The Social Scientist

by Mary Racelis

Joining UNICEF in 1979 meant bringing with me a strong commitment to participatory processes. Serving as a Senior Policy Specialist in the Programme Division would enable me, I hoped, to integrate community participation into UNICEF field activities. To be consistent, that called for integrating the concept into management processes, too – walk the talk!

The dual approach was a carryover from my pre-UNICEF years in the Philippines of working closely with NGO community organizers in urban poor settlements. They taught me how to raise people’s consciousness about their right to participate in policy decisions affecting them. Fortunately, ExDir Jim Grant approved of community participation in programming; iIt was the latest innovation in global development thinking. He carried that conviction into the Senior Staff group by inviting me to join the weekly meetings. That was apparently justified because I was the highest ranked woman (P-5) at headquarters and there were growing pressures on UNICEF to promote more women.

The Senior staff soon heard me suggesting that management decisions are best made in consultation with the staff. Initially I framed the process as one that increased efficacy and efficiency. If supervisors drew on the knowledge of every person working with them and involved them in decision-making around an issue affecting everyone, the results brought greater success. That stemmed from the staff’s sense of “ownership” and therefore a deeper commitment to outcomes and sustainability. Senior Staff got used to hearing me ask, “Have the staff had any inputs to this proposal? How do they feel about it? Do they think it will work?” Jim Grant soon began referring to me with a smile as “Ms Participation.” That convinced me to add to my Family/Child Welfare title, “Women and Community Participation.”

To explain participation to the Senior Staff, a friendly encounter with one of the filing clerks in the Programme Division offered one good example. Every day, I would see Susan standing in the drafty corridor filing the enormous numbers of project correspondence. When I asked her about the new computerized filing system in the offing, she replied with some exasperation, “How do they think that will work considering….? A short list of likely glitches followed. To paraphrase what she was in effect saying, “Why don’t they ever ask me, ask us! It’s ok to bring in new systems, but we’re the ones who can predict problems and propose solutions. And we’re the ones who have to clean up when they don’t work.” Yes, filing clerks voices matter!

News of my advocacy must have spread and I was elected Chairperson of the Global Staff Association in 1980 or 1981. With active officers like Jim Mayrides and Maggie Black supported by fervent activist Noni McDevitt doubling as my secretary, plus Gladys our initially skeptical GSA Secretary, we proposed many changes to the Division of Personnel. Using community organizing tactics NGOs and People’s Organizations in the Philippines had taught me, we often took DOP Director Bertram Collins, by surprise, resulting in a win.

Our carefully crafted proposals featured issues from Field Offices sent in by the local staff associations. Before each meeting with DOP, we officers would clarify among ourselves the issues to be presented, then role play the impending session to ensure we were ready for whatever push-back emerged. Serious conversations coupled with much laughter. Other victories emerged, among them with Jim Grant’s blessing, our proposal that the GSA Chair should speak at the UNICEF Executive Board representing the voices of staff worldwide. Organizing for people’s empowerment had become real at headquarters.

When in 1983 I was offered the Regional Director’s post in Nairobi, the previous Regional Director Karl Eric Knudsen offered strong support, having previously promoted participatory management processes. That meant moving away from a top-down style toward a more consultative consensus building mode. I followed his lead. Once everyone’s views had been discussed and the preferred solution had become clear, I could finalize the issue. These decisions and their follow-up actions would carry maximum support from the Representatives, since they had participated in their formulation.

Although it did take a few of the more macho-type males a couple of years to accept participatory management – and from a woman at that – eventually even they dominated less and listened more. The process of conflict resolution toward consensus moved faster at our regional meetings.

This approach had the active support of the Africa Section in New York, famous among other reasons because its chief, Fouad Kronfol, had created the first-of-its-kind open office layout generating maximum peer interaction. He also fostered a mutually reinforcing rapport between our region together with Deputy Director,Jim Mayrides serving as Nairobi’s liaison with the Africa section.

So it was that ESARO in partnership with 24 country offices gained the reputation of being UNICEF’s most creative and dynamic region.

The bottom line? Participation!


Comments

Post a Comment