TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 34
#NextGenUNDP
Natalie Boucly
CENTRAL AF RI CA N R E P UBL I C ( CA R )
and began practicing karate, which I have kept up. I am
now a third Dan black belt karate. And as years have gone
by, I train and teach Okinawan Goju-Ryu karate style to
others.
My time in New York opened the door to international
legal and development work as Legal Adviser. First to two
peacekeeping missions, in Kosovo and Haiti. Then more
legal work at HQ locations in Rome, with FAO and WFP,
and in Kenya again with WFP. After that, I came back to
London to work for an international development bank.
In 2008, I came back to UNDP as Senior Legal Adviser in
New York, where I worked for five years.
FIELD WORK MAKES A DIFFERENCE
But it became increasingly obvious to me that the most
significant work of the UN happens on the ground. This
is where “We the People of the United Nations” can make
a difference. As years went by, I began to plan a transition
towards more field-based work which, as a lawyer, can
be difficult but not impossible, as legal training provides
many useful skills. My first field assignment with UNDP
was in Sudan, as the Head of Resident Coordinator Office
and Strategic Planner.
Sudan had a profound impact on my life, not only
from a professional perspective but also from a personal
one. I fell in love with its people, and it comforted me
in thinking that the career change I was embarking on
was worth it. After Sudan, I went to Burundi as Country
Director. This was at the height of the 2015-2016 crisis. I
later moved to Tanzania, and in May 2019 I came into my
current role as Resident Representative in the Central
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African Republic. Time has really flown by.
BEYOND RR AND UN REFORM
As RRs, we have unique opportunities to help shape the
development agenda and trajectory of the countries in
which we serve. Probably because of my background,
I have ended up in countries going through deep
democratic or undemocratic, as the case may be , transitions. In both cases my work consists of either ensuring
progress on an existing path or helping countries get
back onto it. Electoral processes and other institutional
work have always been at the heart of my roles, whether
as CD or RR.
That said, the world is changing. The breakdown in
multilateralism, the climate emergency, COVID-19 and
other pandemics and types of migrations to come, mean
that, for the UN to remain relevant, a profound transformation is needed, which should go well beyond the RR/
RC reform that has taken place. The UN being as good
and efficient as its member states want it to be, for our
work to remain meaningful, it belongs to these member
states to make the necessary changes and make the UN
‘fit for purpose’ again, in keeping with the original spirit
of the Preamble of the Charter.
The UN needs to change with the world and the realities
of its geopolitical dimensions. It also needs to be imbued
with a genuine desire of nations to save succeeding generations from the scourge of wars (whatever may trigger
these wars), and to unite the strength of all nations, in
order to maintain international peace and security.