Felix Dodds comments on sustainable development, coffee & life

  With the deadline for candidates’ nominations now passed, four names are officially in the frame. Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence size up the candidates. Originally published on Inter-Press Service here. APEX, North Carolina / SAN FRANCISCO, California, Apr 8 2026 (IPS)  - Let the race begin! April 1st was the deadline for candidates to be nominated for Secretary-General. Was it a coincidence that the deadline was April Fool’s Day? Judging by the quality of the official candidates, we suspect so. Before looking at the four official finalists, however, it’s worth examining the state of global politics, since this will certainly have an impact on the likely outcome. We are currently living in one of the most unstable times since the Second World War. Multilateralism is under threat and the UN is facing significant political and financial turbulence. To its credit, the UN is attempting to address these challenges through the UN80 process, which is trying to repurpos...

Guest Blog by Lenni Montiel :  Senior UN Development Leader (Ret.) | UNDP Resident Representative I Former UN Assistant Secretary-General | Governance, Public Policy & Multilateral Diplomacy | Leadership Advisor & Trainer I Chevening Scholar   A reading of the vision statements of the candidates for UN Secretary-General reveals something striking: They are not simply campaign platforms, but different answers to the same question: what should the United Nations be? Having worked within the UN system, I read them as signals of how each candidate understands the institution. A quick comparison of the visions of Rafael Mariano Grossi, Michelle Bachelet, Macky Sall and Rebeca Grynspan shows both common ground and strategic differences. Four visions of the United Nations Grossi frames the challenge as a crisis of effectiveness in a fragmented geopolitical environment. His priorities emphasize preventive diplomacy, operational delivery and stronger coordination across the U...

By Felix Dodds and Chris Spence First published by  Inter Press Service here  The 15-member Security Council-- which includes five veto-wielding permanent members, namely the US, UK, France, China and Russia-- plays a decisive role in the election of a UN Secretary-General. Credit: United Nations With current UN Secretary-General António Guterres set to step down in 2026, who is in the running to replace him? In this seven-part series, Felix Dodds and Chris Spence reveal who might be in the running and assess their chances. The potential candidates include 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 that have come up in conversations with UN insiders and other experts. All six would offer skills and experiences we believe would be valuable in these fast-paced, uncertain times. “The suffering we see around us is a reminder of what is at...

By Felix Dodds and Chris Spence First published by Inter Press Service on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, available here. With current UN Secretary-General António Guterres set to step down in 2026, who is in the running to replace him? This seven-part series reveal who might be nominated and assess their chances. The potential candidates include 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 that have come up in conversations with UN insiders and other experts. All six would offer skills and experiences we believe would be valuable in these fast-paced, uncertain times. APEX, North Carolina / DUBLIN, Ireland, Apr 16 2024 (IPS) - When the conversation turns to who might replace António Guterres as UN Secretary-General, the name of Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, is on many insiders’ lips. In addition to being Prime Minister, she also serves as he...

The UN General Assembly Heads of State starts early this year with a High-Level event on Monday the 18th which will be chaired by President Trump on UN reform. Reform is in the air with the process of reform started by the new  Secretary General . His first report came out a month ago and there is now a process of consultation with governments, stakeholders and within the UN and the second reform package will come out in December and governments will discuss both formally in the UN Committee Two process in early 2018. On Friday the 15th September Achim Steiner the new Administrator of UNDP presented his new vision for the organization. This was trialed out a couple of weeks before in an excellent power point presentation to the Member States. He throws out what was there and has a really impressive vision for UNDP which sits very well with the role it should be playign in the 21st century. He is giving UNDP a leadership it hasn't had throughout the last two Administrato...

The election process for UN Secretary General is getting very interesting.  The UN is a wash with rumors of a late dark horse Kristalina Georgieva European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources.  As she is also from Bulgaria it would mean that the either the Bulgarian Government would have to withdraw their support for Irina Bokova . Discussion was due to happen on Tuesday this week within the Bulgarian Cabinet to decide if they were going to switch horses. Or another rumor as reported in the Sofia Globe circulating is that according to a tweet by Talal Al-Haj, UN bureau chief of television station Al-Arabiya, Georgieva will be nominated by Hungary, Latvia and Croatia, with the support of Germany. In previous blogs I had suggested that Bokova was a strong candidate for UN Secretary General she has done well in her tenure at UNESCO and of the candidates left in the race seemed to have a good chance. As I might say are  António Guterres  and...

As some of you will know i am a huge comics fan and am very jealous of my good friend Sean Southey of PCI Media Impact and the project Comics Uniting Nations. He is working with UNICEF and the World's Largest Lesson which is a collaborative education project to support the announcement of the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development . One of the first comics to come out is Chakra the Invincible created by the great Stan Lee and Gotham Chopra and drawn by Sharad Deverajan and Ashwin Pande. The comics will cover the 17 global goals for sustainable development and hopefully help get the message out to a larger audience. “There are a lot of goals – 17 in all – but there is a way to make these understandable and accessible to people of all ages…and make them fun to learn about – through the powerful entertainment medium of comics”, said Olav Kjørven, Director of Public Partnerships at UNICEF speaking at a  panel within a fully-packed New York Comic Com at the...