Exit Interview: RC Alfredo Missair on advancing the MDGs in Nicaragua

RC Alfredo Missair: on the move from Nicaragua to Venezuela

When he arrived as UN Resident Coordinator in Nicaragua in August 2005, Alfredo Missair took the bold step of pushing discussion on Millennium Development Goals into the political arena of a national election campaign. “I said ‘I will listen to you; not try to bring you to my way of thinking,’” he told the political parties. They took up his offer. “I started to talk about education, poverty; and then we were able to chart on a matrix who was talking about these issues in their speeches, who was following up on the technical support we offered,” he explains.

The UN Country Team based its Common Country Assessment on consultations with key stakeholders across the political spectrum, ensuring broad support for both the CCA and the UN Development Assistance Framework, creating a foundation for the UNCT’s success, Mr. Misair says. “It was the first agreement with the government. We were very proud. The government proposed to the IMF that it include the MDGs as a way to measure the success of that programme. It was sure of our support, and had the legitimacy,” he says. By building a coherent “dream team” he was able to mobilize significant resources for MDG programmes, despite the global financial crisis.

The RC also encouraged democratization, while steering clear of political interference. “We worked very closely (with donor funding) with the National Assembly, and inaugurated, for example, a debate in the national assembly broadcast on public TV—supported by the development of a parliamentarian TV channel and a website—on sensitive issues such as  the legality of therapeutic abortion. We are immersed in the political discussion on the modernization of the National Assembly. We even inaugurated a school for young leaders.”

In October 2009, Mr. Missair was appointed RC in Venezuela, while former UN Uruguay RC Pablo Mandeville has succeeded him in Managua. “I feel enthusiastic and full of expectations,” Mr. Missair says, “because Venezuela is experiencing important changes that might create new opportunities for helping the country in achieving the MDGs, enhancing South-South Cooperation and promoting human rights”.

Read the full interview. You can also read more interviews with Resident Coordinators such as Petra Lantz, Jacqui Badcock, Bishow Parajuli, and Jordan Ryan on the UNDG website.

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Upcoming Meetings

Expanded Funding Window Steering Committee, New York, 1 February
UN Development Group Advisory Group retreat, New York, 4 February
General Assembly 64th session first informal consultations on system-wide coherence, New York, 4 February
UN Development Group Asia-Pacific, Vanuatu, 8-9 February
DOCO/DPKO training for strategic planners, Amman, 15-19 February
UN Development Group, New York, 24 February

New Reports

The report of the Secretary-General on follow-up to General Assembly resolution 63/311 on system-wide coherence related to operational activities for development (A/64/589) is now available in all official languages at www.undg.org/swc. It covers the following coordination-related topics:

1. Improving the governance of operational activities for development
2. Possible modalities for submission and approval of common country programmes on a voluntary basis
3. Key principles for establishing an independent system-wide evaluation mechanism
4. Strengthening financial reporting on operational activities for development
5. Creating a central repository on operational activities for development
6. Independent evaluation of lessons learned from Delivering as one programme country pilots
7. Reporting on harmonization of business practices

The World Economic Situation and Prospects 2010 notes that the world economy is on the mend. After a sharp, broad and synchronized global downturn in late 2008 and early 2009, an increasing number of countries have registered positive quarterly growth in gross domestic product (GDP), along with a notable recovery in international trade and global industrial production. Published jointly by UN DESA, UNCTAD and the Regional Commissions, it also notes that world equity markets have rebounded and risk premiums on borrowing have fallen.

The World Bank report on Global Economic Prospects 2010 warns that while the worst of the financial crisis may be over, the global recovery is fragile. It predicts that the fallout from the crisis will change the landscape for finance and growth over the next 10 years. According to the report, global GDP, which declined by 2.2 percent in 2009, is expected to grow 2.7 percent this year and 3.2 percent in 2011. Read the press release and download the report (full-text, pdf) from the web site.

UNESCO has released its 2010 Education for All Global Monitoring Report: Reaching the Marginalized. The report examines education systems in the world's poorest countries, and the possible consequences they will suffer because of the economic crisis (news release).

UNOCHA/ReliefWeb information on Haiti

UNOCHA and ReliefWeb continue to issue updated information resources including maps and situation reports on the Haiti Earthquake disaster. More information on the disaster is available at Reliefweb.

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—Dag Hammarskjöld