Transformation at UNDP at a crossroads
The eminent organization behavior professor John Kotter suggests that the main reason transformation efforts fail is a lack of vision. That didn't used to be an issue for UNDP. In 1994 my old organization, Stakeholder Forum, became the first National Committee for UNDP in a donor country. It was a pleasure to be advocate to the UK government and the UK stakeholders about what UNDP was doing and the vision they had under Gus Speth. "Sustainable human development is development that not only generates economic growth but distributes its benefits equitably; that regenerates the environment rather than destroying it; that empowers people rather than marginalizing them. It gives priority to the poor, enlarging their choices and opportunities and providing for their participation in decisions affecting them. It is development that is pro-poor, pro-nature, pro-jobs, pro-women and pro-children". Sustainable human development can, therefore, be defined as “the enlar...