STWR - Share The World's Resources

5th Novemeber 06, Kenneth Kwama, The Standard (E. Africa)

About three decades ago, Mr Ad de Raad, the Executive Coordinator for the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) programme, was a simple young man with a noble ambition.

His desire was to join the UN, work for about two years and then move on to a "better job".

"I’m a civil engineer by profession and it never occurred to me that I would stay within the UN system this long. I joined the organisation in Bonn, Germany, about 27 years ago and I’m not about to give up. I feel like life in the UN is just starting for me," laughs Raad.

Now he stands tall in full scrutiny of more than 166 governments, but without blinking a moment or butting an eyelid, for he knows that his work is good and is on course.

Within a couple of decades, the number of people volunteering to work with the UN has grown to 8,000 and so has Mr Raad’s ingÈnue ambition of yesteryears. He says he wants to make UNV an agent for change through which developing countries will be able to realise their dreams to develop and offer better lives to their citizens.

"Our biggest agenda is to fight poverty and ensure good governance across the globe," he says. "We do this by encouraging people to volunteer critical skills that will help in this endeavour."

The UNV is one of the world body’s most conspicuous and challenging dockets and Raad says that they have to continually invent new ways to help their staff cope in volatile areas. The UNV operates in 144 countries with a membership drawn from across 166 nations.

The reason for the disparity in the number of countries in which it operates and those it draws its membership is because UNV doesn’t operate in developed countries, although it draws membership from there. About 40 per cent of UN volunteers work in their home countries.

Currently, it is faced with a huge challenge. As the UN body in charge of volunteerism, it is expected to play a major role, not only in making sure that the UN’s pet project — the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are realised, but it is also expected to be proactive and interact with the people expected to turn this dream into reality.

"It needs some sort of Kenya’s Harambee spirit for the MDGs to be realised. The targets may look impossible, especially when one looks at the economic situation in most developing countries, but I believe they are within these countries’ limits," he says.

He gives the example of Kenya’s free primary education as an example of a millennium target that’s on its way to being met.

"I’ve been to Kibera slums and seen the way people live there. But, the most gratifying thing was the optimism of the children. They all believe that there is better life coming because of the education and this makes me happy," says Raad.

He however says that Kenya still has a lot to do to achieve the other MDGs by 2015 as is specified. He points out gender equity and equality as an aspect of the MDGs that the country still has a lot of work to do.

"I know that it’s still difficult for a woman to penetrate some jobs to the top. In a large sense, the job sector in Kenya is still a man’s domain. There is also an inherent desire to discriminate against women even when they are more qualified than men, subjecting them to lesser positions," he says.

Standard (East Africa)

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