TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 48
#NextGenUNDP
James Wakiaga
Coun tr y o f O r igin :
UNDP Co u n t r y O f f ic e :
Date o f Ap po in tm e n t:
K E N YA
ERITREA
A P R I L 2 019
“I VIEW MY #NextGen ROLE, AS A
CRITICAL MISSION OF BUILDING A
COALITION OF THE WILLING.”
M
y career journey began in 1992, and I vividly
recall reporting at the State Law Office [At the
Attorney General and Department of Justice’s
offices in Nairobi], as an Economist II –
which was an entry point for young economists joining
work in the public service in Kenya. I had just graduated
with a BA in Economics (cum laude) from the University
of Nairobi and was looking forward to a challenging but
rewarding experience in the world of development.
I saw myself walking in the footsteps of my father
who had himself graduated 30 years earlier with an
MBA degree from the University of Atlanta, Georgia,
in the United States. It is this courage and determination to excel - coupled with the wise counsel from my
mum, a successful schoolteacher in her own right, who
had imbibed in our family, a culture of reading - that
continued to propel me.
As a young and restless professional, one of my goals
was to pursue post-graduate studies. And when I won a
scholarship to study at the Renmin University of China,
it opened my mind, not only to new horizons of thinking
but to new perspectives on development economics.
NAVIGATING WORK COMPLEXITIES
Later, I joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kenya
and honed my skills in foreign service and diplomacy.
The icing on the cake was when I took up the challenging
assignment as a career diplomat in Washington DC. But,
this experience and the vast knowledge that come with
it, came in handy when I first joined UNDP in 2009. The
trio of development economics, politics, and diplomacy
helped me immensely in navigating the complexities of
doing development work amid challenging contexts.
My journey in UNDP has involved working in three
different locations in Africa: Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, and
now Eritrea. All have presented varied contexts and
complexities. While the development approach may differ
depending on a country’s unique historical experience,
the principles that resonate with the core business of
UNDP work have largely remained the same.
The concept of human development by Amartya Sen
has been central to the philosophical underpinnings of
UNDP work. In a sense, Sen has also inspired my own
notions and convictions of what development ought to
and ought not to be. The human development approach
and the evolution of the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index
(MPI) through the UNDP-Oxford University partnership
have both shaped the framing of UNDP’s approach to
development as well as formed the basis upon which the
organization has viewed the UNDS Reform agenda.
A TIDAL WAVE OF ANXIETY
My experience as a #NextGenUNDP RR in Eritrea has
certainly been a rewarding one, especially while living the
realities of the UNDS Reform. My immediate thoughts on
the reforms were clouded by this tidal wave of anxiety of
what they would portend for UNDP positioning on the
continent. However, the words of our Administrator,
Achim Steiner, during the UNDP Executive Group
meeting in December 2018, were reassuring, and he
clearly underlined that the NextGen RRs will “be at the
forefront of our pioneering development work to offer
innovative and exciting development solutions to the
people and the governments we serve.”
I viewed my role as a #NextGen RR as a critical mission
of building a coalition of the willing, especially in the
UNCTs (UN Country Teams) and in the interactions with
government officials and development partners in the
race to meet the SDGs by 2030. The country I am serving
– Eritrea, offers a unique context and holds a distinct
position of being one of the youngest independent
countries in Africa. And Eritrea’s development philosophy of Self-Reliance, which has defined its engagement
with the UN and other development partners, has also
offered a unique approach to development.
ERITREA IS DIFFERENT
Arriving in Eritrea significantly changed my perspective,
and what came to the fore is the realization that the development manual that framed my approach may not necessarily apply here after all. The words that kept resonating
in my mind from the early impressions that I collected
from my engagements with Senior Government officials ›
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