If the age and seniority structure of United Nations professional staff were depicted as a human body, it would have tiny feet, a very large middle, and a swollen head. Only 58 of the organization's 6280 professional staff are at the entry P-1 level, barely one per cent. The middle P-3 and P-4 ranks account for 62 per cent, and the top (Director-1 to Under-Secretary-General), has 9 per cent of the total. The average age is 46.2, with entry on duty averaging 35. In the entire UN System of 28 Specialized Agencies and Programs, only 680 Professional staff out of a total of 23,006 are below 30; those over 50 account for 41 per cent.
The agency with the youngest average age of professional staff is the Geneva-based UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 42.6. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), also in Geneva, and the International Civil Aviation Organization in Toronto are the oldest, with an average of 48.9. WMO has the oldest average age of EOD: 43.6.
In a report on the age structure of UN staff two inspectors appointed by the General Assembly say that the "recruitment and retention of young professionals continues to be a challenge across the system." They note that there is increasing competition for young talent from other international and regional organizations. Officials in charge of personnel are said to be concerned about the inadequacy of career development and "long-term prospects" for the young.
The inspectors do not mention it, but one serious implication of these figures is that the concept of an independent international civil service has gone out the window. Most UN staff come from government bureaucracies, and for many the UN is a second career. Staff from a few affluent countries have for decades been subsidized by their own governments in violation of UN rules. While this is mostly done because UN salaries are too low to attract recruits from countries where better paid jobs are on offer, it has an inevitably corrupting effect.
Another entire category of staff, and one which has ballooned in the post 9/11 period, is that of paid informer; fleering telltales are everywhere. Professional spooks, of course, form yet another category, one with an older lineage. Not surprisingly, paranoia is rampant; one staff member told me he photocopies nothing at the UN, not even official papers; he believes all the machines collect information for the CIA.
The cynicism engendered by all this must be a major factor driving the idealistic young away from UN employment, and there is very little to be done about it. One can only weep for a lost ideal.
Showing posts with label staff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label staff. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Accountability Framework For UN Staff
Kofi Annan had performance compacts with each of his senior managers, but they were kept private. Ban Ki-moon has publicized the existence of the compacts by having a formal signing ceremony for his senior staff and declaring that together, they constitute an "important step towards a full and effective accountability framework within the Secretariat."
At the ceremony at which senior staff signed their compacts, (Monday, 4 February), Ban said that the framework would "provide a performance-driven and results-oriented approach to tackling the many and varied mandates" set by governments." It would assure all UN "stakeholders" of the Secretariat's "integrity, consistency, predictability and professionalism." Managers would be able to set "clear roles, responsibilities and authorities for all levels and stakeholders of the Organization." Posted on the UN Intranet accessible to all staff, the compacts would "bring transparency," enabling Staff to "clearly understand their duties, and the manner in which they will be evaluated." A Management Performance Board chaired by Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro will keep tabs on actual performance. Ms. Migiro will also head a "task force on reform" to "formulate proposals for overcoming long-standing difficulties in human resources management."
Ban did not mention how the UN's "many and varied mandates" had been boiled down to manageable proportions, or indeed, if any attempt had been made to do so. My suspicion is that the reference to the mandates is purely to mollify the Group of 77 (the 132-member caucus of developing countries), which feels, with ample reason, that the Secretariat is attuned more to the preferences of a handful of powerful States than to formal directives handed down by intergovernmental bodies, especially the General Assembly.
At a more elevated level, there is the question of whether the compacts will make any difference in UN effectiveness when the Organization is so unmoored from the power structures that actually shape the world. But they might prove useful in getting rid of "deadwood." Of course, that word has a different connotation at the UN than anywhere else; it includes not only the incompetent but anyone who is a thorn in the sides of the powers that be. [In the interests of full disclosure, I must confess to having exited the UN Secretariat in 1991 with a buyout meant to get rid of just that category of staff.)
At the ceremony at which senior staff signed their compacts, (Monday, 4 February), Ban said that the framework would "provide a performance-driven and results-oriented approach to tackling the many and varied mandates" set by governments." It would assure all UN "stakeholders" of the Secretariat's "integrity, consistency, predictability and professionalism." Managers would be able to set "clear roles, responsibilities and authorities for all levels and stakeholders of the Organization." Posted on the UN Intranet accessible to all staff, the compacts would "bring transparency," enabling Staff to "clearly understand their duties, and the manner in which they will be evaluated." A Management Performance Board chaired by Deputy Secretary-General Asha Rose Migiro will keep tabs on actual performance. Ms. Migiro will also head a "task force on reform" to "formulate proposals for overcoming long-standing difficulties in human resources management."
Ban did not mention how the UN's "many and varied mandates" had been boiled down to manageable proportions, or indeed, if any attempt had been made to do so. My suspicion is that the reference to the mandates is purely to mollify the Group of 77 (the 132-member caucus of developing countries), which feels, with ample reason, that the Secretariat is attuned more to the preferences of a handful of powerful States than to formal directives handed down by intergovernmental bodies, especially the General Assembly.
At a more elevated level, there is the question of whether the compacts will make any difference in UN effectiveness when the Organization is so unmoored from the power structures that actually shape the world. But they might prove useful in getting rid of "deadwood." Of course, that word has a different connotation at the UN than anywhere else; it includes not only the incompetent but anyone who is a thorn in the sides of the powers that be. [In the interests of full disclosure, I must confess to having exited the UN Secretariat in 1991 with a buyout meant to get rid of just that category of staff.)
