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It is now a full two years since the start of the pandemic. Like other employers the UN had to change its way of working and fast. Twenty-four months later it’s time to draw some conclusions and discuss how we want our new workplace to be. Telecommuting works… under...
Patrick Chappatte was born in Pakistan, he spent time in Singapore before his family settled in Geneva when he was five. He publishes in Le Temps, NZZ, Le Canard Enchainé, Der Spiegel and the Boston Globe. Until recently he also worked for the New York Times, but...
Some used lockdown to cook, bake or assemble their Peleton. Rob Skidmore and Ardian Mollabeciri from ITC started a podcast. Tradesplaining has listeners from around the world and plenty of irreverent humour. Rob, from Wisconsin, and Ardian, from New York and with...
You are in charge of vaccinating UN staff. How many vaccines have you procured, which are they and when will they be made available? Are you making use of Russia’s kind offer to donate vaccinations to staff? The United Nations has thus far purchased sufficient...
Author: Catarinha Camarinhas In the current circumstances of social distancing and isolation that we have been living through in this COVID-19 era, we all became more introspective and reflective with regard to our choices. I saw the programme as a chance to take a...
Last autumn Pamela Coke-Hamilton took over as ITC’s Executive Director. She sat down with UN Today to talk about growing up in Jamaica, her different jobs, how Geneva has and hasn’t changed, and her still-far-off retirement plans Growing up in the small town of...
What is like to lose your job after 20 years on a permanent contract? A colleague, who wishes to remain anonymous, tells us his journey. I had a permanent position in one of the most respected UN specialized scientific organizations. After an internal restructuring...
Julian Braithwaite, the UK’s permanent representative talks about dealing with Brexit, online meetings, UN funding, explaining his work to an audience back home and cocktail parties. When Julian Braithwaite arrived in Geneva five years ago as the UK’s permanent...
Back in June, Antonio Guterres told a staff townhall that “if racism exists anywhere, it also exists in the UN.” But how racist is the UN? And in an international organization, with staff from all quarters, what is racism? Let’s start back in 1945. The UN was founded...
Consultants are the forgotten workforce at the UN, even if they sometimes or often sit side by side with colleagues. With precarious contracts, low wages and a status that keeps them half in and half out of the UN system, it’s time to shed a light on the way the UN...
