pipelineThe World Food Programme staff magazine No 27 FEBRUARY 2002 Photograph: WFP/Tom Haskell WFP/Tom Photograph:

ADECADE OF ACHIEVEMENT Catherine Bertini (above), in Afghanistan in early February, on one of her last field trips steering the world’s largest international food aid organisation. The operation there has been a tribute to her achievements in her ten years as Executive Director of the World Food Programme 2 Pipeline Photograph: WFP/Tom Haskell WFP/Tom Photograph:

Acourageous fighter for the poor, and particularly women: Catherine Bertini in Afghanistan, February 2002

THE BERTINI YEARS As Catherine Bertini prepares to hand over to James T. Morris as Executive Director, Pipeline looks at the transformation she has brought to the World Food Programme

In February, Catherine Bertini travelled And now that the challenges of get- It is also a great deal more well-known. to Afghanistan on one of her last field ting the food through are being met, The granddaughter of Italian immi- trips as Executive Director of the World WFP is looking ahead to the contribu- grants to the United States, Catherine Food Programme. tion it will make to help the country back Bertini is the daughter of an engineer The operation to get food to six mil- on its feet, with an emphasis on and a US Air Force nurse. It is a family lion people in the war-torn country improving the health of mothers and with a strong feeling of social responsi- embodies her achievement in the ten babies, and educating girls. For WFP bility and a tradition of public service. years since she arrived at the World in 2002, it is not only a question of feed- “Her parents were very caring,” said Food Programme. It has been run from ing those in need. It is about using food her husband, photographer Tom the regional bureau in Islamabad, not to help the future of the country. Haskell, “and both very open-minded.” from Headquarters in Rome. It has Ten years after Bertini arrived to start The WFP she leaves behind is lean, shown how swiftly WFP can operate at work at the dusty old Headquarters fast-paced and responsive, in touch the cutting edge of an emergency, building in Via Cristoforo Colombo, she with new ideas. She has been its mod- mobilising its staff and razor-sharp has brought about a major transforma- erniser. logistics capabilities to deliver life-sav- tion. WFP has grown into the largest of That dusty old Headquarters building ing aid to millions in a country whose the UN’s humanitarian agencies. It has has been exchanged for the modern infrastructure and telecommunications stepped out from the shade of FAO and open-plan offices at Parco de’ Medici, have been destroyed over decades. acquired a strong identity in its own right. a business Continued on page 4 Pipeline 3

CONTENTS

AFGHANISTAN Afghanistan: How We Conquered the Mountain WOMEN’S VOICES by Peter Casier 6 ACase for Ingenuity ARE HEARD AGAIN by Zhen-Zhen Huang 8 By Denise Brown AFirst for Enrica 9 AWorld Away at the Birth by Sory Ouane 10 The main office, the staff called it. It was Then contact with foreign women was a hive of activity, meetings, discus- stopped altogether. The danger Hans Singer, sions, information sharing - all of it in became too real. The women stayed at AFounding male voices. Working in Afghanistan as home. They sent letters and used the Father to WFP an expatriate woman, one quickly telephone (when it worked). WFP was by Jennifer Abrahamson 12 became accustomed to being on one’s powerless to change the situation. own, the only person at the table with- I continued to visit the office in Mazar Ethiopia: out a beard. over the next year and a half. The No Truck In the WFP sub-office in Mazar-i- female Head of Sub-office was reas- Sharif, there were three Afghan signed and a male colleague came in With Ignorance women. Gitty Rauf was one of them. her place. The women’s voices had by Wagdi Othman 13 She and her two colleagues sat a mere been all but silenced. But I always let stone’s throw away from the main Gitty know that I was nearby, with a Change in the Air 14 office: three lone voices relegated to phone call or a message sent through one room. one of the staff. My message was Feeding the People They were on the sidelines, depen- always the same: I’m here but I can’t or Feeding the Conflict? dent on the information provided see you. by Claire Conan and through the occasional visit by a male Gitty told me later that she had Valerie Guarnieri 14 messenger young enough not to prove become aware of the importance of a threat to the women should the Tal- human rights. Working in one base- Afghanistan: iban happen by; dependent on the vis- ment or another, she and her co-work- They Kept the Food Rolling its of their international women col- ers focused on activities for children by Jane Pearce 15 leagues; dependent on the goodwill of and adolescents. They were thinking the Taliban. The key was discretion. of Afghanistan’s future. Ecuador: Their travel in UN vehicles was limited. At the beginning of January, I went Spool Report They were forbidden to use UN radios, back to Mazar for the first time since by Anne-Karine Brodeur 16 and expatriate women colleagues the fall of the Taliban two months ear- were not allowed to visit them in their lier. When I returned from the trip, col- Resources News 17 homes. leagues, friends and family asked me The women were working in a gilded what was different. What was Staff News 18 cage. Nevertheless, Gitty and her two Afghanistan like without the Taliban? colleagues came to the office unfail- There was only one answer. Hearing ingly each day, and we were grateful. women’s voices in the office, seeing My Job My World: Those three women were our link to their faces in meetings again - this was Jean-Jacques Graisse, the women of northern Afghanistan. what had struck me most. Four months Deputy Executive Director 20 And we were their link to information ago, it would have been unthinkable. and a feeling of belonging. Gitty could The women are back. Gitty has her Editor-in-Chief Trevor Rowe move between her home and the own office on the main floor. Her voice Editor Lucinda Evans office. She had a place to go to each can be heard in meetings. Her male Picture research Rein Skullerud morning, and the knowledge that she colleagues are getting used to the was doing something that mattered, as presence of this forthright young Pipeline is the staff newsletter of the long as she stayed within certain limits. Afghan woman. She has a lot of catch- World Food Programme. It is pub- The authorities knew the women were ing up to do, I tell them. Her voice has lished quarterly by the Public Affairs working; the women knew that the been silenced for almost two years. Service (REP). The opinions expressed in this newsletter are not authorities knew. Agame of pretence Now she has the freedom in which to necessarily those of WFP. ensued. But reality has a nasty habit of move and to speak. sneaking in, and the cage around Gitty Welcome back. Pipeline, Public Affairs Service and her colleagues was becoming (REP) World Food Programme smaller and more uncomfortable. Denise Brown is a WFP Programme Via Cesare Giulio Viola, 68/70 The Taliban began to visit their Officer working on the Afghanistan 00148 Rome, Italy homes. The office became off-limits. operation 4 Pipeline

Continued from page 2 estate on Photograph: Alexander Jo the fringes of the capital. Power and decision-making are no longer con- centrated in Rome, but have been decentralised to the field. The resources once largely devoted to development have had to be assigned instead to emergencies, with the emphasis on rapid response. This reversal follows an increase in both wars and natural disasters since the early 1990s, and political changes on the world map resulting from the end of the cold war. The supply of resources has also changed. Agricultural surpluses - once the basis of the creation of the Pro- gramme - have dwindled along with farming subsidies. WFP now has to compete with other organisations for such resources as are available. Following an internal review started at the end of 1994, WFP closed down operations in 23 countries in order to concentrate on the poorest. And there has been a crucial shift in its orienta- tion. From an organisation which saw its role primarily as transporting food and counting tonnages, WFP’s work is now focussed on the human beings who need its help, and their lives. How can the food be used to give them a better future? By increasing school attendance. By feeding street children and giving them vocational training. By improving the health of pregnant women and babies. Just as the face at the top of WFP has been that of a woman, so too has the face of its priority beneficiary. Bertini has said many times that the face of hunger is the face of a woman. “If you’re going to solve poverty, you have to partner with the women,” she says. But that in itself is not enough: “We Holdbrook Arthur remembers: Sep- of maize over her own shoulder in the must also support [them]” she believes, tember 18, 2000 was another hot traditional Maasai manner, picked up “as agents of change in their commu- and dusty day in the parched Kaji- the can of oil and headed for the don- nities.” To break out of the cycle of ado district of southern Kenya. key. Everyone present was touched poverty, women must be empowered. Catherine Bertini, on a visit to Kenya by the humility of her action. She has taken a courageous stand and Ethiopia as the Secretary-Gen- Photojournalist Alex Jo, who took on the gender issue, unafraid to speak eral’s Special Envoy for the Drought this photograph, has known his fair plainly. Talking to Headquarters staff on in the Horn of Africa, had come to share of war, disaster, famine and Women’s Day four years ago, she said, see a WFP food distribution. humanitarian relief operations in “In the UN system, we speak a great The Executive Director stopped to Africa over the years. He said at the deal about cultural sensitivity and the talk to an elderly Maasai woman time that, with the single exception need to honour ‘local custom’. It is a standing in the scorching midday of actress Sophia Loren, he had central and important aspect of our sun. She asked the woman how she never seen a public figure make the work. Yet in so many parts of the world, intended to carry home the 20-kilo kind of simple human contact that ‘local custom’has left women poor, sack of maize and can of vegetable the E.D. had done with her gesture hungry and powerless. And that ‘local oil she was struggling with. The to help the elderly beneficiary. custom’is one we cannot accept.” woman pointed to a donkey hover- Holdbrook Arthur is the WFP Under Bertini’s leadership, the profile ing on the horizon, and explained Regional Director for Central Africa. of WFP professional staff has also that the emaciated animal would Special thanks to Jennifer Abra- changed, following a major drive to haul the food back to her village. hamson, currently working for WFP recruit women to more senior posi- When the interpreter translated as a Public Information Officer in tions. Continued on opposite page her words, the E.D. slung the sack Islamabad Pipeline 5 Photograph: WFP/Sherri Dougherty She’s at ease “with a head of state and she’s at ease in the refugee camp or in the village... It’s quite remarkable what she’s been able to achieve UN Secretary-General” Kofi Annan on Catherine Bertini

The roles reversed: Watched by Tun Myat and Namanga Ngongi, Kofi Annan focuses on the E.D. and her husband, photographer Tom Haskell

Continued from page 4 Between trained over 9,000 of their colleagues. 1992, when she arrived, and last year, Bertini has said that “WFP’s man- The new E. D. the proportion of women in international date is to assist the poor and hungry. positions more than doubled, rising from They do not live in Rome.” In a sweep- 18 percent to 39 percent. And where in ing process of change that started in James T. Morris, the new Executive 1992 WFP had no women at upper- 1998, all but one of the Regional Director of WFP, is a man with a management level (D-2 and above), by Bureaux were moved out from Head- distinguished record of public ser- 2001 the figure was 29 percent. quarters to the regions they served. vice and a reputation for getting Bertini has appointed a number of As Nick Siwingwa, the Deputy things done. outsiders to key positions, some bring- Regional Director in Kampala, said Since 1989 he has been Chair- ing with them the mindset of the private recently, “Headquarters is Headquar- man and Chief Executive Officer of sector. WFP became more account- ters. It gets a culture of itself. We are IWC Resources Corporation and able. It was the first UN agency to have here, focussed here. We see the need Indianapolis Water Company. an Office of the Inspector General. for intervention much faster. Our con- Before that he worked for 16 years Internal audit, monitoring and evalua- sitituency is the developing world. for the Lilly Endowment, Inc., one tion were all strengthened. And where, Being here makes us appreciate it of the largest charitable founda- a decade ago, you could not even send more than from the perspective of a tions in the United States, latterly a colleague an email, WFP today has European capital.” as President. From 1967-73, he was state of the art telecommunications. A Ademurely-dressed figure in flat- with the Office of the Mayor of Financial Management Improvement heeled shoes, Catherine Bertini comes Indianapolis, primarily as Chief of Programme was started which led, across as business-like and very much Staff for the Mayor, Richard Lugar, among other major benefits, to the in control, yet at the same time now Republican Senator for implementation of the WINGS corpo- approachable and unaffected. “I was Indiana. rate system. really inspired by the universal respect He is President of the Board of In recent years, partly as a result of she showed for everyone she met, Trustees of Indiana University, and WFP’s work in more insecure zones, a important or not” said a woman col- a member of the Board of Gover- number of colleagues have been killed league who had accompanied her on nors of the American Red Cross. A in the course of their humanitarian a field trip. She was clearly in her ele- past treasurer of the US Olympic work. In 1998 alone there were 12 ment addressing staff at Headquarters, Committee, he has a strong com- deaths. Bertini determined that every enthusiastically telling them about the mitment to sport. He is involved in member of staff who was likely to latest round of changes at regular gath- a vast range of community and remain with the organisation for the foll- erings. voluntary activities. An associate owing six months should be given Inevitably there were some murmurs said recently he could not think of security awareness training. In an of dissent. But the world has changed. anyone “who has more passion to unusual and inspired initiative, the WFP has had to change with it. Cather- help people than Jim Morris”. trainers were drawn from within WFP ine Bertini was the woman who He is married with three child- itself. At the end of 2001, they had brought about that change. ren and four grandchildren. 6 Pipeline HOW WE CONQUERED Peter Casier on a memorable return to Kabul

he UN Beechcraft was contested piece of land, fought over for had limited luggage capacity, I was not banking at 35 degrees, div- many years. able to bring my toolboxes. With some ing in circles as it dropped We were both very anxious to see ingenuity and a pocketknife, we put all from 30,000ft to the landing our national colleagues in Kabul so we the pieces together again and flicked strip of Bagram airport, 40 drove straight to the WFP office. As we the switch: the two repeaters came Tkms north of Kabul. got out of the car, we exchanged warm alive with a soft hum. The pilot had warned us that this hugs with them. “Welcome back,” they We proudly called the UNOCHA/ would happen. We were flying at high smiled. Many had tears in their eyes. WFP radio room: “Please inform all UN altitude to avoid having Stinger mis- We told them it was good to be back, staff that repeaters channel two and siles fired at us. Only the airspace and that we had been very worried three are back online.” UN staff could above the airport was secure, so our about them and their families. communicate with each other by radio plane had to come down using the They led us inside. I had spent a again. minimum of space. It felt like a roller week in Kabul just before September coaster ride. 11, and was amazed to find that the wo days later Wahab We landed around noon, amid the office looked exactly as we had left it. Totakhail, the WFP ICT offi- wreckage of old artillery and aircraft of The generator hummed away happily. cer for Kabul, and a all kinds. Members of the US special The desktops, the servers, the radios, UNOCHA technician flew in forces on four-wheel motorcycles the telephone system... All were work- with new supplies and tool- guided us to our parking space. ing as we had left them two months Tboxes, and we called in a WFP C130 Fayyaz Shah, the Officer in Charge before. Once again, I felt our national plane with sat.phones, masts, anten- for WFP Kabul, and I were the two staff were the real heroes of the emer- nae, cables, ropes, solar packs, com- WFP staff amongst the handful of peo- gency. Against all odds, under the con- puters and extra radios. The three of ple on the third UN plane allowed in to tinuous threat of bombing and military us formed a close team, repairing and Bagram. The day before, UN security reprisals, and with only a sense of hon- upgrading the telecoms and IT equip- officers had come in on the first one to our and remote support from us in ment for all UN agencies. We did make a quick security assessment, Islamabad, they had kept the WFP everything from reinstalling radios and and they had been followed by another operation rolling and moved massive repairing generators, to configuring plane with senior international staff. amounts of food for the needy. computers and getting sat.phones Mike Sackett, the UN Regional I felt this even more strongly when, reconnected. Humanitarian Co-ordinator, had asked later in the day, we visited the WFP The most exotic thing they asked me FITTEST, the WFP ICT intervention warehouse. The staff there described to do was to configure a computer on team, to come in to look at the com- with pride how they had loaded food as a sat.phone so the head of the mon UN security communications in the military installations all around the UNHCR office could pick up his email. Kabul, and call in any equipment or warehouse were bombed. They Nothing exotic about that - except that staffing needed to resurrect the mini- showed us bags of shrapnel collected the computer was configured with a mum communications necessary to after the bombing. Many pieces of Japanese version of Microsoft Win- assure staff safety. metal and debris had come through dows! At the airport we were welcomed by the tin roof and walls. One of my tasks was to secure a UN security staff and Northern Alliance It was now my turn to fulfill a role in good site for the VHF repeaters and military. We drove through the old front the emergency. Two of the UN VHF mobile phone system that WFP was line which had separated the Taliban repeaters were not working, and no bringing in. For years we had tried to and the Northern Alliance troops, one really knew what had happened to get access to “TV hill”, a mountain towards Kabul. It was a sunny day with them. These repeaters, enabling smack in the middle of Kabul. It would an absolutely clear blue sky above hand-held radios to function, were cru- be an excellent place for the antennae naked mountains topped with snow, cial to staff security in a setting where for our radio relay stations, but during which presided over a bright yellow telephones were not yet working. And the Taliban regime we were never desert valley littered with the relics of none of my ICT colleagues was there allowed access to it. years of war. The only signs of civilisa- to help bring them back on line. I had asked the UN security officer to tion were pieces of military equipment With some of our Afghan staff, I went get permission to go up the hill, but it sticking out in the desolate landscape: to the Intercontinental Hotel to try to had not been possible. I was confident old Russian-made tanks and artillery, trace what had happened. We found we could do it and suggested that the shot to pieces and half-buried in the that, for safety reasons, the hotel staff pair of us give it another try. He looked sand. In several places, the road was had dismantled the repeaters, masts me up and down. Perhaps I did not bombed or a big hole in the asphalt, and antennae. All the bits and pieces look like someone who could move with a wreck in the ditch alongside, were still there. But now came the next mountains, in my grimy sweatshirt and reminded us that this was a heavily problem: as the UN flight to Kabul had a torn and ragged WFP safari jacket Pipeline 7 THE MOUNTAIN

(as I said, the check-in luggage allowance on the Bagram flight was extremely restricted!) But I saw it as a challenge. The more so, as other UN staff at the same guesthouse had started to tease: “Hey, has WFP con- quered the mountain yet?” In fact, conquer the mountain is just what we did. Burk [Oberle], the WFP Country Director, and Fayyaz, the Head of the Kabul sub-office, men- tioned the need to access the hill to Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs. He gave the green light and signed a paper stating that we could have access. Aday later, we were in a car with Maruk, who turned out to be the Minister’s personal bodyguard. A team from the UNOCHA demining group came with us.

he TV mountain has two peaks. The first had been heavily bombed and still had loads of live ammunition all over it. That was a disap- Tpointment: in between the anti-aircraft shells and thousands of rounds of heavy machinegun bullets, the uneven ground of the shelled bunkers and areas which looked mined, there was no space to put up any repeaters and generators. With the local military commander in charge of the hill, Maruk and Wahab and I drove to the second peak. And there we stood, 2200metres up under a clear blue sky, with B52 bombers still circling overhead, on top of the main bunker on TV Hill, with Kabul hundreds of metres below us, looking at a far horizon. “This will become the main UN com- munications site for the years to come,” I said. “This is the place.” And in my mind’s eye, I could see the many VHF repeaters, generators and cellular phone systems serving all humanitarian staff within hundreds of square miles of Kabul, going on the air. By the time you read this, it will no longer only be in my imagination. WFP will have made it a reality. Peter Casier is the Head of WFP’s FITTEST, the fast intervention telecommunications and IT team 8 Pipeline ACASE FOR INGENUITY Zhen-Zhen Huang was chosen to represent WFP when Kofi Annan and the United Nations were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. But as she reveals here, what happened before the ceremony turned out to be a story in itself

he telephone was ringing. I Geneva Office). On arrival in Oslo, we could borrow. There was a silk dress had just got back to our office found that my luggage was missing. It she had bought in Beijing, which she in Pyongyang after seeing a was a big case with all my things sent over to my room in case I ended consultant off at the airport. inside, including two traditional Chi- up with nothing to wear. It was our Officer in Charge, nese dresses which I had bought in In the evening, still no news of the TKarin Manente (Deputy Country Direc- Beijing especially for the ceremony. case. The Ceremony was the next tor). The airport staff promised to check with day. We were all very anxious. Gawa- “Congratulations, Zhen-Zhen. You’re the airline that the case would be sent her told me that, when Ms Bertini was going to the Nobel Peace Prize cere- on the next flight. That evening I having lunch with a Norwegian Minis- mony!” received my 10-year-service pin from ter (a lady) during the day, she had I was confused. Ms Bertini in her suite at the Grand asked for the address of a Chinese “Sorry, I don’t understand.” Hotel. shop in town. “Have a look at your email.” The next day was a Sunday. Gawa- Gawaher tried to cheer me up. “OK, That was how I first heard that I had her kept calling the airports in Oslo and this is Plan A: we go to that Chinese been selected to represent WFP at the Rome, trying to trace my luggage. Ms shop tomorrow morning first thing. Plan ceremony in Oslo. In the days that fol- Bertini looked through all her clothes, B is to call the Chinese Embassy here, lowed, I received congratulatory mes- to see if she had anything with her I to ask if we can borrow one traditional sages from all over the dress.” world - from former Later that evening, a bosses and col- reception was held by leagues, and even the Secretary-Gen- from some staff I had eral’s office so that the never met. 10 selected field staff Three weeks later, I from different UN was sitting in Ms agencies could meet. I Bertini’s office in Rome was pleased to find and she was explain- that everyone knew ing how the selection WFP and what we are had been done. At the doing in North Korea. request of the Secre- Next day, December tary-General’s office, 10: Ceremony Day. WFP had sent the Planned departure names of six candi- time for the Ceremony dates from different from the Hotel: 12.30 Country Offices where p.m. First call to the air- it has big and impor- port: 08.00 a.m. Eight tant operations. I had flights had arrived in been chosen to attend Oslo from Frankfurt, all the Ceremony. without my suitcase. The next day Ms Though Ms Bertini had Bertini and I flew to an appointment at 11 Oslo via Frankfurt, o’clock, she insisted on where we were joined going to the Chinese by Gawaher Atif (Liai- shop with us. At 10 son Officer for the o’clock, the three of us were standing in front of it. It was not yet Right: Zhen-Zhen open. Peering through Huang with Cather- the window, we could ine Bertini at the see plenty of Chinese Nobel ceremony stuff but not much, it Pipeline 9 Photograph: Rein Skullerud I feel it was a great honour not only for me, but... for the entire staff of the World Food Programme

seemed, in the way of clothes. who have devoted themselves to the After we had waited about 20 min- noble cause. utes, and come close to giving up at After that, everything went smoothly. Enrica Porcari, Chief of Information one point, the owner finally showed up. At the beginning, I was afraid that the and Communications Technology I quickly tried on a few dresses. accident of the missing luggage had (ICT) Field Services, has become the Ms Bertini and Gawaher were busy disturbed Ms Bertini’s programme and first United Nations staff member to win picking through the stock to find more put her to a great deal of trouble. But a fellowship under the Reuters Foun- for me. her care and consideration, her smile dation Digital Vision programme. “Yeah, this is the one.” and her patience made me feel very It means she is spending the first six I put on a silk top embroidered with touched. It was lucky, too, that Gawa- months of this year at Stanford Univer- butterflies and a red silk skirt. They all her was there to help us. I can’t imag- sity, Palo Alto, in the heart of Califor- cheered - even the shop’s owner, a ine what would have happened if I had nia’s Silicon Valley. Her work there will blond Norwegian lady, who had learnt been there on my own, without her focus on transitional ICT networks. She the story of the lost luggage. competent approach and thoughtful explained: “I want to study how tech- The Ceremony started on time. I was arrangements. We were like a small nology set up in the first phase of an wearing the new butterfly suit and a family inside the big United Nations emergency can be used for longer- pair of shoes borrowed from Gawaher. family. term development. It won’t be for WFP In his speech, the Secretary-General I never did get my suitcase back. But alone: if we can find the best practices, mentioned several of us from the field I was left with a warm feeling in my it will be to the benefit of the whole who were present. I was thrilled to hear heart which remains, and means even humanitarian community.” him say, “A few of them, women and more to me than attending the Nobel The current emergency in men, are with us in this hall today. Peace Prize Ceremony. The whole Afghanistan is her paradigm: “The Among them, for instance...a World experience will be one of the highlights country is destroyed, with no business, Food Programme officer from China, of my lifetime. Within it, that warm feel- no communications,” she said. “Imag- who is helping to feed the people of ing is the most precious thing. ine a rebirth of, say, small carpet man- North Korea.” I feel it was a great hon- ufacturing. The carpet makers form a our not only for me, but for the whole Zhen-Zhen Huang is an Interna- little co-operative - but their market is WFP office there, and for the entire tional Secretary working for WFP in very restricted. We take the technology staff of the World Food Programme North Korea we already have there and set up a networking infrastructure. Later we Zhen-Zhen Huang (below) at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo,with could hand this over to a small institu- colleagues who were representing other United Nations organisations tion which sells its services to them, and suddenly they have access to a much greater market through the Inter- net. The technology can help serve the rebirth of the country.” The move to California has not meant she has had to be separated from her family. “My husband has taken leave of absence from his job,” she said. “Our children are aged five and two and we want to be together as a family.” As Peter Casier’s article on page 6 shows, WFP’s FITTEST telecommuni- cations team is playing a crucial role in Afghanistan. “We have been appointed by UNOCHA to lead in telecommunications there,” said Por- cari. “We’re all extremely proud of it. Our emergency response capacity is second to none.” 10 Pipeline AWORLD AWAY If he works in the humanitarian aid business, the fa when the newborn baby arrives... As two of our coll Here Sory Ouane remembers receiving the

“Sory, are you OK?” The tension began to mount. We began to develop among all of us at the “Yes, Serge, I’m fine. Did you hear the received calls from Jamie Wickens hotel, staff and guests alike. The rep- shots during the night?” [Deputy Director of Operations], Daly resentatives of FAO and UNFPAin the “Yes, that’s why I’m calling. Stay at the Belgasmi [Regional Manager for Cen- Central African Republic came to take hotel. Don’t move.” tral Africa] and Gabriel Ayih [Country refuge there. The two women had only “But what’s going on?” Director in Burkina Faso]. We assured just escaped a rocket-propelled “Armed groups attacked the residence each of them that we were in the hotel, grenade. of the Head of State. They were driven everything was fine. Nevertheless, we back by the presidential guard. But it could not go out, the shooting had ameroon (Daly Belgasmi) seems they’ve succeeded in taking started again and now we could also and Rome (Jamie Wick- over the radio transmitter not far from hear the sounds of heavy weapons. ens) kept in contact, and your hotel.” My colleagues and I wondered what this gave us heart and “OK! I’ll tell Nicole and Jacques. Please to do. We were at quite an advanced hope. As WFP had at that keep us informed.” stage with production of the mission Ctime no Representative in the C.A.R., report. Nicole’s laptop had broken the Regional Manager asked me to It was seven o’clock in the morning down. Should we go on working on the assume that role for meetings of the when I received this telephone call in mission’s preliminary findings? Our Security Management Team (SMT), my hotel room in Bangui, Central hearts were just not in it. which regularly brings together heads African Republic. At the other end of Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 30th of UN agencies in the country on secu- the line was Serge Zanga, Finance were extremely tense. The fighting rity-related issues. One was arranged and Admin Officer and Security Focal intensified not far from the hotel, where for the following day. Point for the WFP office there. I had government forces were trying to The hotel had some reserves of food arrived in the country a few days retake the radio transmitter. We heard but the choice was getting more and before to carry out an assessment gunshots and shelling: one could imag- more limited. Our ears began to get mission with Nicole Steyer, Regional ine the carnage. A natural solidarity used to the daily “music” of shots, rock- Programme Adviser, and Jacques Collignon, Regional Logistics Adviser. Anormal week of meetings and visits followed. On the night of Sunday, May 27, we It’s a girl! (My email says so) each retired to bed, tired out. At about two o’clock in the morning, I was An email sent in early October from Pyongyang to the remote WFP sub-station awoken by what sounded like gun- of Hamhung in North Korea: shots. I say “sounded like” because I’d never heard them in reality, only in the Huang Zhen-Zhen 03/10/2001 09:54 cinema. I decided to go back to sleep and pay no attention. But when they To: Jean-Yves Lequime/KRD/FIELD/WFP@WFP persisted, my sleep was completely cc: interrupted. Who could these “imbe- ciles” be, I wondered, amusing them- Subject:Congratulations! selves shooting like that? At 8 a.m. I went to see Nicole, who Dear Jean-Yves, confirmed having heard the shots and I received a call from your mother. said they had also been reported on Your baby girl was born yesterday, the TV5 channel. As for Jacques, he Both mother and baby are well. had heard nothing, he had slept “the Please call your mother at home. sleep of the just”. We spent the day Congratulations. shut up in the hotel, awaiting further Cheers, information. We hoped inwardly that it Zhen-Zhen would all soon be over. Pipeline 11 AT THE BIRTH ther of the family may find himself a long way away eagues whose babies were born in 2001 found out. good news to the background rattle of gunfire

ets and shells. One went to bed at night delegation (it had stopped raining). He The next morning, good news: we with the question, would one be alive sent over an escort and our colleagues would soon be able to leave. We need the day after? set off. An hour and a half later, they only settle our bills and pack our cases On Thursday 31st (happily one was came back to tell us that he agreed in (they had already been packed for four still alive) I was told that I would be col- principal to let the officials who were on days). Aplane would come for us on lected at 10 a.m. to go to the Security mission leave the country, but he would Monday or Tuesday. Management Team meeting. Serge have to consult the President and the We moved to the military base at Zanga and the UN Field Security Offi- Prime Minister. He would give an Mpoko. In the afternoon it was cer came to collect the FAO and answer in the next 48 hours because if announced that a plane from MONUC UNFPARepresentatives and myself as a plane had to land and take off again, would be coming the next morning to arranged. the area in and around the airport take us to Yaounde. We began to feel For the first time since the previous would have to be made secure. better. There was no getting away from Sunday, I was able to “put my nose out The hotel began to have all the allure the racket of the shelling and Kalach- of doors”. And what a shock that was, of a luxury prison. We were there not nikovs. Still, with this hope of depar- seeing all the bodies in the streets, knowing what our fate would be. ture, the night was one of the most which were deserted apart from a few Then, at 7.30 in the evening, I pleasant since the start of the adven- soldiers here and there. received excellent news. My wife told ture. That night was distressing because me that she had just given birth to our of the earlier sight of the bodies in the third son. I listened to the baby’s cries n Monday June 4, we streets. There was a big storm over over the telephone and was in sev- were all up very early. At Bangui and it was impossible to distin- enth heaven. My colleagues shared 8.30 we were told that the guish between the thunder and the my joy. aircraft had left Kinshasa sound of the shelling. Yet a Central I retired to my room to meditate and would arrive around African colleague used to tell me his because, between the anxiety of the O10 o’clock. At 10, contradictory infor- fellow countrymen were like “grains of situation and this happy news, I was mation: it had still not left. At noon they salt”: they had the idea that if they went about to ask Jacques for a cigarette, a said it was taking off from Kinshasa, its out in the rain, they would melt. I won- “poison” I had given up since April 9. It arrival was confirmed for 3.50 p.m. dered how they managed to fight when was the gift I had given myself on the At 3.55 p.m. we heard the sound of a it was raining. occasion of my 40th birthday. The plane (very pleasant as sounds go) question I asked myself all night long and everyone began to jump for joy. n Friday, the first of June, was, “Am I going to see this baby?” So, I thought, I would have the chance we were told that the On Saturday, June 2, I rushed to call to see my newborn baby after all. Security Management the Resident Co-ordinator to know if After more than an hour of formali- Team meeting would start the Government had given a response ties, the MONUC Hercules C130 took later than planned, about our departure. She gave me to off for Yaounde with the officials who Obecause the Resident Co-ordinator understand that she still had no news had been on mission in Bangui on had to meet a senior government rep- and that in any case, the government board, including the three of us. resentative to raise the points dis- representative had said he would let us Sory Ouane is the WFP Country cussed in our previous SMT meeting: know in about 48 hours. The wait Director for the Republic of Congo these included the question of evacu- started to get long. Soldiers had just ation of UN officials on mission in Ban- passed in front of the hotel with heavy This article, translated from French, is gui. Their meeting had not been able to weapons. They took up position 100 an edited extract from a report written take place because it was raining and metres from the building and started to by Sory Ouane after the episode in the government representative could bombard a small island to which the Bangui. Thanks to Sory for agreeing to not leave his home due to the lack of an rebels had withdrawn. The noise was share it in Pipeline, and to Jean-Yves escort (“grains of salt”?). deafening and the occupants of the Lequime and Zhen-Zhen Huang for per- All the same, we went ahead with our hotel were thrown into panic. mission to include Zhen-Zhen’s mes- SMT meeting. In the course of it, the By the evening, still no news. The sage. (Her account of her trip to Oslo to government representive called and hotel menu had been the same for two represent WFPat the Nobel Peace Prize said he was ready to receive the UN days now: poulet basquaise with rice. Ceremony appears on page 8.) 12 Pipeline Photographs by Rein Skullarud

Apresentation about Sir Hans Singer was shown to delegates at the Executive Board meeting last October AFOUNDING FATHER TO WFP In November, the 2001 WFP Food for Life Award was presented to Sir Hans Singer. Jennifer Abrahamson met him at his home in England

As a WFP press officer in Nairobi eastern savannas of rebel-held DR On a crisp autumn afternoon Sir covering the Great Lakes countries, I Congo and the war-scarred rural ham- Hans, dressed in suit and tie, invited hit the road quite often to carry out lets of Burundi. me into his modest one-storey house media trips and fact-finding missions So when I was asked to rush from and welcomed me to the rich history of throughout the region. The job took me Rome to the seaside town of Brighton, his life’s work. Surrounded by carved to exotic and often dangerous loca- England, to interview the recipient of wooden figurines acquired over tions, such as northern Uganda during the 2001 WFP Food for Life Award, I decades of working missions in Africa the Ebola epidemic, the sweltering thought it would be a pleasant, perhaps and Asia, the distinguished develop- rather dull trip in com- ment economist summoned the past parison with previous from a memory of steel. duty travel assign- At 91, his gaze is steady and reveals ments. an intense intelligence, as well as a But once I met Pro- sense of humour. From the living-room fessor Sir Hans sofa, Sir Hans recalled the past, taking Singer at his home in his days studying economics under tucked away on a Keynes at Cambridge, his emigration quiet street in subur- from Nazi Germany in the early 1930s, ban Brighton, the trip and his role in the creation of WFP in was anything but dull. the 1960s while working at the UN Sec- retariat in New York. He fondly remembered the months Sir Hans Singer leading up to the founding of WFP, receives the Food when President John F. Kennedy for Life Award from addressed the UN General Assembly WFP Executive in 1961, shortly after being inaugu- Board President rated, and proclaimed the 1960s the Ulla-Maija Finskas development decade. Soon after, Sir Pipeline 13 Hans chaired the UN committee that drew up a plan for a world food organi- ETHIOPIA sation, which would simultaneously assist American farmers with crop sur- pluses and help feed those in need in the developing world. NO TRUCK WITH “The thought that even a single per- son, a single child, might have been saved from death and starvation by the IGNORANCE existence of the World Food Pro- gramme, is in itself sufficient in my Wagdi Othman on a drive to raise mind to justify what we did then,” he said. awareness of the risks of HIV/AIDS Yet Sir Hans, who was knighted by England’s Queen Elizabeth in 1994, refused to take much credit for the sav- Forty-year-old Makonen is one of the WFP’s first large-scale initiative in the ing of millions of lives by WFP over the thousands of truck drivers employed fight against the spread of the epi- years. “I am very honoured,” he said. by local transport companies con- demic. “Yet at the same time it makes me feel tracted by the World Food Programme The drivers were given a two-hour very humble because I realise I was in to carry food aid from the Red Sea port training session in a classroom setting. a particular position in the United of Djibouti to warehouses in Ethiopia. At the end, each was issued with a pic- Nations Secretariat at a time when it Getting to Djibouti from Addis Ababa, ture ID card as a certificate of partici- was ripe for the establishment of such the Ethiopian capital, takes at least two pation. an organisation.” days. Once they get there, drivers then The training sessions were con- The WFP employees who risk their have to wait for a further two or three ducted by a local NGO, the Integrated lives every day in the field are the real days before their trucks are loaded and Service for AIDS Prevention and Sup- heroes of the organisation, he said, not they are heading back to their own port Organisation (ISAPSO), in Addis himself. country using a perilous road. Ababa and in the towns of Nazareth Before we packed our equipment to “On average, I do four trips a month, and Kombolcha, two main hubs the dri- catch a train back to London, he ener- which means that I am away from my vers pass through as they move getically pulled out some old photo- wife and four children for 28 days of towards their final destination. graph albums showing snapshots of every month,” says Makonen, a driver “We believe that the training sessions himself with his late wife, Ilsa, enjoying for 20 years. “It is a very difficult situa- are a very effective strategy for slowing a picnic some six decades before. tion which sometimes leads some of the spread of HIV/AIDS,” said Deputy There were also images of Sir Hans my colleagues to alcohol and drug Country Director Benedict Fultang. and his associates at the UN Secre- abuse and risky sexual behaviour.” He added: “The main purpose of the tariat hard at work, drafting the founda- The one thousand kilometres sepa- sessions was to create a better under- tions of what would become develop- rating Addis Ababa from Djibouti are standing among this target group, in ment and humanitarian agencies of the dotted with bars and restaurants where order to facilitate changes in behaviour United Nations. truck drivers can rest and eat, but also and attitude towards the HIV/AIDS He laughed as he picked up a comi- meet commercial sex workers. That pandemic. It is assumed that the cal ceramic figure that was more kind of casual sex encounter has made trained truck drivers and their assis- mouth than head. His granddaughters men who do such work one of the tants will protect themselves and their made it some thirty years ago, depict- groups most at risk of being infected by families, and at the same time dissem- ing him lecturing at Sussex University’s the HIV/AIDS virus. Truck drivers have inate HIV/AIDS messages as they Institute of Development Studies, also been identified as an important pass along different routes.” which Sir Hans founded in the 1960s. factor in the spread of the deadly dis- By the end of the two-month pro- He maintains an office there and is pro- ease. UNAIDS estimates that 10.6 per- gramme in Ethiopia, some 2,031 truck fessor emeritus. cent of the population of Ethiopia is drivers and their assistants had been The following month, his home would HIV-positive. In the capital itself, the trained in HIV/AIDS risk reduction and be the setting in which the (then) WFP infection rate is even higher. prevention. “We really welcome WFP’s Executive Board President Ulla-Maija Although he himself has managed to initiative to organise these sessions,” Finskas, on a special trip to England, resist casual encounters, Makonen said Makonen. would present Sir Hans with the WFP thinks that a lack of awareness of the Afollow-up programme is planned. Food for Life Award. magnitude of the HIV/AIDS epidemic Wagdi Othman is WFP’s Public Dusk was descending on Ovingdean, is one of the main causes of the risky Information Officer in Ethiopia Brighton as my cameraman and I said sexual behaviour of some of his col- In May 2000, in recognition that goodbye to him. As the taxi snaked leagues. HIV/AIDS is a humanitarian disaster of along the highway hugging the cliffs “They do not know how bad the situ- extreme proportions, WFP’s Executive above the English Channel, it stood out ation is, and some of them do not even Board agreed that the organisation has as never before that while all lives are know what HIV/AIDS means,” he said. a role to play in addressing the crisis important and meaningful, some are In May WFP launched a series of within its mandate. An initiative is under truly extraordinary. innovative training sessions for its con- way world-wide to ensure that Jennifer Abrahamson is working for tracted truck drivers in Ethiopia, to raise HIV/AIDS concerns are addressed in WFP as a Public Information Officer their awareness on HIV/AIDS and sex- all WFP programmes, including both in Islamabad ually-transmitted diseases. It was emergency and development. 14 Pipeline Change in FEEDING THE PEOPLE OR the air FEEDING THE CONFLICT? “It’s the first time in the history of the United Nations that we’ve had an avia- Claire Conan and Valerie Guarnieri report tion conference involving all agencies, both peacekeeping and humanitarian, on a ground-breaking workshop which charter aircraft and use air trans- port... The first time we have got together and discussed safety and how To many people, it seems inconceiv- reported on techniques which had we are to operate in future.” able that humanitarian action could been used successfully to ensure that, Peter Iskandar, WFP’s Head of Air have the unintended effect of compro- in a situation of conflict, the right assis- Operations, was talking about a mising the very people it is seeking to tance got through to the right people. A ground-breaking gathering held at help. Yet research and experience colleague recalled a situation where, WFP Headquarters in Rome in early have shown that such assistance can faced with registration figures which December. Representatives from the feed into, and possibly even exacer- were clearly inflated, WFP reduced UN side were joined by some 63 air- bate conflict - even when it is saving misappropriation by screening and ver- craft operators at the conference, lives and alleviating suffering. In fact, ifying potential beneficiaries together which was chaired by Logistics Chief there is an argument that food aid, with government and partner repre- David Kaatrud and opened by being the most visible form of assis- sentatives. Other options included Mohamed Zejjari, Assistant Executive tance, is particularly susceptible to switching to less attractive commodi- Director. manipulation and misuse by combat- ties, making official protests, and hold- The conference was in part the out- ants to suit their own purposes. In an ing transporters responsible if food was come of a drive for greater air safety environment where resources are few, stolen. spearheaded by UN Secretary-Gen- it can provide one more element to fight Should we suspend aid in situations eral Kofi Annan, who had suggested over, or one more way to subjugate where humanitarian assistance is hav- that agencies’air operations should be members of the local population. ing some unwanted side effects? Col- audited by the International Civil Avia- Does this mean WFP should stop leagues repeatedly mentioned pulling tion Authority. The auditors recom- providing food aid in conflict areas? Of out as a potential, albeit last resort to mended that UN bodies should agree course not. Countries like DR Congo, deal with excessive abuses. The exter- common standards for safety and con- Sudan, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone, nal experts were more vehement in rul- tracting, and work together on shared which have seen protracted conflict, ing this out as an option. They argued systems: the initiative is not only about are amongst those most in need of that, despite the difficulties and com- safety but also about the best possible food aid and other assistance. How- plexities of operating in conflict, there use of air resources. “There is no point ever, WFP’s staff and managers were always less harmful courses of in us wasting donor money by having should continue to take steps to under- action than pulling out. two aircraft flying the same route, each stand the political, economic and social Could WFP adopt a peace-building half empty,” said Iskandar. dynamics of the environments in which agenda in its humanitarian work? One Anew co-operation was getting off the we are working and incorporate this external expert argued that there was ground. “Just yesterday, the Depart- analysis into programming decisions. no role for food aid in building peace, ment of Peacekeeping Operations Who we work with, and how we imple- since aid is neither the cause of, nor the asked us to help in moving cargo from ment our programmes can maximise solution to conflicts. But some WFP Islamabad to Bagram in Afghanistan. the amount of food received by our participants disagreed. They felt that, Their aircraft were Ukrainian registered, beneficiaries and minimise negative under the right conditions, food aid and the Ukraine Civil Aviation Authority side effects. could be instrumental in helping peo- had not yet given permission to fly into For three days in September, the ple to disengage from fighting and Afghanistan. They needed to deploy Food Aid in Conflict Workshop brought rebuild their society. quickly and they came to us. This would together a mix of WFP staff who have Participants requested guidelines on not have happened two years ago. served on the front lines providing food the principles guiding WFP’s work in “The emphasis is on working together aid in war zones, key partners who conflict situations, which could serve in the United Nations. It’s the first time the have worked with us in the field, and as a basis for decision making and UN is really going to be united on all renowned external experts such as advocacy in the field. Some felt they fronts in aviation - aircraft usage, sharing Mary Anderson, author of Do No Harm, needed to strengthen their skills in con- information and supporting each other.” and Larry Minear, director of the flict analysis, negotiations, assessment Humanitarianism and War Project at and targeting. Tufts University. It was a rare opportu- Claire Conan is a Consultant work- Michel Sondjo nity to examine, through our own expe- ing with WFP’s Strategy and Policy riences, the impact of food aid on con- Division. Valerie Guarnieri is a Michel Sondjo’s name appeared in the flict and to address technical issues Senior Policy Analyst at WFP Head- last issue of Pipeline under “Retire- and moral dilemmas which confront quarters in Rome ments and Separations” in Staff News. WFP staff in the field daily. Areport on the workshop will be dis- We are sad to report that Michel, the Participants discussed the whole tributed to regional bureaux and Coun- WFP Adviser in Senegal, died on question of whether food aid could try Offices. If you’d like a copy, contact August 31, 2001. inadvertently fuel a conflict. They Valerie Guarnieri. Pipeline 15 Photograph: Peter Casier

WFP national staff in Kabul: they carried on with their work “under the most trying conditions imaginable” THEY KEPT THE FOOD ROLLING Jane Pearce pays tribute to WFP’s national staff in Afghanistan

Every day during the bombing in staff needed.” their national colleagues. Mohamed Afghanistan, Yousef Yousefzai went to He added, “I am so proud of them.” Sheikh, Head of the sub-office in Faiz- the WFP office in Kabul. He had been “It was a difficult time,” Attiqullah abad, said: “Our staff were under con- the Officer in Charge since the evacu- Mohibi, a Programme Assistant in siderable pressure to deliver unprece- ation of the international staff on Sep- Kabul, recalled. “There were times dented quantities of food, and they did tember 12. After checking in there, he when we were scared to leave our their best to meet the challenge. Just in would go to a public telephone office houses, but we knew that there were the two months of November and and, with a Taliban guard present to lis- people like the widows who couldn’t December, together with our imple- ten to his conversation, wait in line to leave Kabul and who were 100 percent menting partners they distributed ring the WFP office in Islamabad. In the reliant on WFP food. Without us, the 11,000 tons of food - as much as the days immediately after the interna- situation for them and their children total amount distributed in 1999 and tional staff departed, the Taliban had would be very terrible.” 2000 combined.” sealed the radio room in the office and There was the same spirit at the WFP Ramiro Lopes da Silva, Special Envoy all WFP’s communications equipment. warehouse on the outskirts of the city. of the Executive Director to the Afghan “It was a delicate situation,” said The staff went to work every day, even Region, said: “I cannot speak highly Fayyaz Shah, Head of the Kabul sub- during bombing raids. enough of the hard work, dedication office, who was working out of Islam- “The worst time was when a casual and the immense courage shown by abad at the time. “Everybody in the labourerer was hit by shrapnel,” said our national colleagues. It was due to world was desperate for information Qamarudin Moradi, the logistics super- their dedication that - under the most from Kabul and this was our only link, visor who was in charge of the ware- trying conditions imaginable - WFP but I had to be careful not to press house. “The bomb landed just outside could continue bringing food to people Yousef too much and put him in a dan- the compound and all of a sudden this in need.” gerous position, with the Taliban officer man was lying on the ground. We Jane Pearce was Reg. Reports Offi- listening in. Speaking in the local lan- rushed him to the hospital, and fortu- cer, Islamabad (Emergency Res- guage showed that we were only talk- nately he is now fully recovered.” ponse deployment) until the end of ing about lifesaving operations. I was Staff returning to the offices through- January. She is now a Resources aware of how much moral support our out Afghanistan are full of praise for Mobilisation Officer based in Rome 16 Pipeline

School’s over for the day and there’s energy to spare: but before the WFP-supported schoolfeeding programme started in the nearby village of San Juan, children did not have their first meal until four o’clock in the afternoon SPOOL REPORT In Ecuador some 1,400,000 children are benefiting from the WFP-supported schoolfeeding programme. Anne-Karine Brodeur tells how one of them became a star for a day

It was 6.30 in the morning when we Action. The cameraman had already years before, “Our community did not arrived at the home of little Marta been affected by the altitude in Quito, receive any assistance and the chil- Tacuri, high in the mountains of the 2,800 metres above sea level. As our dren went to school and had their first Ecuadorian Andes. Marta was still car wound up the twisting mountain meal at four in the afternoon.” sleepy and her mother had to remind roads, I hoped his condition would not She added, “Now I can go to take her it was time to get ready for school. worsen. care of the animals and get on with the But this day in class would not be like Next day, with the camera following, chores, knowing my daughter will have any other: for it was to be recorded on Marta took her younger brother’s hand a good meal at lunchtime.” film for millions of people around the and the pair set off for school. The fam- Once a week, she herself goes to the world. ily lives in the village of San Juan at the community kitchen to lend a hand in Eight-year-old Marta is one of the mil- foot of the Chimborazo volcano, more the preparation of that meal. As she lions of children in over 50 countries - than 4,000 metres above sea level. and other parents prepared a sustain- some 1,400,000 of them in Ecuador Marta’s father, who works the land ing soup of vegetables, rice and tuna, alone - who are benefiting from the some way away from the community, she told us: “With the school-feeding WFP schoolfeeding programme. WFP returns home at the weekends. Their programme, I know my girl has more driver Hugo Paredes and I had driven home, made of brick with an aluminum chance of succeeding in her studies. into the mountains the day before from plank roof, showed that they did not My dream is that she will go to college Quito, the capital, with a two-person belong to the poorest of the poor. Nev- one day.” camera team from United Nations ertheless, the school-feeding pro- She was speaking in Ketchwa, an Television (UNTV). They planned to gramme had made an important differ- indigenous tongue. At Marta’s school, follow Marta through her school day for ence in their lives. Maria Angela Tacuri, the staff teach in this and in Spanish. a short feature in a series called UN in Marta’s mother, told us that until three The first class that day was music, and Pipeline 17 we filmed the children singing in both languages. At 10 o’clock they were RESOURCES NEWS given a nutritious drink and a biscuit, to help them concentrate in class. Then the camera followed as they paid a visit with their teachers to the school garden - created thanks to a Canadian NGO which had given WFP a dona- tion of seeds. The youngsters were learning to plant and nurture them so that they would one day grow into ingredients for the lunches prepared by the fathers and mothers. People in this region would normally plant onions and potatoes; but thanks to the WFP school garden project, this plot boasted lettuce, beets, carrots and many other vegetables. So far, more than 2,000 schools in Ecuador have received batches of the seeds, and it is expected that a further 3,000 schools will benefit in the same way in the course of this year. By 1.30 class was over and the nour- ishing soup Marta’s mother had helped to prepare was steaming in bowls at the community kitchen. After eating, the children set off for home, where they would now be able to do their homework or help their mothers to feed the animals, without feeling hungry. As we said goodbye the community Malcolm Harper, Director of the United Nations Association in Britain, pre- presented us with gifts handmade from senting a cheque for £ 50,000 (above) to Catherine Bertini when she was llama. Although they had very little in in London in January. The donation was the result of a hugely successful the way of material possessions, they appeal launched by the UNAthere in support of WFP’s work in and around gave us what they could. The five- Afghanistan, and was only part of the total sum raised. At the last report, minute report was due to be edited in the amount raised was £ 80,000 and still going up. December. UNTV is also producing a shorter version, to be aired globally on CNN. The plan is that Marta and her Afghanistan: latest classmates will be seen by viewers all over the world. Thanks to the generous response of tise and financial support for the repair Anne-Karine Brodeur is a Canadian the donor community, WFP’s Emer- of bridges at the Tajik-Afghan border... Junior Professional Officer working gency and Special Operations in the ECHO and the British Government’s for WFP in Ecuador Afghan region are resourced up to 89 Department For International Devel- percent, enabling the Programme to opment have helped get food to the Eight-year-old Marta Tacuri (below): reach its target of food deliveries most needy by providing the WFP a child of Ecuador’s high Andes despite the very difficult and volatile fleet with enough trucks to reach the conditions in the region...The US is a most remote areas in the region... major donor, providing 50 percent of Despite the challenges of winter and the resources needed to help the hun- insecurity, some 27 donors - govern- gry poor in the region...Non-traditional ments, private donors and interna- donors such as Chile, Thailand, South tional organisations - have confirmed Korea and Indonesia are also giving their trust in the Programme to deliver their support in this emergency...The food where it is needed most, when it German authorities have helped on is needed most. the logistical side by providing exper- Guillaume Foliot

PIPELINE: THE NEXT ISSUE

The next issue of the magazine is due to appear at the end of April. If you would like to contribute, please get in touch with the Editor, [email protected] 18 Pipeline

Jean-Jacques Graisse Continued from back page

pianist or solo violinist than to be the aster. On Sunday we had to organise organised. (And long hours, of course.) orchestral conductor, which is how I the visit to the crash site of the “As Deputy Executive Director, in an saw my role. The conductor only facil- bereaved families. On Monday morn- average day you might be chairing itates, he doesn’t deliver the perfor- ing there was the repatriation of the meetings; solving problems between mance - it’s each individual instru- bodies to Rome. And on Tuesday I divisions or bureaux; facilitating mat- ment that matters. You must have the was spending time with the staff in ters. If the Executive Director is travel- top musicians. In that respect this Pristina who had lost three col- ling, you will be sitting in for her, sign- organisation is superb - because of leagues. ing and approving documents for the talents and qualifications of so “That was a pretty frightening week her... Be her deputy. many of its staff. That’s what makes it in terms of grief. I think the death of “The last thing my own two children possible for WFP to get all the good my mother probably helped me in try- wanted to be was bureaucrats. They marks it has been getting. ing to cope with that plane crash. She both live in France - my son is in the “I was in Nicaragua one Friday had had a long and happy life - in a restaurant business, my daughter morning when I got a phone call sense, death was normal. What was went into the world of culture. telling me my mother had died in not, was the deaths of these 24 young “I adore music, cooking, and read- Brussels. On Wednesday I was at her people. ing, biographies preferred. I don’t funeral. On Thursday evening I “My new job is more predictable have any great hobby - that’s some- returned to Rome. At noon on Friday and organised. The best way to be a thing I miss. The trouble with me is we learned of the plane crash in manager is to get things moving that I have had too much fun all Kosovo. [In November 1999, a WFP rather than stuck on your desk. If these years to have a hobby. In 38 flight to Kosovo crashed there with the you’d be interested to look at my years, I only remember... hmmm, six loss of 24 lives, including three staff mem- email... As of this moment, I have... months when I felt bored, in the late bers of the Programme.] On Saturday eight unread messages and an in- 1970s. Six months out of 38 years - morning I was on a plane to Pristina, tray which will be empty when I not bad, is it?” to help the office coping with this dis- leave the office. It means being very Interview by Lucinda Evans

STAFF NEWS MID SEPTEMBER THROUGH MID DECEMBER 2001

GENERAL SERVICE NEW APPOINTMENTS Ms. E. Agyepong G-3 Clerk-Typist HQ/ODO Mr. M. Koran G-5 Administrative Assistant. SPW/Washington Ms. B. Bembo G-3 Clerk-Typist HQ/FSFF Ms. B. Palacio G-3 Clerk-Typist HQ/FSA Ms. S. Colazingari G-3 Clerk-Typist HQ/ICTD Ms. S. Sbroiavacca G-3 Clerk-Typist HQ/REA Ms. E. Cutelli G-3 Clerk-Typist HQ/REC PROMOTIONS Ms. M. R. Apostol G-5 Administrative Clerk HQ/OEDA Ms. T. Martinez G-4 Clerk-Typist REN/New York Ms. V. Crisan G-5 Administrative Clerk HQ/FSC Ms. A. Nardini G-4 Programme Clerk HQ/ODP Ms. C. Cronin G-5 Administrative Clerk HQ/ODO Ms. A. Nava G-4 Clerk-Typist HQ/RECC Ms. J. Keith-Kirk G-5 Administrative Clerk HQ/MSP Ms. G. Ponzi-Paolini G-5 Administrative Clerk HQ/FST Ms. E. Ketema G-4 Administrative Clerk HQ/OHA Ms. L. Potts G-6 Administrative Assistant HQ/HRO Team C Ms. G. Longhi G-5 Administrative Clerk HQ/HRO Team C Ms. R. Proietti G-5 Administrative Clerk HQ/HRO Team B Ms. L. Lopez G-4 Administrative Clerk HQ/MST Ms. F. Ramirez Ortiz G-4 Administrative Clerk HQ/SPP Ms. K. Lycke G-3 Clerk Typist HQ/OEDI Ms. S. Riddle G-3 Clerk-Typist (Registry) HQ/HRS Ms. C. Maglione G-6 Programme Assistant HQ/ODP TRANSFERS Ms. A. Ong G-5 Budget Assistant HQ/OEDB from HQ/FSFA Ms. K. Eidem G-6 Int. Administative Assistant Iraq from HQ/HRD SECONDMENTS/LOANS Ms. S. Dougherty G-4 Administrative Clerk HQ/REP to FAO, Rome SEPARATIONS Mr. F. Russo G-6 Administrative Assistant HQ/MSA Pipeline 19 PROFESSIONALS

NEW APPOINTMENTS Mr. A. Bagnoli P-2 Junior Professional Officer Mozambique Mr. D. Nowack P-4 Logistics Officer Pakistan Mr. M. Binasoy P-2 Finance Officer Angola Ms. J. Samuel P-2 Programme Officer Eritrea Ms. L. Christensen P-2 Junior Professional Officer Bangladesh Ms. M. Sebit P-2 Programme Officer DPRKorea Ms. K. Derore P-3 Prog. Officer Head sub-office Eritrea Ms. J. M. Simonsen P-2 Junior Professional Officer Benin Ms. J. Dolan P-3 English Translator/Editor HQ/RECC Ms. E. Smith P-2 Logistics Officer Eritrea Ms. S. Haydock P-3 Logistics Officer Zambia Ms. G. Testolin P-2 Junior Professional Officer HQ/SPT Mr. L. Hiniolwa P-3 Regional TC/IT Officer Pakistan Mr. A. Tonchev P-3 Logistics Officer Pakistan Ms. K. Junnila P-2 Logistics Officer ODK/Kampala Ms. M. E. Van den Bergh P-3 Procurement Officer Kenya Mr. C. Moyo P-1 Finance Officer Sudan

PROMOTIONS Mr. J. Bagirishya D-1da Country Director Yemen Mr. T. Negash D-2da Country Director Kenya Mr. M. D. Bamezon D-1da Country Director DRCongo Mr. M. G. Usnick D-2da Director REN/New York Mr. K. Davies D-1da Country Director Uganda Ms. M. Varela Diaz P-4 Systems Analyst HQ/ITCD Mr. A. Dowell D-1 Director HQ/OTI Mr. A. Wilkinson D-2da Dir., Oversight Services & Inspector General HQ/OEDO Mr. L. J. Imbleau D-1da Country Director Sierra Leone

REASSIGNMENTS AND TRANSFERS Mr. A. Abdulla D-1da Director HQ/OEDB from HQ/FS Mr. M. Mbaye P-4 Deputy Country Director Eritrea from Burundi Ms. K. Bah P-4 Regional Gender Adviser Senegal from Côte d’Ivoire Ms. A. Miroshnichenko P-2 Admin/Finance Officer Mozambique from Balkans Mr. J. Bailey P-4 Programme Officer Serbia/Nis from Albania Mr. D. Morton D-2da Acting Director HQ/OT from DPRKorea Mr. M. D. Bamezon D-1da Country Director DRCongo from REN/New York Mr. Y. Misawa P-3 Programme Officer Eritrea from East Timor Mr. D. J. Bulman P-4 Country Director CAR from DPRKorea Mr. V. T. Nguyen P-3 Programme Officer DRCongo from DPRKorea Mr. B. Busetto P-4 Assistant to the Asst. Exec. Dir. HQ/AD from HQ/ODP Mr. B. Oberle D-1 Country Director Afghanistan from Uganda Mr. J. L. Castro P-2 Human Resources Officer HQ/HRO Team B from Ethiopia Mr. R. Opp P-2 Programme Officer HQ/OHA from HQ/ODA Mr. K. Davies D-1da Country Director Uganda Mr. E. S. Ould El Hadj P-3 Programme Officer Eritrea from Chad Ms. C. Hardy P-2 Management Analyst HQ/MSD from HQ/MSP Mr. S. Pedersen P-3 Logistics Officer ODK/Kampala from Ethiopia Ms. M. Hofmeister P-2 Junior Professional Officer Senegal from Benin Mr. D. Perez Tuesta P-3 Emergency Officer DPRKorea from Guatemala Mr. C. Huddart P-2 Information/Reports Officer ODK/Kampala from HQ/ODA Mr. M. Regnault De La Mothe P-2 Programme Officer Gaza from Honduras Ms. K. Junnila P-2 Logistics Officer ODK/Kampala from HQ/OTL Mr. J. Saenen P-3 Logistics Officer Turkmenistan from Ethiopia Mr. D. B. Kaatrud D-1da Head, UN Joint Logistics Centre Pakistan from HQ/OTL Ms. M. Sfarra P-3 Conference Services Officer HQ/REC from HQ/OED Mr. S. Kouniali P-4 Programme Officer Sudan from Iraq Mr. D. Shah P-2 TC/IT Officer Sudan from East Timor Ms. P. Lewis P-3 Human Resources Officer Ethiopia from Balkans Mr. M. Sharif P-5 Senior Advisor Kosovo from HQ/OSA Mr. R. A. Lopes da Silva D-2da Special Envoy of the ED for the Afghan Reg. Pakistan from HQ/OT Mr. M.G. Usnick D-2da Director REN/New York from HQ/OEDB Ms. J. Macdonald P-2 Internal Auditor HQ/OEDA From HQ/OT Mr. A. Wilkinson D-2da Dir., Oversight Services & Inspector Gen. HQ/OEDO from HQ/OEDE Mr. S. Maina P-4 Programme Officer Chad from Burkina Faso

SEPARATIONS Mr. D. Chambliss P-3 Policy Officer HQ/SPS Ms. L. Minozzi P-2 Resources Officer HQ/REE Mr. P.J. Clarke D-2da Country Director Indonesia (Retired) Mr. B. Mutter P-4 Human Resources Officer HQ/HRS Mr. O. Delarue P-3 Human Resources Officer HQ/HRO Team A Mr. J. O’Dea P-2 Emergency Officer (FALU) DPRKorea Mr. I. Fahmi P-4 Country Director Albania Mr. S. Ridwan P-3 Web Manager HQ/ICTI Mr. M. Fassih P-5 Emergency Officer Indonesia/Dili Mr. D. Skoric P-3 Emergency Coordinator Macedonia Ms. R. Lamade P-2 Junior Professional Officer Mozambique Ms. M. Sorensen P-2 Junior Professional Officer India Ms. C. Loechl P-2 Junior Professional Officer ODD/Dakar Mr. J.M. Walsh P-4 Programme Officer ODM, Lima, Peru Mr. B. Martinson P-5 Operations Manager Kenya/Lokichokio (Retired) Mr. F. Witte P-4 Programme Officer ODM Managua, Nicaragua

SECONDMENTS TO/FROM OTHER UN AGENCIES Mr. P. Gray P-4 Human Resources Officer HQ/HROI to UNSECOORD, New York Mr. F. Savarese P-3 Administrative Officer HQ/MSA to UN, New York Ms. M. Hammam D-1 Director REN/New York to UN, New York Mr. D. Vidal P-4 Resources Officer HQ/REE to OCHA, Geneva Ms. T. Mikami P-4 Procurement Officer HQ/OTS to UN, New York

INTERAGENCY TRANSFERS Mr. F. Gazzoli D-1 Inspector General HQ/OEDI to UNRWA/Jordan Ms. J.M. O’Connell P-4 Head Payroll Unit HQ/FSP to UN Office at Geneva Ms. C. Jones P-4 Finance Officer HQ/FSA to UNFPA New York 20 MYPipeline JOB, MY WORLD DEPUTY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

In September Jean-Jacques Graisse Photograph: WFP/Sherri Dougherty fact. I was lucky. The Minister for became Deputy Executive Director Development Co-operation had gone of WFP. Here he talks about his life to New York to negotiate an agree- and his career: ment between Belgium and the UN “Looking back over my years with Technical Assistance Board (the pre- WFP, there are two emergencies decessor of UNDP). Six candidates which stand out in my mind. had been shortlisted in Belgium but “It was in the summer of 1998 that the secretary of the Minister, a lady of we understood the seriousness of the about 60, took a great liking to me, situation in Bahr el Gazal, southern she thought I was a very nice boy. I Sudan. For some time, because of the found out later that, when the Minis- civil war, WFP had not had access to ter went to New York, she kept five the population in a vast area. files in Brussels and only put mine in “I flew from Khartoum to El Obeid, with his papers. So when they signed and then to one of the first camps we the agreement to set up the JPO pro- had installed in the region, for our gramme, the only live person they staff returning. There were these huge had to implement the programme congregations of people, who had with was me. I went to Tunisia. It was walked to a few points where the first wonderful, a country that was suc- food distributions were taking place. ceeding in development. “It was the first time that I had wit- “My own strengths? If I had to men- nessed a famine of that scale. For me, tion just two, they would be luck and, it was no longer an article, a report, a I hope, common sense. meeting. I had never come so close to “It was my great luck to find myself thousands of walking skeletons - from greatest achievements. I remember working, three times over, in ground- children to old men, starving, totally those long, long hours on Good Friday, breaking fields: technical assistance starving. That was extremely moving. Easter Saturday, Sunday, Monday... in the sixties, at a time when it was “We had been authorised to fly one where hundreds of WFP staff were get- perceived as the best way to help plane for airdrops and this was sud- ting organised to rush to the scene. newly-independent countries. Then denly increased to eight a day, drop- “Did I want to join the UN from the the environment in the seventies, ping 17,000 metric tons of food per very beginning? Oh, very much so. It with the newly created UN Environ- month in that area. That was when I was probably due to the sense of guilt ment Programme. And then interna- discovered how massive an operation of many young Belgians at the com- tional trade (with UNCTAD/GATT) in WFP could mount rapidly as soon as the 1980s, when export-led growth access was given back to us. At Loki- was fashionable. In 1988-89, I choggio I saw the incredible activity worked as Chief of Staff of Prince at this little airfield in the middle of “I was the first Sadruddin Aga Khan, the first UN Co- nowhere. Huge fleets of trucks were ordinator for Afghanistan, based in bringing in the food, and the planes JPO in the Geneva. Then I rejoined UNDP and were taking off with it towards south- spent the next six years in Nairobi and ern Sudan. And Loki was only one of UN system, in fact. New York. four places from which the planes “On the first of January, 1996, I were being loaded and sent. I was lucky” joined the World Food Programme - “I was head of WFP’s Operations talking about luck again - at a time Department for five and a half years. when it became increasingly vibrant It was the first time in my life that I pletely failed process of decolonisa- and the largest humanitarian organi- learned, watching the 6.30 news on tion of the Congo in 1960, where one sation in the UN system. CNN or BBC World every morning, of the first big UN interventions was “When I joined WFP, I think I was what was likely to be the priority of taking place. very lucky to have been part of ‘the the day a few hours later. And it was “I was born in Brussels in August trio’ with Catherine Bertini and the first time I worked for an organi- 1940. Because of the war, my mother Namanga Ngongi. That was one of sation which I felt was so immediately and I lived on the border with Luxem- the nicest work associations, it gave relevant as WFP. When you saw bourg - the countryside was the best me really a very good feeling. It was floods in Mozambique... war breaking place to live then. The first time I saw also the Executive Staff she had cre- out somewhere in Africa... refugees my father was when I was five, as he ated: I found it the most coherent and crossing borders by the hundreds of was a prisoner of war from June 1940 dedicated group of people I had ever thousands... You knew what you onwards. In 1945 we went back to worked with. would be focussing on that day. Brussels. “In the Operations job, you had to “The other emergency that stands “I studied international trade in be immediately involved in all the out particularly is Kosovo. It began Antwerp. In the summer of 1961, a new emergencies. There would be over Easter, when we mobilised WFP new degree was created in Trade with meetings and conference calls to get worldwide to focus on the massive Developing Countries. A year later, I everybody concerned mobilised, outflow of Kosovars into Albania and was the first and only student to grad- from Logistics to Human Resources to Macedonia. It was one of the biggest uate with that specialisation. Public Information to Resources. and most urgent rescue operations, “Then I decided to become a JPO - I “It’s maybe more demanding to be widely recognised as one of WFP’s was the first JPO in the UN system, in a great Please turn back to page 18