Who Should Lead the United Nations?

With present UN Secretary-Normal António Guterres set to step down in 2026, who’s within the working to exchange him? On this seven-part collection, Felix Dodds and Chris Spence reveal who could be within the working and assess their possibilities.

The potential candidates embrace Amina J. Mohammed (Nigeria), Mia Motley (Barbados), Alicia Barcena (Mexico), Maria Fernanda Espinosa (Ecuador), Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica) and Michelle Bachelet (Chile). These are names which have come up in conversations with UN insiders and different consultants. All six would supply abilities and experiences we imagine can be useful in these fast-paced, unsure instances.

“The struggling we see round us is a reminder of what’s at stake after we lose sight of the long run, after we depart individuals behind and we lose the power to place ourselves in others’ footwear. What we’re seeing is a preview of what the world could possibly be in 2030, if the Sustainable Improvement Objectives fail.”

Grynspan was appointed as the brand new head of UNCTAD—and its first feminine chief—in 2021. Earlier than this, she had been Secretary-Normal of the Ibero-American Summits from 2014-2021, and a deputy head on the UN Improvement Programme (UNDP) from 2010-2014.

She has additionally held different UN roles relationship again a decade additional. These embrace serving as a subregional director of the Financial Fee for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and as UNDP’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

However her experience additionally crosses into authorities.

In the course of the Nineteen Nineties she held a number of high-profile roles in her native Costa Rica, together with serving as Vice President from 1994-1998. She additionally held the housing, economics, and social affairs portfolios at numerous levels of her profession, and was a Vice Minister of Finance within the late Nineteen Eighties.

Grynspan has additionally been on numerous boards and high-level panels through the years, dealing both with monetary issues, human improvement, or each. As an illustration, she chaired the board of the Worldwide Institute for Atmosphere and Improvement (IIED), served as a delegate to the UN Fee for the Reconstruction of Haiti, and extra not too long ago was on the G20 Excessive Degree Unbiased Panel (HLIP) on Financing the International Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

She has additionally served on boards tackling points similar to vitamin and meals coverage, and ladies’s political management. She can also be coordinator of the Process Staff of the International Disaster Response Group on Meals, Vitality and Finance arrange by the UN Secretary-Normal to assist help international locations face the financial shocks associated to the conflict in Ukraine.

May Grynspan’s breadth of expertise, and her deep background in finance and economics, be seen as an asset at a time when financing normally, and significantly help for the International South, are extensively seen as insufficient?

For instance, the shortfall in funding for the Sustainable Improvement Objectives within the South is now estimated at $4 trillion. How can we flip this round? Grynspan’s skilled expertise, together with negotiating the debt of her nation with the IMF, and her intensive coaching as an economist (she holds economics levels from universities in Costa Rica and the UK) could possibly be seen as well timed and useful on this regard.

Assessing Grynspan’s Prospects

May economist Rebeca Grynspan grow to be the following UN Secretary-Normal? Right here is our evaluation of her benefits and downsides ought to she select to enter her title into the competition.

Benefits

Seniority: Grynspan might not have been a president or prime minister, however as Vice President of Costa Rica she climbed near the summit of her nation’s political mountain. Though it’s unclear whether or not the present Secretary-Normal’s standing as a former prime minister can be a one-off occasion or the beginning of a pattern, Grynspan’s seniority in her native Costa is unlikely to hurt her candidature, ought to she select to use, and would doubtless assist it.UN Expertise: As the primary feminine Secretary-Normal of UNCTAD, Grynspan has already damaged one glass ceiling throughout the United Nations. She would additionally deliver greater than twenty years’ expertise throughout the UN system, one thing that will absolutely be seen as an asset throughout these unsure instances. Moreover, she is conversant in the inner workings of the UN in Geneva, New York and throughout Latin America, giving her insights into determination making at each headquarters and regionally. This breadth of expertise throughout the UN could possibly be helpful to any future UN chief. Confirmed Influence: Grynspan is seen as somebody who can have an effect, a notion acknowledged by Forbes journal, which named her among the many 100 strongest ladies in Central America 4 years working. She was additionally instrumental within the UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative agreed by Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine that has allowed hundreds of thousands of tons of grain and different foodstuffs to go away Ukraine’s ports, taking part in an necessary position in international meals safety.Connections: Grynspan has had a few years working within the regional stage and on the international stage, too. Her networks might arguably not be as huge as another candidates, however would nonetheless present a great platform for her to succeed.A Lady Chief: As with our different candidates, Grynspan affords the prospect to interrupt the glass ceiling and grow to be the primary feminine chief of the UN.

Disadvantages

Local weather and the Atmosphere: Though Grynspan has sturdy credentials on commerce, finance and improvement, it is just not too long ago that she started to have the next profile on local weather change and among the different huge environmental problems with our time. As an illustration, she not too long ago co-hosted the primary ever Commerce Day occasion at COP28, and has grow to be a powerful advocate for reform of the monetary and debt structure to permit creating international locations the fiscal house to spend money on carbon mitigation and adaptation. May her comparatively current involvement on this key challenge rely towards her, or will it slightly be seen as including to her spectacular credentials in different areas?Peace and Safety: Peace, safety and battle decision haven’t featured prominently in her background. Nevertheless, as with local weather change, they’re usually front-and-center of worldwide information. If the UN Safety Council members are searching for experience on this space, may Grynspan’s relative lack of expertise be thought of a doable weak spot? Or, would they think about her current position within the Black Sea Initiative as current proof of her engagement on this space?Title Recognition: Though she is extensively revered in her fields and throughout the UN, Grynspan might not have the identical kind of title recognition among the many public as among the different candidates.

Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence have participated in United Nations conferences and negotiations because the Nineteen Nineties. They co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Braveness (Routledge, 2022), which examines the roles of people in inspiring change.

Earlier elements:
https://www.ipsnews.web/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-1/https://www.ipsnews.web/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-2/https://www.ipsnews.web/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-3/https://www.ipsnews.web/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-4/

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