The end of UN Habitat?
Published on Inter Service Press here. At the beginning of August, the Report of the High-Level Independent Panel to Assess and Enhance Effectiveness of UN-Habitat came out with its report. Before commenting on the Panel Report I want to put up front that I know that a lot of the staff in UN Habitat do excellent work and its same they weren’t given a proper role in Habitat III. It should be remembered that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterre s appointed the high-level panel in April this year. The Panel had a very short time to produce its report. I would argue far far too short a time. To enable a Panel to get on top of options and proposals and hear viewpoints on initial drafts Panels should not be expected to report in less than two years. So, I find myself reading a report that I already have concerns about in the context of the ability of those on the Panel to really get beyond a literature search and a few outside papers and very little outside reflection or input. ...