---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "IRIN" <[email protected]>
Date: 26 May 2015 19:01
Subject: An 'almost impossible job' - 10 tips for the UN's next
humanitarian boss
To: "Elisabeth Janaina" <[email protected]>
Cc:
[image: IRINnews logo] <http://www.irinnews.org/>
humanitarian news and analysis
*An 'almost impossible job' - 10 tips for the UN's next
humanitarian boss <http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101540>*
[image: lead photo]LONDON, 26 May 2015 (IRIN) - Former UN humanitarian
chief John Holmes has a few words of advice for the next person to take up
the job, British politican Stephen O'Brien.
*Next week, O’Brien, a former British international development minister,
succeeds Valerie Amos as the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Holmes, who was in the role from
January 2007 to August 2010, is now director of the Ditchley Foundation,
which helps shape policy on major international issues. *
Ten things to bear in mind when you start your new and almost impossible
job:
1. Forget your nationality. Britain should now just be a major donor –
important and sometimes irritating – but give it no special treatment in
your professional role.
2. Travel a lot, but not too much. You need to see and understand all
the major crises on the ground, particularly when you start, but you also
need to contribute to the strategic discussions in New York and run OCHA
(the UN humanitarian agency) properly.
3. You have a bully pulpit and a degree of influence on the rest of the
humanitarian system, but little power. Hone your powers of persuasion, and
use the media more than they use you.
4. Establish good personal relations with the heads of the main aid
agencies, the NGOs and the Red Cross/Crescent movement. You will need them
at times of stress.
5. Be tough on governments misbehaving, but remember to be tougher in
private than in public if you want to keep the aid flowing.
6. Be nice to the donors. You can do nothing without them. But never
feel captured by them (or anyone else).
7. Work closely with the development community, and try to overcome the
artificial barriers between them and the humanitarians.
8. Build local capacity and invest more in disaster risk reduction,
preparedness and anticipation. It becomes clearer as you go along, but you
should be fully aware of it from the start.
9. Pace yourself. It’s tough mentally and physically, so don’t burn
yourself out too soon.
10. Remember at all times the people on the ground you are trying to
help. That’s what makes the job ultimately rewarding.
Above all try to enjoy at least some of it, despite the frustrations.
John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, 2007-2010
Read report online <http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101540>
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