also in my home.

Q4. What does the Internation-al Women’s Day mean to you?

RA: International Women’s day to me means celebrating the achieve-ments that collectively we Africans have made so far towards gender equality, and especially in improv-ing the standard of living of Afri-can women, men, girls and boys. However, it also keeps in the fore the challenges that still need to be addressed in order to achieve sustainable, equitable and inclusive development for all. It reminds us of our collective responsibility to make this happen.

Q5. Any message that you would like to give to your women col-leagues in ECA.

RA: The messages that I would like to give to my female colleagues really come from my own life experience. In the first instance, no matter what age or background, put God first, hold on to your integrity and principles in life. Let your professionalism be your greatest asset. As a woman, you will meet many challenges in the way of your career progress, but if you excel in all you do, God himself will lift you up always. Also, take every oppor-tunity to grow academically, spiritu-ally and socially. This balance is extremely important. There was a time when I had six little children, lecturing full time at James Cook University, studying for both a PhD in Economics and law degrees, doing pastoral work and of course being a wife, but I managed. Above all, stay strong, proud and dignified – after all you are a special woman!


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Adyemi Olayiwola DipeoluChief of Staff, OES

Q1. What is your opinion about this initiative by the Staff Union?

I think that this is an excellent initia-tive. It will provide a useful tool for internal communications within ECA while also enabling staff to contrib-ute to ECA’s work by exchanging ideas and sharing their perspectives on matters of common interest. I certainly see it as another positive contribution to improving our work culture and processes at ECA.

Q2. You are one of those staff mem-bers who served ECA for a very long time. Could you tell your readers briefly what were the success stories and challenges you encountered dur-ing your time in ECA?

The phrase ‘very long’ is relative. I am a spring chicken in terms of service at ECA compared to several other col-

leagues but I certainly have been here long enough to witness some positive changes. I think we have all collec-tively changed the strategic direction of ECA in such a successful manner that many other agencies are trying to replicate our performance.

I am talking in particular about our strategic partnerships which have in-creased ECA’s relevance and brought iin substantial extrabudgetary resources, there is also the improved quality and relevance of our norma-tive work which is the backbone of several pan-African initiatives, it is common knowledge for instance that the decision of the African Union As-sembly to devote the theme of its next

Summit to intra-Africa trade was a direct result of the 4th Assessing Regional Integration in Africa report which was on the same topic. We are also tackling emerging issues of great concern or importance to our mem-ber States such as climate change and science and technology in addition to having deepened our work in well-known areas like economic develop-ment, environment, food security, gender, ICTs, trade, and statistics.

A primary consideration in under-taking all our activities has been to build coherence and achieve desired results. Thus, the establishment of the JSSO which gives concrete form to our cooperation with the AUC and AfDB. The strengthening of the Re-gional Coordination Mechanism was the major platform for UN System wide engagement with the African Union and NEPAD, and the creation

of a Strategic Partners Forum, which brings the development partners together with the three pan-African institutions and the RECs. There have been many challenges particu-larly of improving processes, building trust and enhancing staff mobility and welfare but we are making steady progress also because of improved en-gagement between management and the Staff Union Council.

Q3. How do you assess the future of the Commission?

The future of the Commission is certainly very bright if we remain on the current trajectory. The important thing to bear in mind at all times is

that although we are United Nations staff, we work for the people of Africa and should remain committed to sup-porting the development of the con-tinent by deploying ECA’s strengths and comparative advantages using the tools available to us.

Q4. What are the areas that need to be improved?

It is a given that for progress in human activity, we should never rest on our oars. Even in the areas in which we are seen to be doing well, there is room for upscaling of efforts and for rectifying aspects that are not completely up to speed. Having said that, I feel that one area in which we can continue to build on current efforts relates to internal communications, which is why I par-ticularly welcome the effort of the Staff Union to launch this magazine.

Q5. Any messages that you would like to pass to the staff?

Yes, we should remain positive at all times and continue to be inspired by the ideals that made us come to work for ECA. Things may not always work out at the level of personal aspiration in the short-term but ulti-mately and in the long-run, hardwork and commitment will be recognized and rewarded.

Thank you Mr. Dipeolu for your time. Interview by Seble Demeke

Adyemi Olayiwola DipeoluChief of Staff, OES

“Even in the areas in which we are seen to be doing well, there is room for up scaling of efforts and for

rectifying aspects that are not completely up to speed.

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Charles Mwango NdunguChief, Documents Publishing Unit (DPU)


CN: This is an excellent initiative as it will keep the United Nation com-munity in Ethiopia well informed and this can be used as an interactive tool. Keep it up!

Q2. The printing shop is an impor-tant tool of the Commission as it meets all publishing needs of UNECA and other UN agencies based in Ad-dis Ababa. Is the print shop fully equipped?

CN: We are constantly improving our skills and technologies – including on-demand and four-colour process printing and finishing and innovative packing. We deliver a timely and high quality product to meet customer demands. DPU has evolved from a simple black-and-white opera-tion to a full-service operation that meets a wide range of client needs from conference documentation, graphic design to major multi color publications. During its evolution to its current state-of- the-art status the print shop has gone through various upgrades in terms of equipment and staff. The print shop can now proudly meets most document and publica-tion requirements of the Commission and other UN agencies with easy, im-proved quality and reduced lead time

(With this space for new upgrade of equipment coming up in March 2012)

Q3. Any message you would like to pass to the users of the print shop and to staff in general.

Client services ManagementPending installation of an integrated Documents, Conference and Produc-tion Management System (IDCPMS),

all documents processed by DPU are channeled through the automated Documents Management System (DMS) to Documents Control, Refer-ence and Con-tractual Services Unit (DRCSU), or Docs Control which forwards them to the relevant PCMS unit for process-ing (referencing, editing, transla-tion, text pro-cessing, desktop publishing (DTP), printing,

and dissemination). Once a docu-ment reaches DPU, it goes through a three-step process before being final-ized and distributed, that is, graphic design, printing (digital or offset) and finishing. All external client requests go through the same process, however this manual, since they are linked to the automated internal DMS. All ser-vices offered to clients are changed at cost. Cost estimate are generated and clients provided with a pro-forma be-fore production commences. Since no purchase orders are required, clients sign the Pro-forma invoice as author-ity to commence production.

Charles Mwango NdunguChief, Documents Publishing (DPU)

Mr. Wondwossen Girma, Supervisor, DPU. Opposite page: Different types of equipments being used by DPU

“The Printing Unit has evolved from a simple black-and-white operation to a full service operation that meets a wider range of clients needs from

conference documents, graphic design to major multi-color publications.”

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Tedla TeshomePresident, Association of Former International Civil Servants, AFICS-AA

Q1. What do you think of this initiative? TT: It sounds good. I think it is a very useful initiative. Done proper-ly, it could become a very informa-tive and educational publication. By highlighting what is going on in the UN system organization, it could keep the staff as well as the UN re-tirees well informed on matters that would affect their life. So, I must say, it is a much welcome, desirable and timely initiative. I commend it very highly.

Q2. Briefly please tell your readers what AFICS Addis is doing for its retired staff members?

TT: The Association’s principal mission is to bring together former UN staff that shared similar experiences and keep alive their commitment to the purpose, ide-als and principles of the Organi-zation they had served. It keeps them abreast with developments within the system so that they continue to promote and support

the programmes and achievements of the Organization and its Specialized Agen-cies. With regard to its function as service provider to its members, the Association provides advice on matters of pension benefits and health protection and represents their interests and con-cerns at appropriate levels of the Administration of the system. AFICS has now grown into a knowledge base for matters per-taining to UN pensions and health protection and is regularly consult-ed not only by its members but also

the active staff who are planning to separate from service. In short; the Association keeps the members’ interests in the UN activities alive

and safeguards their well-being.

Q3. How many retired staff members are you serving?

TT: At present there are over 400 registered members composed of former staff of different UN system organizations.

Q4. Where does your budget come from?

TT: The budget comes exclusively from membership dues and special contributions by members.

Q5. Do you work closely with other FAFICS mem-bers?

TT: AFICS is a member of

the Federation of Associations of Former International Civil Servants (FAFICS), which has now a mem-bership of 50 sister associations. Our association actively participates in the Federation’s Annual Council Meetings and its Working Groups. In doing so, it is actively involved in addressing issues that affect the global community of UN retirees, which at present stands at around 57,000. AFICS -AA has been repeatedly elected to serve on the leadership of the FAFICS Bureau and the delegation of Representa-tives of the Federation to the Pen-sion Board as well as the Board’s Audit and Budget committees. So,

Tedla TeshomePresident, Association of Former International Civil

Servants, AFICS-AA

“The pre retirement preparation thus requires mental, physical and emotional preparedness

to adjust themselves to the hard realities of their new situation.

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SG talking to retiring staff members


as you can imagine, the Association is at the centre of matters that affect the well-being of present as well as e future UN pension beneficiaries. The also offers the opportunity for the Association to forge good rela-tionships with other sister organiza-tions and maintain a close working relationship with the leadership of the Pension Fund.

Q6. What is the average age for UN staff retirees? TT: Currently, it is estimated at around 84 for female and 82 for male. This impressive demographic achievement is due largely to a well planned retirement life. The lon-gevity trend has naturally prompted concern as it appeared to distort the original assumptions underlining

the pension system.

Q7. Any messages that you would like to pass to active and retired staff members?

TT: Active UN staff should real-ize that that, God willing, they will one day join the rank of retir-ees. They should therefore bear in mind this inevitable reality and get proper advice from those knowledgeable about the exit strategy in order to make a well informed decision when separat-ing from service and ensure their retirement life to be as produc-tive and enjoyable as possible. We observed that those who were inadequately prepared for retire-ment life were often faced with serious problems of reconciling

their past glories with the new realities of retirement life. The pre-retirement preparation thus requires mental, physical and emotional preparedness to adjust themselves to the hard realities of their new situation. It requires careful and realistic advance plan-ning to maintain a newly defined style of life within the much reduced level of their previous financial resources. Most impor-tantly, they must earnestly believe that there is life after retirement and that retirement is not an ab-dication of life but the beginning of a new chapter that could be as productive and enjoyable as one could make it. Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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Dagnatchew KebedePresident, United Nations Staff Savings and Credit Association (UNSSCA)

Q1. What is your opinion about this initiative by the Staff Union?

DK: I have witnessed magazines come and go. In order to attract readership and ensure continuity, the articles included in the UNECA STAFF VOICE should be provocative and attract staff attention, and this magazine should provide a forum where staff and management express their views freely and honestly with-out fear of any repercussions.

Q2. Could you tell us how the UN-SSCA works?

DK: This association was estab-lished in 1968 as “UNECA Sav-ings Club” by a general meeting of members from the United Nations Eco-nomic Com-mission for Africa (UNECA) as an affiliated body of the United Nations Employers Mutual Ben-efit Society (UNEMBS). By 1978, the association was enlarged by a general meeting of staff members of all United Nations Organizations in Ethiopia and Specialized Agen-cies to become a Savings and Credit Association of the staff of the said Organization thereby allowing staff of theses organizations to enjoy the benefits of membership. Q3. Who are your members?

DK: All individual members of the staff of the UN family organizations in Ethiopia and their Sub Regional Offices who are in the payroll of their respective Organization and AFICS members who are living in Ethiopia are entitled to become

members of this Association. Staff members, who were working with other UN organizations outside of Ethiopia and are back, may become members upon approval of the Board of Directors. Retirees cannot take loans except against the col-lateral of their deposits.

Q4. What kind of benefits do you give to the staff which they cannot get from other commercial banks?

DK: I don’t know much about what the other Banks offer. As far as UNSSCA is concerned, it is a mutual benefit staff association the objective to promote thrift amongst its mem-bers by providing them an opportuni-

ty to make savings and in the process to create funds for members to borrow to improve their lively hood. UNSSCA is a non-profit institu-tion. Whatever profit the association makes, goes back to the staff in the form of dividends. Our loan condi-tions are staff- friendly in a sense that our operating rules and regulations are designed in favor of the staff.

Q5. The General Service staff use to have an account in dollar which has been discontinued. Why this change?

Savings in dollars was primar-ily intended to help the GS staff for medical and education purposes only. This privilege has been used by the staff as a means of saving in dollar. This in return reduced the savings in Birr which reduced UNSSCA’s

collection to meet its requirements in Birr. At the same time the associa-tion had kept the privileges of giving in dollars for those who genuinely requires it to meet their medical and educational purposes either from their already saved UD dollar or from the Association’s resources. In other words the GS staff did not lose their intended privileges as result of this change in policy has been in many occasions explained to members in detail. Should anyone require further information; they should approach the association’s office.

Q6. Do you work with other UN credit Unions?

DK: We do. We are a member of the Associations of UN affiliated Credit Unions. There is a meet-ing hosted by one of the members and is held every year to discuss

common issues and problems encountered and share experi-ences.

Q7. What kind of messages would you like to pass to your cli-ents?

DK: Staff should come and benefit from the services that the associa-tion provides. For any information regarding the association, check out our website on the ECA and Staff Union intranet. Feel free to come to UNSSCA located on the 1st floor of the ECA building or contact us on the following address:

United Nations Staff Savings and Credit Association (UNSSCA) C/O UNECA, Africa Hall P.O. Box 3005 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 00251-115-50 97 12 Fax: 00251-115-51 73 07 OR 251-115-51 44 16Interview by Seble Demeke

“Staff members, who were working with other UN organizations outside of Ethiopia and are back, may

become members upon approval of the Board of Directors.”

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“We should have our magazine where we voice our opinions and our concerns. It will be a way

to express our views. Much better than the corridors.”

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Yemesratch TewoldeConference Planning Supervisor

The Staff Union of the United Na-tions Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in cooperation with the Administration and Man-agement of the organization will be launching this magazine entitled “THE UNECA STAFF VOICE”. It will be the first of its kind to be prepared under the auspices of the Staff Union. The primary purpose of the magazine is to share useful and relevant information among staff members of the UN System or-ganizations located in Addis Ababa and in the sub-regional offices of UNECA. Its secondary purpose is to enhance the communication and negotiation mechanisms with the administration and management of the organization. Furthermore, the magazine will focus on infor-mation that are pertinent to staff rules and staff affairs. It will be posted on the website of the Staff Union for easy access to its contrib-uting members and other stake-holders.

Q1. What do you think of this initiative by the current members of the Staff Union?

YT: It is long overdue. We should have our magazine where we voice our opinions and our concerns. It will be a way to express our views. Much better than the corridors! It is a way of exchanging information among staff. This will be a forum where people connect. It is a very useful initiative by the Staff Union and it should be encouraged by all the staff.

Q2. What do you think of staff participation in the activities or-ganized by the UN system organi-zations? (E.g. UN Family day in the ECA compound)

YT: It is very sad to see that staff completely detached. I don’t see any belongingness. I see a resignation. People don’t show up when the

Town hall meetings are called, when the Union calls, when UNHCC calls for health campaigns. I see very low staff morale and something has to be done for creating the sense of belongingness. The UN without the staff is an empty building. We are the pearls the stars and the life of the organization. If we are not actively participating, nothing is to change for the staff and our Com-mission will not achieve easily its

objectives. We have many unre-solved issues and if such avenues are not used then we will never get the results or change that we want. Participation in the activities organ-ized by the UN System organiza-tions should be our duty. A good example is the recently organized event for the UN family day by UNDP and the very same day the

concert event organized by UN WOMEN. There was a very poor turnout while the event was ex-tremely success-ful the participa-

tion was less to be desired. I also remember very vividly the Tree Planting Event which was poorly attended by staff.

Q3. What does the empowerment of women mean to you?

YT: The empowerment of women; as a woman it definitely means a lot to me. Women, God made us very special. We are selfless creatures.

Yemesratch Tewolde, Conference Planning Supervisor


Therefore, empowering women is empowering the world. I think if women were leading half of the country in the world, I don’t think we would have had half of the problems that the world is facing now.

Q4. What is your view about the participation and involvement of women in ECA programmes and activities?

YT: UN with the gender policy is doing very well. The whole system encourages women candidates. ECA has women directors and the

Deputy Executive Secretary is a woman. Therefore, the UN is set-ting a good example regarding the acknowledgements and progress of women.

Q5. How do you see your future progress in the United Nations?

YT: I am ambitious enough and with all the opportunities available in the UN, I see a very bright future.

Q6. Any messages that you would like to pass to the staff.

YT: I am a people’s person. I want

us to get together and create the real UN family and support each other. Maybe the Staff Union in collaboration with our management can come here in creating some leisure clubs and social events. This creates the opportunity where staff would know one another better. Therefore, they will start to care for each other and that sense of belong-ingness and unity would naturally come. So I urge the STAFF UNION to work even harder to make this happen

Thank you for your time. Interview by Seble Demeke

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Message by the Under-Secretary-General

Mr. Shaaban M. ShaabanDepartment for General Assembly and Conference Management

It gives me great pleasure to intro-duce the Language Outreach Portal of the United Nations. The United Nations is one of the world’s largest employers of lan-guage professionals, together with the European Institutions. It em-ploys hundreds of language profes-sionals working in the Department for General Assembly and Con-ference Management (DGACM) through its offices in New York, Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi. Those language professionals comprise interpreters, translators, editors, verbatim reporters, terminologists, reference assistants, copy preparers and proofreaders. Additionally, lan-guage professionals are also hired by the United Nations Regional Commissions in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut and Santiago. The ability of United Nations to attract the best in the field - given the stringent professional expertise required - has recently become a real challenge due to demographic changes and the impact of glo-balization, especially for certain language combinations. In an effort to address this problem, DGACM has initiated a language outreach programme having academia as its focus.

The Portal is an integral compo-nent of the Language Outreach to Universities initiative. The Portal is designed to guide and assist people in identifying language career op-portunities at the United Nations, in choosing appropriate academic training and/or preparing for Unit-

ed Nations Competitive Language Examinations. A section on capac-ity building provides limited access to specialized language study and training programmes for prospec-tive candidates of Competitive Lan-guage Examinations, through our academic partners who have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DGACM.

The United Nations recruitment policy for language staff is geogra-phy and gender blind. The selec-tion criteria for the examinations are based solely on the skills and experience of the applicants, not their nationality, and candidates are recruited solely on the basis of their performance in the examinations. Once selected through the competi-tive examination processes, in the area of languages, the candidates are hired into the professional category and thus rules on geographical balance do not apply. Success-ful applicants come from varied

professions, including journalism, law, and economics, and have the opportunity to build a strong career with the United Nations.

I hope that through this portal, and as it continues to evolve, we will be able to build upon existing partnerships, initiate new ones, and welcome amidst us a cadre of core language professionals and a strengthened Department for General Assembly Affairs and Con-ference Management in service of the Organization and the Member States.

Please note that African Embas-sies, Universities and other tertiary training institutions will find infor-mation on United Nations train-ing and examinations outreach for translators/precis-writers, editors, verbatim reporters and interpret-ers at: (http://www.unlanguage.org/default.aspx)

Posted by Habteselassie Ebenezer Nii Amu First-Quao


Amdu YirgettaService Desk, wTeam Leader, ITSS

Q1. What do you think of this ini-tiative by the Staff Union?

AY: I think the initiative is very important because it will help staff of ECA understand what the other colleagues are doing, what their concerns are; and it will help them benefit from the experience of those who have success stories.

Q2. You have been the supervisor of Service Desk in ITSS for a long time. What are the success and challenges of the Department?

AY: Within the last 11 years when I have worked as the supervisor of the Service Desk within the Cus-tomer Support Unit of ITSS, I have seen significant improvement in regard to the relationship between our customers and us and also on the way we serve our customers. This is mainly because we came from a disorgan-ized IT support to a well organ-ized service delivery and support based on different standards and best practices available in the market today. Among these include CRM (Customer Relation Management), ITIL (Information Technology In-frastructure Library), CObIT (Con-trol Objectives for Information and related Technology) and PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled Environ-ments 2). For example, according to CRM, our support should be based on customers’ needs and values rather than internal operations. That is the principle we are trying to follow now while delivering ser-

vices. On the other hand, according to ITIL, the Service Desk should be, a single point of contact for all queries in the IT department, able to receive and record all calls from users, deal directly with simple requests and complaints, keep users informed on status and progress, monitor and escalate all incidents according to agreed service lev-els, produce management reports, provide initial assessment of all

incidents and close all requests after confirming from users. That is what we have been trying to establish over the years so that our service delivery is well organized and standardized. So realizing applica-tions of these standards and observ-ing reliance of users in ITSS are the successes I believe we achieved. Re-garding challenges, the contractual status of many of the support staff in the Section is one of the biggest problems. Since most of the support staff in ITSS and significant number in the Service Desk are Individual

Contractors, this would hinder them enjoying different privileges such as medical insurance, pen-sion, leaves, etc. In addition, as the information technology is advanc-ing fast on daily basis, it would require to any IT department and its staff to keep their knowledge of the technology up-to-date. And lack of regular training in this regard is another problem.

Q3. How do you see the future of IT in ECA?

AY: I believe IT will continue playing signifi-cant role in ECA

in the future. This can be seen from the tendency that IT’s role became more important at present than in the past. Imagine those years where we used postal services and other slower communication means for our communication with each other and with our partners. Where as, today, electronic mail (e-mail) became one of the most important and mission critical applications in many organizations including ECA. This is an example which shows that the role of IT in any organiza-tion is always increasing and that

Amdu Yirgetta, Service Desk, Team Leader, ITSS

“Imagine those years where we used postal services and other slower communication means

for our communication with each other and with our partners.”

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will be also the tendency in the future. If IT was a tool of the busi-ness in the past, it is enabler of the business today and I believe it will be part of the business in the future, specially, based on the day-to-day advancement of the technology, the tendency that the technology is be-coming always more available and affordable and the standards being developed from time to time, this could be a reality in the near future. Imagine those years where purchas-ing those expensive computers and software were unthinkable for many organizations, where as, today com-puters are important tools for most organization, educational institu-tions and even house holds, I think computers or IT equipment will be the most significant (if not the only) devices all organizations and the society will use for their work, education and entertainment. So I believe IT will be significant part of ECA’s processes. Moreover, I believe that in the future as a result of the development different Internet and Telecommunication technologies, our clients will be able to work and access resources from any where be it from home, while they are on mission or while on vacation using telecommuting equipment, any devices connected to internet and smart phones.

Q4. Do you collaborate with other

IT departments of UN organiza-tions located in the ECA com-pound? (E.g. UNDP, UNFPA, ILO, & WHO).

AY: Based on the Memorandum of Understandings we have with different UN organizations in Ethiopia, we provide them with the required services as ECA is the leading organization in regards to IT in Ethiopia. So based on the MoU, we collaborate with different UN organization both in the com-pound and outside, starting from provision of Internet Pass Through services to full desktop support and network services.

Q5. Any messages to pass to the staff and other clients of your service?

AY: My message to our clients will be to cooperate with us always by giving us feed back on our services so that we can always device means to improve our service delivery in line with the clients’ needs. So whenever you come across with different surveys from ITSS, please take some time to fill the surveys. In addition, I would like them to use many services that we deliver including our well organ-ized IT training services so that they become skilled, they serve the organization more efficiently and calls to the Service Desk will be reduced.

Thank you for your time. Interview by Seble Demeke

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Didier HABIMANACommunication Officer, SRO-EA


DH: This initiative is excellent in a sense that there will be a link between staff in Addis and SROs. The gap in a sound decision making process can be reduced by this type of exchange. The bottom line is that this magazine will be a useful tool to enhance communication among staff..

Q2. What kind of information would you like to see included in the UNECA STAFF VOICE maga-zine?

DH: In my opinion the maga-zine should include the following information which I believe are beneficial to all the staff including the SROs.

a) Knowledge is power. What are the benefits of being ECA staff and being part of the ECA Staff Union? This needs to be clear in the staff mind.b) What are the staff union

decisions to which I can contribute to; which might be in the pipeline? E.g. Somalia. We want to have staff to contribute to assist reduce the hunger in the Horn of Africa. The staff union magazine can encourage people give out any type of support; assistance and contribution:c) The new changes which are taking place in ECA. E.g the current appointment of the Deputy Execu-tive Secretary. It would be nice to have a type of interview with the new appointees to know their vi-sion.

Q3. Do you have a forum with management for solving problems on behalf of the staff?

DH: Yes. We have a regular monthly staff meeting where we meet with the Directors; all profes-sionals and other General Service staff.

Q4. What are the up coming events for SRO-EA?

DH: There are quite a number of

seminars and documents valida-tions workshops but the major event will be a high level meeting from 13-17 February 2012 in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. This is the Sixteenth Meeting Of the Intergov-ernmental Committee of Experts (ICE): The theme of the meeting will be “Harnessing the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Poten-tial to Advance Mineral Resources Governance in Africa”.Representation will include among others RECs, ECA Eastern Africa Member States delegations; mem-bers of civil society and the media; knowledgeable people from differ-ent universities and of course ECA professional from Addis and from (SRO-EA) in Kigali.

Thank you for your time and con-tribution.

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Tigist AwokeIT Trainer, ITSS

Q1. What do you think of this ini-tiative by the Staff Union?

TA: It is a very good initiative and I believe that this action will narrow the gap between management and staff, which in return will contribute to decrease rumors and have the right information from the correct source.

Q2. You are one of the IT Instruc-tors. How is the training being accepted by the staff?

TA: First of all let me tell you about our programmes. We provide train-ing on week days and for those who do not make it during the week we provide training on Saturdays. Our courses were more of instructor lead. After staff members complete the scheduled lead instructor course on weekdays and Saturdays, they are awarded a Certifi-cate of Attendance. However, while it adds value for the staff member in terms of IT knowledge, the recogni-tion of the certificate by staff does not always bring the value similar to a degree or a recognized certificate. It is taken only as record of attendance. We in the IT believe that this situation has reduced the motivation of the staff to attend IT courses and also a large number of drop outs after registration.

Therefore, to improve this situation and increase participation by the staff:a) We have introduced what is known as International computer Driving License (ICDL) course. This ICDL is primarily an internationally recognized course and those who pass the exam will obtain an inter-national certificate. They can also

bring it in the INSPRA for improving their records and hopefully to get them considered for higher position. Furthermore, ICDL is not only about the internationally recognized cer-tificate but it is also about improving the efficiency of staff members. E.g. according to one private company in the US, an ICDL certified individual could save about 38 minutes per day, hence increasing the efficiency as well. UNECA Training Center is ICDL certified and three of its trainers are certified to provide ICDL training. The ICDL programme has significantly increased the motivation of staff to participate in IT trainings in general. This is a fact not only in UNECA Headquarters but also in the sub-regional offices.b) We introduced web based learning using UN Skill Port which is

on line in the organization. We have also introduced blended approach which is also web based and instruc-tor lead.c) A pass oriented programme was introduced to address specific issues related directly to performance and work related activities.d) We have also introduced 2 to 4 hours short courses to accommo-date those who are in short of time.e) We provide coach training to Directors and Section Chiefs.

Q3. Is IT training changing staff member’s situation in ECA. E.g. in terms of career develop-ment?

TA: Yes it has definitely increased

the possibilities of promotion to higher levels. Because IT knowl-edge is essential in carrying out all tasks in the organization.

Q4. What are the challenges?

TA: The challenges in terms of IT trainings dropping out before the course is completed, interruption due to work assignments and some-times not respecting the scheduled programme.

Q5. Do you train only ECA staff or do you also pro-vide your service to UN agencies located in Addis?

TA: We also train staff from other agencies but with some special agree-ment such as paying a reasonable fee.

Q6. What advice would you like to give to the staff regarding IT training?

TA: I would like to remind the staff that these days information is pow-er and that IT is the essential tool to process information. Therefore, in order to be efficient there is a need to be trained in IT. I encourage everyone to take IT courses with us. DON’T FORGET IT IS FREE.

Thank you for your participation.Interview by Seble Demeke

“In order to be efficent, there is a need to be trained in IT. I encourage everyone to take IT course with us. Don’t forget it’s free!”

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Workneh Gossa GirmaITSS

Q1. What do you think of this new initiative? WG: Very Interesting. This could be a system for the staff to express their concerns. Furthermore, this will help to improve the work envi-ronment between staff and manage-ment by being able to express their views as far as possible.

Q2. How does the Staff Union assist staff members in case of problems? Do you have any personal experiences?

WG: My personal experience is that the current Staff Union pro-vides remarkable support and takes staff problems seriously. As recently as this year, I had an out-standing issue which was going on for a very long time. This has been resolved thanks to the effort of the Staff Union. For this reason, I am very grateful, though there are still pending issues to be resolved.

Q3. Do you have any message to pass to the staff about the effective-ness of the Staff Union?

WG: The Staff Union is not as powerful as it should be and this is mainly due to the staff itself which is not giving enough atten-tion to the activities of the Union. I must admit though, that since the recent change and take over of the responsibility of admin-istration by one of ECA’s most experienced staff members who knows very well the concerns of the Commission’s staff, the effec-tiveness in solving staff problems has improved significantly. The management, however, needs to be more transparent and accommo-dating to the staff in order to serve stakeholders better. We all have an obligation to make the Com-mission effective and that should be the end goal of the staff, admin-istration and the management.

The staff should keep on knocking until success is achieved in solv-ing their problems. Persistence is a way to make our Union stronger. Another important point is, when the Staff Union calls a meeting on a given issue, the staff is not al-ways collaborative. even when it is in their interest that the Union is calling the meeting, not a good percentage attend. Staff should participate and call on their Union when there is a need.

Thank you for your participation. Interview by Seble Demeke

Workneh Gossa Girma, ITSS

Yared AbebeSecurity Officer

Q1. What do you think of this new initiative?

YA: First of all, thank you for select-ing me for this interview. In my view, this should have been done earlier since the negotiating positions be-tween the staff and management have been very wide for a very long time. But, with this magazine, it is a very good beginning to express the con-cerns of the staff and to find amicable solutions with the administration.

Q2. How does the Staff Un-ion assist staff members in case of problems? Do you have any personal experiences?

YA: In my view, the transparency be-tween managers and their staff should be based on the UN core competen-cies and performance criteria which are clearly indicated in the Staff Rules and Regulations. Those golden words must be in effect in our day-to-day activity.

The assistance and support I have received from the current Staff Union is to be taken by other staff members as an example of the Union bring-ing results to our problems. They intervened in my personal problem and assisted me to negotiate with the Administration which resulted in improving my career according to my

educational background and work experience. For this, I am deeply grateful to the Staff Union and also to the management for solving my problem in an acceptable way.

Q3. Do you have any message to pass to the staff about the effective-ness of the Staff Union?

YA: In my view, the staff does not give the benefit of the doubt that the Union will solve their problems. In-stead of approaching the Union, they try to solve their problems on their own. This may not bring the expected solution. Therefore, I advise my col-leagues to raise their concern through the Staff Union, even if it takes time.

Thank you for your participation.

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Mekbibe PetrosSecurity Officer

Q1. What do you think of the initiative by the Staff Union on the UNECA STAFF VOICE Magazine?

MP: I believe that this initiative will be very useful for the staff and it will also be a positive contribution to the work of management for the following reasons:

It will create a formal relationship, e.g. it will stop unnecessary rumors.It will help the staff to know more about their rights and obligations.The right body for representing the staff is the Staff Union. The staff will therefore, be aware that the Staff Un-ion stands for them in case of problems.Staff should, therefore, become part of the Union and contribute their due to make the Union stronger.

Furthermore, I believe that this will bring the staff and manage-ment closer together and the staff

will benefit from the knowledge included in the magazine.

Q2. In your view what kind of information should the maga-zine include?

MP: The magazine should include new decisions that are of interest to the staff. E.g. salary surveys, pensions, medical and other information.

Q3. Do you have any other issue you would like to mention at this point?

MP: In the Com-mission, there are

support staff that have no access to computers. Therefore, they should be given online access for them to know their rights and obligations.

Q4. What kind of message would you like to pass to the staff through this magazine?

MP: (a) The staff directly or indi-rectly is benefiting from the Staff Union since the Staff Union is there to assist the staff. E.g. benevolent fund, GYM etc.

(b) When there is a general meet-ing called by the Staff Union, full participation is expected, including for selecting staff representatives.

(c) Elections should be based on the basis that the person elected will serve the staff. Elections should not be conducted to please anyone but should be based on merit.

Thank you for your contribution.Interview by Seble Demeke

“Staff directly or indirectly benefit from the Staff Union”

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Of Books, e-Books and other considerationsReading a book on iPad feels somewhat silly. It is not all over the place, to be bumped into 10 times in a day as the accusing cover asks, hey, when are you com-ing back? You move on and that moving on is largely more than I need, exceeding my very capacity to read. Finally, that fits in very well with our times.

My summer began on iPad and is ending on paper. Reading a book on iPad is a bit like love-texting on msn messenger. Technology kills the sensual, lacking as it does contact with paper, its smell, the sensation of what remains to be read and of what has been read.I am not rejecting reading on iPad, by the way. It’s highly practical, but cold, never mind how practical. I find it cold. Well, I am a bit undecided.

When I come back to paper, I look desperately for « search » (how ironical !) trying to find where I had already come across a character or a passage I had really liked but which, very stupid of me, I had failed to mark. How do I look for Shangri-La on Wikipedia without having to put down my book, get up and sit back before the screen before return-ing to my couch (50 kcal) ?

Loaning out a book is almost like entrust-ing a child to someone. There may be thousands, even millions of copies of books I read but no new copy will replace mine. Like losing my child and telling me you’ve found another who looks exactly like his double. I’d rather have my child back!

Nothing beats walking among the rows of bookshelves with my left index finger trailing and flipping from cover to cover until I come across an intriguing or exciting book.

It takes two (my book and I) to read….and three’s a crowd!

By Jean-Marie Vailloud, “Grange Blanche” publication, 14

August 2011. Translated by Habteselassie Ebenezer Nii Amu

First-Quao, Conference Interpreter/English Reviser.

Livres, eLivres et autres considérations (Original francais)C’est un peu embêtant, un texte sur iPad. Ça ne prend pas de place, on ne tombe pas nez à nez 10 fois par jour avec la couverture accusatrice du livre, dis, quand est-ce que tu viens ? On accumule et cette accumula-tion inutile dépasse largement mes besoins et même ma capacité à consommer. Cela cadre finalement très bien avec notre époque.

J’ai débuté l’été sur iPad et je le termine sur papier. Un texte sur iPad, c’est un peu comme une amoureuse sur msn messenger. La technologie tue la sensualité. Manquent le contact du papier, son odeur, la sensation de ce qui reste à lire, et de ce qui a été lu.

Je ne vais pas non plus rejeter la lecture sur iPad. C’est très pratique, mais froid, mais pratique. Mais froid.

Bref, je reste un peu indécis. Quand je reviens sur le papier, je cherche désespérément la fonc-tion « recherche » (quelle iro-nie). Mais où ai-je déjà croisé ce personnage, mais où est ce passage qui m’a tant plu, mais que très bêtement je n’ai pas marqué, comment chercher

Shangri-La sur Wikipedia sans avoir à poser mon livre, me lever, et me rassoir devant mon écran avant de retourner sur la canapé (50 kcal) ?

Un livre prêté, c’est presque comme un enfant que l’on confie. Il existe des milliers, des millions d’exemplaires des bouquins que je lis, mais aucun exemplaire neuf ne remplacera le mien. Euh, on a perdu ton gamin, mais on en a trouvé un qui lui ressemble comme deux gouttes d’eau. Oui mais non.

Rien ne remplacera les promenades entre les rayon-nages de livres, l’index gauche glissant et sautant de couverture en couverture jusqu’à ce que j’en trouve une intrigante, une excitante.

Pour lire, il (ne) faut être (que) deux, le livre et soi.

Par Jean-Marie Vailloud

Publié sur «Grange Blanche» le 14 août 2011

Contributions


ASSOCIATION DU PERSONNEL DE LA Commission économique pour l’Afrique (CEA: un outil de plaidoyer pour l’amélioration des conditions de vie et de travail du personnel et le développement du continent.

Le rôle de l’Association du person-nel de la CEA est de sensibiliser le personnel sur ses droits, de-voirs et responsabilités vis-à-vis de l’administration, de l’aider et de lui apporter des éclaircisse-ments sur les négociations avec l’administration. Ces négociations visent l’amélioration des conditions de vie et de travail du personnel et la résolution d’eventuels conflits en-tre les deux parties, à savoir person-nel et administration.

Employé de la CEA et membre de l’Association du personnel, j’ai eu l’opportunité, au cours des quatre

dernières années, de travailler avec les collègues sur des dossi-ers sensibles et sur les questions importantes qui touchent la vie du personnel de la CEA. Qu’il me soit permis de citer entre autres: (i) la reconversion du person-nel GTAF en GS; (ii) la mise en place d’un comité, composé des membres de l’administration et de l’association du personnel pour étudier les questions en suspens au niveau de l’administration; (iii) la création d’un centre de diver-tissement pour les membres du personnel; (iv) la restructuration du gymnase, etc.

Au regard de mon expérience personnelle avec l’Association du personnel, je peux témoigner des résultats concrets obtenus ces deux dernières années, exhorter les collègues à s’y affilier, à soute-nir ses actions et à participer aux différentes réunions et assemblées générales, lieux de prises de déci-sions relatives à l’améliorations de la situation du personnel.

Isidore KahouiFonctionnaire chargé des affaires économiquesBSR-Afrique centraleYaoundé, Camero

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«Cadre d’action et de coopération pour le renforcement des capacités d’adaptation aux changements climatiques au Maghreb.

Rapport de synthèse - SEPTEMBRE 2011

RÉSUMÉ:

La région du Maghreb est particu-lièrement vulnérable aux change-ments climatiques qui influent sur le développement socioéconomique de la région et sur certains milieux écologiques sensibles. Cette vul-nérabilité vient surtout du fait que l’économie des pays du Maghreb est très dépendante de secteurs sensibles au climat tels que l’eau, l’agriculture, la pêche, le tourisme et les infrastructures.

La vulnérabilité du Maghreb aux changements climatiques est aggra-vée par de multiples contraintes biophysiques (désertification, dimi-nution des ressources hydriques, dégradation des écosystèmes), la pauvreté d’une frange importante de la population et les problèmes liés aux capacités d’adaptation limitées. Les communautés rurales risquent de voir leurs moyens d’existence se dégrader sous l’effet des changements climatiques, de la baisse des productions végétale et animale, lesquelles constituent le plus souvent leurs seules sources de revenus.

Les changements climatiques posent de nouveaux risques qui s’ajoutent aux défis socioéco-nomiques et environnementaux existants. Pour faire face à cette situation situation et s’adapter à la variabilité climatique et ses consé-quences, les pays du Maghreb ont pris un certain nombre d’initia-

tives. Celles-ci visent notamment à promouvoir des outils de pla-nification adaptés, à intégrer le risque climatique dans les ins-truments de politiques existants, à concevoir une règlementation adéquate ou encore à mettre en œuvre des projets pilotes et diverses mesures d’adaptation. Toutefois, l’efficacité de ces initia-tives est entravée par le manque de données des connaissances spécialisées et l’insuffisance des capacités institutionnelles et techniques existantes. En outre, celles-ci sont souvent isolées, de portée limitée et ne prennent pas en compte la nature plurisecto-rielle et parfois concurrentielle du processus d’adaptation,

En dépit de l’ampleur des défis à relever et malgré les nombreuses similitudes entre les pays du Maghreb il existe peu de pratiques communes et d’échange d’expé-riences en matière d’adaptation. L’exploitation des possibilités de coopération sous-régionale et régionale existantes pourrait contribuer à faire face aux menaces communes. Cette coopération pourrait s’inscrire dans un contexte de partage d’information et de connaissances en matière d’adapta-tion, de diffusion des bonnes pra-tiques et d’enseignements tirés des initiatives réalisées sur le terrain, de mise en place de programmes communs et de mobilisation de ressources.

Soucieux d’examiner la question d’adaptation aux changements climatiques sous tous ses aspects, le Bureau sous-régional pour l’Afrique du Nord (Commission économique pour l’Afrique) et le Centre africain pour les politiques climatiques(CAPC), en collabo-ration avec l’Union du Maghreb arabe (UMA) œuvrent en vue de fournir des orientations straté-giques visant à intégrer l’adaptation dans les processus et programmes de développement durable. Dans cette perspective, ils ont pris l’ini-tiative d’élaborer un cadre d’action et de coopération pour renforcer les capacités d’adaptation aux changements climatiques au Ma-ghreb. Celle-ci est motivée par le fait que l’élaboration des politiques d’adaptation évoluait rapidement sans une «feuille de route» claire et sans la prise en compte des possi-bilités de capitaliser et mutualiser les efforts. Le but de cette action est de combler cette lacune en offrant une approche flexible grâce à laquelle les utilisateurs pourront clarifier leurs propres questions prioritaires et mettre en œuvre des stratégies, politiques et mesures d’adaptation qui répondent effica-cement aux changements clima-tiques.

Dans cette perspective, le présent rapport donne les informations disponibles sur les activités de renforcement des capacités mises en œuvre dans les pays du Maghreb, les besoins et les lacunes observés,

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l’expérience acquise et les ensei-gnements qui en ont été tirés. Il propose aussi un projet de cadre d’action et de coopération pour le renforcement des capacités, répon-dant aux besoins spécifiques des pays et au contexte de la région du Maghreb.

L’adaptation aux impacts des chan-gements climatiques est récente sur l’agenda politique des pays du Maghreb. Certains pays ont identi-fié leurs principales vulnérabilités et défini des mesures d’adaptation prioritaires; d’autres ont entrepris des projets de démonstration rela-tifs à l’adaptation. Toutefois, les pays ont souvent un grand nombre de défis à relever.

Les capacités d’observation et de prévision météorologiques ainsi que celles liées à l’évaluation de la vulnérabilité et des impacts poten-tiels des changements climatiques à tous les niveaux sont limitées. Aussi, très peu de scénarios climatiques régionaux et sous-régionaux ont-ils été élaborés.

Afin de mettre en place les stra-tégies et politiques adaptées aux réalités nationales, les pays ma-ghrébins ont besoin de données scientifiques locales fiables concer-nant l’évolution climatologique, les effets probables des changements climatiques, les aspects socioéco-nomiques y afférents, et les coûts et les avantages des différentes options d’adaptation. Or, la région manque de données tangibles et vérifiables. Elle n’a pas non plus assez de recul; les capacités scien-tifiques et techniques nécessaires à la planification et la mise en œuvre des stratégies et plans d’actions sont à l’heure actuelle bien insuffi-sante pour leur permettre de rele-ver les défis multidimensionnels

actuels et faire face à l’évolution dynamique et largement imprévi-sible du climat.

Les questions relatives au finance-ment sont cruciales pour aborder l’adaptation. Les coûts approxi-matifs de l’adaptation sont élevés selon toutes les estimations. Le secrétariat de la Convention-cadre des Nations Unies sur les change-ments climatiques (CCNUCC) a estimé que d’ici à 2030, les pays en développement auront besoin de 28 à 67 milliards de dollars pour financer l’adaptation aux change-ments climatiques. Sachant que les ressources disponibles et à venir ne suffiront pas à répondre aux besoins de l’adaptation, des options supplémentaires novatrices de financement devront être recher-chées.

Les besoins en mobilisation et renforcement des capacités à tous les niveaux sont notables. Le cadre de coopération doit favoriser le ren-forcement des capacités institution-nelles et la mise en place d’un envi-ronnement propice à l’adaptation, notamment en vue de parvenir à un développement résilient face aux changements climatiques. Le cadre de coopération maghrébin doit renforcer la résilience des systèmes socioéconomiques et écologiques. Il devrait être un processus continu, progressif et itératif, qui soit de nature participative, impulsé par les pays et compatible avec les priorités et les situations nationales.

Le présent rapport relève en outre que la lutte contre les changements climatiques offre des opportunités puisque de nombreux gouverne-ments ont commencé à identifier les pratiques qui diminuent la vulnérabilité aux changements cli-matiques et sont entrain de réaliser

des progrès rapides dans le cadre des programmes de développe-ment durable. Enfin il faut signaler que la conscience de la problé-matique des changements clima-tiques au Maghreb et la nécessité de l’intégration de l’information climatique à toutes les étapes du processus de la planification pour l’adaptation ne cessent de croître. Différents secteurs socioécono-miques (agriculture, ressources en eau ou tourisme) ont été, ou sont en train d’être évalués en termes de vulnérabilité par rapport au phéno-mène à l’aide de méthodes scien-tifiques et d’objectifs reconnus, en partenariat avec les différents organismes et entités spécialisés en la matière.

Six axes stratégiques repris sous forme d’actions prioritaires sont proposés. Ces axes stratégiques montrent que la réflexion sur l’adaptation doit être incorporée à tous les processus de décision tou-chant la question des changements climatiques et ses conséquences. La nécessité d’un engagement plus important en matière de coopé-ration maghrébine est également soulignée

Cette initiative servira de docu-ment d’orientation pour la prise en compte de l’adaptation aux change-ments climatiques dans la coopé-ration pour le développement dans les pays du Maghreb, notamment pour optimiser les synergies et les complémentarités avec les diffé-rents mécanismes établis dans le cadre de la CCNUCC, et orienter la stratégie maghrébine d’adap-tation aux changements clima-tiques dont la formulation a été recommandée par la Conférence des Ministres de l’agriculture des pays de l’UMA qui s’est tenue à Fès (Maroc) en juin 2008.

Contributions


ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA, Office for North Africa

The following publication is being produced by Marieme Bekkaye, under the direction of Ms. Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, Director of the ECA Office for North Africa.

Synthesis Report - SEPTEMBER 2011

Framework for action and coop-eration in building capacities for climate change adaptation in the Maghreb - an area particularly vul-nerable to climate change which is daily exerting a significant influence on the socio-economic develop-ment of the subregion and on cer-tain ecologically-sensitive locations. That vulnerability has mostly to do with the high degree to which its national economies are dependent on weather-prone sectors like water, agriculture, fishing, tourism and infrastructure.

The Maghreb’s vulnerability to climate change is compounded by multiple biophysical constraints (desertification, dwindling water resources, environmental degrada-tion), inadequate livelihoods for a substantial segment of the popula-tion and limited adaptation capaci-ties. Rural communities run the risk of seeing their means of making a living eroded by climate change and the declining productivity of the plants and animals which often constitute their sole source of income.

Climate change is fraught with risks that combine with existing socio-economic and environmen-tal challenges. To cope with such a situation and adapt to the vagaries of weather and its consequences, Maghreb countries have embarked on a number of initiatives which aim at promoting the use of suitable

planning tools, integrating climate risk in existing policy instruments and sectors, adjusting regulatory re-gimes and instituting pilot projects or adaptation measures. The effi-cacy of these initiatives is hampered by the lack of specialized knowl-edge data and the insuffiency of existing institutional and technical capabilities. Not only are these often isolated and limited in scope, but also, they fail to take into account the multisectoral and oft-competing nature of the adaptation process.

Despite the magnitude of the chal-lenges to be addressed and the mul-titude of similarities among them, Maghreb countries have little com-monality of practice and sharing of adaptation experiences. Exploring the prospects of existing subre-gional and regional cooperation might help to face down common threats. Such cooperation could be envisioned within the perspective of sharing adaptation information and knowledge, disseminating best practices and lessons learned from field initiatives and the joint mount-ing of programmes and resource mobilization drives.

Wanting to conduct a compre-hensive analysis of climate change adaptation, the North Africa Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Af-rica Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) are working with the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) to provide strategic

directions for integrating adaptation in sustainable development process-es and programmes. With that in view, they have launched an initia-tive for drafting a framework for action and cooperation in building climate adaptation capacities in the Maghreb. This was spurred by the heedless pace at which adaptation policies were being made without a clear map of the road ahead or the care to factor in the mutual leverag-ing and capitalization on the efforts made. The idea is to fill this gap by offering a flexible approach through which end-users can clarify their own priorities and pursue adapta-tion policies, strategies and meas-ures that address climate change.

To that end, the present report describes information on capacity-building activities conducted in the Maghreb countries, needs and gaps observed, the experience gained and lessons learned. It also proposes a draft framework for action and cooperation in building capacities that meet specific national needs and address the geographical con-text of the Maghreb subregion.

Only recently has adaptation to the impact of climate change come to the fore of the policy agenda in Maghreb countries. While some countries have identified their ma-jor vulnerabilities and formulated priority adaptation measures, and others have embarked on projects to demonstrate adaptation to cli-

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mate change, the fact remains that they often have to contend with a great number of challenges.

At every level, weather observa-tion and forecasting capabilities are limited as are those for assessing vulnerability to and the potential impact of climate change. As mat-ters stand, very few regional and subregional climate scenarios have been built. If they are to institute strategies and policies suited to national realities, Maghreb countries need reliable local scientific data on evolving weather patterns, their probable cli-mate change impact, the associated socio-economic implications and the cost-benefit analyses of various adaptation options. Not only, on the one hand, is the subregion lacking in hard verifiable data that is objec-tive enough but also, on the other, its current scientific and techni-cal capabilities for planning and implementing strategies and action plans fall well short of enabling it to address today’s multi-dimensional challenges and coping with the dynamic and largely unpredictable changes of the climate.

When it comes to addressing the issue of adaptation, financing is key. By every estimation, the ap-proximate costs of adaptation are high. The UNFCCC secretariat reckons that by 2030, developing countries would need from 28 to 67 billion dollars to adapt to climate change. Knowing that the available and pledged resources would not be sufficient to meet adaptation requirements, additional innovative financing options would have to be explored.

At all levels, resource mobiliza-tion and capacity building needs remain significant. The proposed

framework should promote insti-tutional capacity-building and the creation of an adaptation-friendly environment, with a special focus on developing the resilience to cope with climate change. The Maghreb cooperation framework should enhance the resilience of socio-economic and ecological systems. It should be a continuing, progressive and interactive process, participa-tory, country-driven and reflecting national priorities and situations.

The present report also reveals the opportunities inherent in combat-ing climate change since many gov-ernments are beginning to identify practices that reduce climate change vulnerability and are making speedy progress within the context of sus-tainable development programmes. Awareness of the climate change problem in the Maghreb and of the need to factor climate informa-tion into every stage of adaptation planning is on the increase. Various socio-economic sectors (agricul-ture, water resources and tourism) have been or are being assessed in

terms of vulnerability to climate change using recognized and objec-tive scientific methods and goals in partnership with various specialized agencies and institutions.

There are six strategic thrusts to the priority actions proposed. They go to show that adaptation thinking should be built into every process of decision making on climate change and its effects. Equally highlighted is the need for broadening and deepening Maghreb cooperation.

This initiative will serve as a semi-nal document for factoring climate change adaptation into develop-ment cooperation among Maghreb countries, especially for optimizing the synergies and complemen-tarities to be built with various mechanisms established within the context of the UNFCCC and guiding the Maghreb strategy for climate change adaptation whose formulation was recommended by the AMU Conference of Ministers of Agriculture which met at Fez in June 2008.”

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SPECIAL : EMPOWERMENT OF WOMENSome of those who have made it:Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is the 24th and current President of Liberia. She served as Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert from 1979 until the 1980 coup d’état, after which she left Liberia and held senior positions at various financial institutions. She placed a very distant second in the 1997 presidential election. Later, she was elected President in the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006.

Sirleaf is the first and currently the only elected female head of state in Africa.

Sirleaf was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, jointly with Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakel Karman of Yemen. The women were recognized “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.

The late Wangari Muta Mary Jo MaathaiWinner of Nobel Peace Prize

Born on April 1, 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was edu-cated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmen-tal conservation, and women’s rights. In 1986, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, and in 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable develop-ment, democracy and peace.” Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as assistant minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. In 2011, Maathai died of complications from ovarian cancer.Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Empowerment of Women


Yetunde TERIBA Head, Gender Coordination and Outreach Division, Women Gender and Development Directorate, African Union Commission, AU

What does the International Women’s Day mean to some Afri-can women?

Q1: Each year around the world International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on the 8th of March. What does this day repre-sent for African Women?

YT: The African Union Com-mission (AUC) has its own special day for Women which is the 31st of August. The Pan African Women’s Organization (PAWO) established in 1962, preceded the Organization of African Unity and contributed a great deal to building African Unity and solidarity among African women. The AU also works very closely with the United Nations in this theme, although it is not always perfect. We have together organ-ized two meetings of Ministers of Women’s |Affairs and Gender in 2005 and 2008.

AU has launched its own African Women’s Decade 2010 - 2020 on the 15th of October 2010 The Decade will focus on “Grassroots Approach to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”. During the meeting ten thematic areas were identified to guide the achievement of the Decade. The theme for this year is Health, Maternal Mortality and HIV and AIDs.

The International Women’s Day (IWD), celebrated on the 8th of March every year in general should be a day to take stock and look

forward. But for African women in particular, it should also be a date to remember their struggle for politi-cal independence and for gaining their rights as citi-zens of the conti-nent. We have had all the Beijing+ and other international conferences. From this year on-words, we should focus on the implementa-tion of all these nice documents.

The 8th of March should also be more of an awareness creating day in what needs to be changed and or revised in our approach to

the issue of the empowerment of women. The new approach should attempt to have more men in the struggle to bring the necessary desired changes. Because when a man talks about women issues, people listen, but when we talk

they say here they come again! We need to sensitize men more because if they are convinced they could make a lot of difference. It should also be taken into account

that the majority of the leaders around the world and hence decision makers are men. Therefore, we need to stop talking to ourselves and in-volve more men in our efforts to bring about a change and realize our wishes and dreams.

Q2. Any message that you would like to pass to your read-ers ?

YT: My message to my readers is that Africans should take the

ownership of the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020 so that at the end of the 10 years the situation of African women would improve dramatically.




Mulutsega Legesse Vice President, Staff Executive Committee, UNECA, Staff Union

Q1. Each year around the world International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on the 8th of March. What does this day represent for African Women?

ML: As we celebrate March 8, as International Women’s Day, we need to remember that this is the time to move to the next higher agenda level.

Although women of all times share similar challenges and responsi-bilities, it is also a fact that today’s women carry more of a burden on their shoulders. They have become the main contributors to global economic development while also being expected to carry on the tra-ditional responsibilities in the socio economic sectors, including the do-mestic management of their house-holds. Women need redefined laws which addresses today’s challenges. They should be engaged in peace talks and be allowed to participate in making decision that affect their life. They should be economically empowered to face the challenges and be given the opportunity to realize their full potential through skills development.

March 8 should therefore, be celebrated by all women around the world as a recognition of oth-ers the contribution that women make towards global economic and social development. Furthermore, gender parity has become a concept on paper and very little has been achieved in this area by member States and the UN organizations. The celebration of March 8 is also a reminder that the present gender inequality in almost all aspects

of life must be acknowledged and actions taken to change the status quo. Women’s participation in de-cision making and policy formulation of at global and continental level is vital in order to bring change to the lives of millions of African women living in absolute poverty.

Q2. Any message that you would like to pass to your readers ?

ML: Yes, Even though very little is being done to address the issues that concern women around the world, I would like to encourage women of all sectors and walks of life to focus on their success and

hold on to their dreams, no matter what the challenges may be. To-day’s challenges can be used as an opportunity to open the gates for success. We should not lose hope but rise to contribute in every way and seek participation to change the lives of many women around the world. Focus not on what we cannot change but on what we can achieve.



Meaza AshenafiAfrican Women’s Rights Observatory Regional Advisor, ACGSD, UNECA


MA: March 8 is a day of com-memoration as well as reflection for African women. It is an opportunity to take stock and assess the status of women, the progress they have made in the areas of consolidat-ing normative frameworks and institutional arrangements, the opportunities that they can harness with better education and partici-pation in the economic and social lives of their nations. March 8 is also a moment of reckoning with new and emerging challenges such as the unique burden shouldered by women as a result of climate change, food insecurity and risks associated with the growing gap between the rich and the poor; the persisting constraints such as violence against women and the

marginal role of women in political decision making . It is an opportunity for shared learning, and building strong networks. March 8 is an occasion for hope, renewal of commit-ment and deter-mination to go the distance.

Q2. Any message that you would like to pass to your read-ers ?

MA: For too long the focus of the international community as well as national actors have been crafting laws and establishing institutions that will be in charge of coordina-tion and leadership. These have been essential steps since laws and institutions are tools for women in their pursuit of equal rights and op-

portunities. At the same time it has also become evident that the reali-zation of women’s rights does not solely depend on having legal norms and standards. My message for this year would be: let the vast and silent majority of African women be empowered to claim the standards in their day –to-day lives and be agents and the change makers that they are.



Adjoa des Bordes-ImbouaEnglish Editor and Translator


ABI: IWD is a day of raising aware-ness that women can never be ex-cluded from political, economic and social issues affecting the world. For African women, it is a day for showing loudly and clearly that the struggle for economic emancipa-tion continues unabated. It is also a time of reckoning whether globali-zation has impacted African women positively or negatively.

Q2. Any message that you would like to pass to your readers ?

ABI: Let us, as African women

raise awareness about girls’ educa-tion as one sure way of elevating the lives of African girls and women. Let us not only talk about it, let us in our own small ways see how we can promote litera-cy, not only for our own children, but the children (espe-cially girls) of the less fortunate in society. Let us help teenage girls hawking in the streets to improve their skills. Let’s teach them about how to run small businesses. Let us help the women in the market better their lot by improving their accounting skills for instance. Let

us encourage our young girls, who have been fortunate enough to have overseas education to come back home to help their less fortunate sisters. We should get our women in parliament involved. We ought to treat all this as a mat-ter of urgency


Seble DemekeEditor-in-chief, UNECA Staff Voice, and UN Special Correspondent in Africa


The theme of the International Women’s Day, March 8, 2011 was “Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Path-way to decent work for women”. What needs to be our focus this year is the allocation of resources to the priority areas of education and training in appropriate tech-nology, which form the bases for capacity building and will hopefully result in increasing employment for women. The economic, social and political empowerment of women

is one essential way of changing the situation of women in Africa.

Q2. Any message that you would like to pass to your readers ? March 8, Inter-national Women’s Day is a day for all women to re-member our worth and a time to re-mind ourselves of the sacrifices our mothers and grandmothers made for us and to live a better life than theirs. As this is a long-term struggle we need to remember them, be grateful for what they have done for us every

year and continue the struggle in the same manner or do better in passing the torch to the next generation of women. The 8th of March is there-fore, a wake up call every year to do better and achieve more for the next generation.


Recent Events

Deputy Secretary-General Opens the 12th Session of the Regional Coordination MechanismECA Press Release No. 139/2011

Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms Asha-Rose Migiro

Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh

Addis Ababa, 21 November 2011 (ECA) - The Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms Asha-Rose Migiro, today opened the twelfth session of the Regional Coor-dination Mechanism (RCM), with a strong message of support for Africa and its people from United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.

Ms Migiro said the meeting comes at a time of great challenges and op-portunities for Africa. She noted that GDP in Africa as a whole has been growing at a rate exceeding 5 percent per year and that six out of ten fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa.

“But we know that Africa, as a whole, is still faced with daunting yet not unsurpassable challenges. From water and sanitation, child and maternal health to job creation; and from the food crisis and famine - as currently seen in the Horn of Africa - to stemming armed conflicts where they persist,” she said.

The Deputy Secretary-General called on the meeting to advance the UN-AU Ten-Year Capacity Building Programme with concrete programmes that are aligned to the priorities of the African Union Com-mission.

She further called on participants to actively engage in preparations for the Rio + 20 conference on sustain-able development, which is a crucial

issue for Africa. “The Conference is a major opportunity to produce plans for greater economic dynamism, social protection, and the creation of jobs, especially for youth – all while protecting our natural resources,” she said.

Also speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said the AU at-taches great importance to the RCM and will compile an annual report of its activities to be delivered to their Executive Council.

He noted that many UN agencies spend as much as two-thirds of their global resources on their operations in Africa. “The United Nations has a better reach and has more resources to support Africa in its quest for peace and security, democracy and development,” he said.

He commended the Economic Commission for Africa, for provid-ing resources for hosting the RCM Secretariat and convening discussions that led to a common understanding of the meaning of capacity building and the development of work pro-grammes in support of the Ten year Capacity Building Programme.

He further called on the RCM to reflect on ways of accelerating pro-gress towards attaining the MDGs in Africa as many countries are off-track to meeting the targets by 2015.

Also speaking at the opening ses-sion, United Nations Under-Secre-tary-General and Executive Secretary of ECA, Mr. Abdoulie Janneh, called on the entire UN System to bear in mind that the food crisis in Africa has been mainly structural and long-term in nature and therefore only exacerbated by the recent spike in prices. The theme of this RCM – A Coordinated Multisectoral Response to the Food Crisis Challenge in Africa - which places appropriate emphasis on an action oriented approach to the various international initiatives that have been adopted is therefore quite apt. We must also go beyond providing emergency food aid, or celebrating the short-term supply response to higher prices to address the underlying cause of the structural food crisis in Africa . It is essential to guard against the inadequate atten-tion and provision to agriculture that lies behind the structural food crisis in the continent while working vigor-ously to implement the Comprehen-sive Africa Agriculture Development Programme of NEPAD.

The second has to do with how we operate to improve coherence and deliver on the Ten-Year Capac-ity Building Programme. We should clearly specify our intentions and the resources that we are willing to commit over specified time-frame to achieve this objective. This would require as we agreed at the last meet-ing that each cluster articulates and implements multiyear business plans to guide its activities and serve as a basis for coordinated action.

The third issue that I would flag for your attention relates to the secretar-iat of the RCM which ECA proudly hosts. The RCM Secretariat belongs to all of us and its make-up should reflect this common ownership. I therefore expect that this meeting will build on the momentum of the last RCM to broaden participation in the work of the Secretariat.


PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

UN Day Celebration in United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

The United Nations is 66 years old on 24 October 2011. This was the day when the five permanent members of the United Nations which includes France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States ratified its Charter. Every year the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA), located in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia celebrates the occasion by organizing colorful social events for its staff.

YOUR THOUGHTS ON ...When was ECA founded? How many member states were present at the start of ECA? What are the Official languages in ECA?Who was the first Executive Secretary of ECA?How many Executive Secretaries ECA has since its establishment?

UPCOMING EVENTS

Date Event Title No. of participants February 2012 13 - 14 Africa-US Higher Education Initiative Partners Meeting 110 15 - 18 9th EAFCA Conference and Exhibition 1,220 March 2012 22 - 27 5th Joint Meeting: AU Conference of Ministers of Economy & 500 Finance & ECA Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development April 23 - 28 13th World Congress on Public Health 1,500 May 8 Ethiopia Business Investment Summit 215

Staff Union Corner


Staff-Management Committees13 February 2009

I. THE JOINT NEGOTIATING COMMITTEE (JNC)II. THE CENTRAL REVIEW COMMITTEE (CRC)III. THE CENTRAL REVIEW PANEL (CRP)IV. THE CLASSIFICATION APPEALS COMMITTEE (CAC)V. THE JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE (JMC) for PASVI. THE PANEL ON DISCRIMINATION AND OTHER GRIEVANCESVII. THE UN HEALTH CENTRE COMMITTEEVIII. THE PAS REBUTTAL PANEL (PRP)

STAFF UNION CORNER

Current Achievements:

The official opening of the Staff Cafeteria, Bon Café known also as the Green House, took place on November 10, 2011. Several staff members participated at the open-ing which made the event success-ful. • Membership of the Union has

increased from 400 in 2008 to 580. Unprecedented success in the history of the staff union.

• 102 members are currently benefiting from the Union’s personal loan system, which is provided with only 1% interest.

• Central Review Bodies have been strengthened and per-forming at optimum.

• The Joint Staff Management Negotiating Committee (JNC), which has not been in operation within the Commission for the last 8 years, is now operational.

• The Office of Staff Legal Assis-tance (OSLA) has now posted an expert at ECA to provide support to UN staff members, retirees and their families.

• A complete gym facility includ-ing aerobics for staff and their family members The Gymna-

sium is fully operational and provides staff with necessary facilities to cope with work stress.

• A staff cafeteria/restaurant has been refurbished and open?

Most of the achievements were made possible due to collaborative efforts between Staff and Manage-ment.

Future Work Plan :

• Improve communication and relations with other staff unions in Addis Ababa (UNDP, UN-ESCO, UNICEF, UNFPA, etc.).

• Improve the financial manage-ment (Revise existing rules as necessary, including reporting to the Staff Committee Mem-bers and to the staff)

• Upgrade the Union website and post essential information, such as salary surveys and other benefits.

• Be active in the staff-manage-ment negotiations and be part of the different committees which reviews mobility and career development and other staff benefits.

• Get involved in the post adjust-ment of Professional and cost of living of General Services staff.

• Review the medical benefits of staff and retired staff members to make revisions to existing rules if necessary.

• Make a study of the possibil-ity of assisting staff members during the winter holiday seasons (subsidized summer programmes for the staff).

Future challenges of the Union:

• In the area of staff management relations.

• Involving staff members in the Union activities.

• Contributing to the major pro-grammes of the organization, such as achieving the MDG, meeting global challenges, and promoting regional integration.

• Increase social activities to bring staff together and ex-change ideas on how to make the Union more effective, as well as discuss common con-cerns and problems.

• Organize activities for UN day celebration.

• Call a GA at least twice a year • to get feed backs from the staff

Staff Union Corner


ECA Triumphs in David Kamara Cup

The Economic Commission for Af-rica (ECA) football team lifted the David Kamara trophy in a thrilling 2 – 1 defeat of the African Union Commission on Sunday 13 June in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The trophy is named after the late David Kamara, former staff member of ECA who was also the coach of the ECA football team. Mr. Kamara passed away suddenly on November 16, 2009. He joined ECA in 1987.

Lifting the trophy on behalf of ECA, team captain Samson Kassa said this was the most fitting tribute for the former coach. “His encourage-ment and commitment for the team will remain in our hearts forever.”

Amid loud cheers form ECA sup-porters, Kassa added that David had “helped the team not only to par-ticipate in the various tournaments but also built a strong team sprit that laid the foundation for our suc-cess. Winning the trophy is really the least we could do to honour our great leader and coach.”

The Officer in Charge of ECA, Adballah Hamdok, watched the game from the sidelines and later congratulated the team for their spirited victory.

Mr. Hamdok said, “The suc-cessful organization of the tournament was testimony to the respect of all partici-pants for the late David Ka-mara who had many friends in and out of football cycles because of his humility.”

In this tough final encoun-ter, AU took the lead in the midway through the first half of the game. However, ECA equalized and went on to score the winner in the second half.

The full list of teams that partici-pated in the tournament were the Embassy of the United States of America, the African Union Com-

mission, Lycée Gebre/Mariam (which is the French school based in Addis Ababa), NIB-Bank, Shera-ton Hotel Addis Ababa, UN Agen-cies, ECA, and United Bank.

From top, clockwise, ECA team with current DES, African Union team and David’s cup - Agencies team

Berhanu Tesfaye, left, and team captain, Samson Kebede with the cup that they won

Staff Union Corner

Shoa Supermarket

“The benefits indicated in this magazine are to all UN Staff Members in Addis Ababa with the UN identification card for a period of three months (January, February, March) will end on Saturday 31 March 2012. As of 1st April 2012 it will only be

to the active members of the Staff Union.”

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