APEX, North Carolina / DUBLIN, Eire, Apr 19 (IPS) – This was the stark warning of Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-Normal of the UN Convention on Commerce and Growth (UNCTAD), in 2023.
“The struggling we see round us is a reminder of what’s at stake after we lose sight of the long run, after we depart folks behind and we lose the power to place ourselves in others’ footwear. What we’re seeing is a preview of what the world might be in 2030, if the Sustainable Growth Objectives fail.”
Grynspan was appointed as the brand new head of UNCTAD—and its first feminine chief—in 2021. Earlier than this, she had been Secretary-Normal of the Ibero-American Summits from 2014-2021, and a deputy head on the UN Growth Programme (UNDP) from 2010-2014.
She has additionally held different UN roles relationship again a decade additional. These embrace serving as a subregional director of the Financial Fee for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and as UNDP’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
However her experience additionally crosses into authorities.
In the course of the Nineties she held a number of high-profile roles in her native Costa Rica, together with serving as Vice President from 1994-1998. She additionally held the housing, economics, and social affairs portfolios at numerous phases of her profession, and was a Vice Minister of Finance within the late Nineteen Eighties.
Grynspan has additionally been on numerous boards and high-level panels over time, dealing both with monetary issues, human improvement, or each. For example, she chaired the board of the Worldwide Institute for Surroundings and Growth (IIED), served as a delegate to the UN Fee for the Reconstruction of Haiti, and extra not too long ago was on the G20 Excessive Degree Impartial Panel (HLIP) on Financing the World Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.
She has additionally served on boards tackling points resembling diet and meals coverage, and ladies’s political management. She can be coordinator of the Job Workforce of the World Disaster Response Group on Meals, Vitality and Finance arrange by the UN Secretary-Normal to assist assist international locations face the financial shocks associated to the struggle in Ukraine.
Might Grynspan’s breadth of expertise, and her deep background in finance and economics, be considered as an asset at a time when financing on the whole, and notably assist for the World South, are broadly seen as insufficient?
For instance, the shortfall in funding for the Sustainable Growth Objectives within the South is now estimated at $4 trillion. How can we flip this round? Grynspan’s skilled expertise, together with negotiating the debt of her nation with the IMF, and her intensive coaching as an economist (she holds economics levels from universities in Costa Rica and the UK) might be considered as well timed and precious on this regard.
Assessing Grynspan’s Prospects
Might economist Rebeca Grynspan turn out to be the following UN Secretary-Normal? Right here is our evaluation of her benefits and downsides ought to she select to enter her identify into the competition.
Benefits
- Seniority: Grynspan might not have been a president or prime minister, however as Vice President of Costa Rica she climbed near the summit of her nation’s political mountain. Though it’s unclear whether or not the present Secretary-Normal’s standing as a former prime minister might be a one-off occasion or the beginning of a development, Grynspan’s seniority in her native Costa is unlikely to hurt her candidature, ought to she select to use, and would doubtless assist it.
- UN Expertise: As the primary feminine Secretary-Normal of UNCTAD, Grynspan has already damaged one glass ceiling inside the United Nations. She would additionally deliver greater than twenty years’ expertise inside the UN system, one thing that will absolutely be considered as an asset throughout these unsure occasions. Moreover, she is accustomed to the inner workings of the UN in Geneva, New York and throughout Latin America, giving her insights into choice making at each headquarters and regionally. This breadth of expertise inside the UN might be helpful to any future UN chief.
- Confirmed Impression: Grynspan is considered as somebody who can have an effect, a notion acknowledged by Forbes journal, which named her among the many 100 strongest girls in Central America 4 years working. She was additionally instrumental within the UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative agreed by Russia, Türkiye, and Ukraine that has allowed tens of millions of tons of grain and different foodstuffs to depart Ukraine’s ports, enjoying an essential position in international meals safety.
- Connections: Grynspan has had a few years working within the regional stage and on the international stage, too. Her networks might arguably not be as broad as another candidates, however would nonetheless present a very good platform for her to succeed.
- A Girl Chief: As with our different candidates, Grynspan presents the possibility to interrupt the glass ceiling and turn out to be the primary feminine chief of the UN.
Disadvantages
- Local weather and the Surroundings: Though Grynspan has sturdy credentials on commerce, finance and improvement, it’s only not too long ago that she started to have a better profile on local weather change and a few of the different large environmental problems with our time. For example, she not too long ago co-hosted the primary ever Commerce Day occasion at COP28, and has turn out to be a robust advocate for reform of the monetary and debt structure to permit growing international locations the fiscal area to put money into carbon mitigation and adaptation. Might her comparatively current involvement on this key challenge depend towards her, or will it slightly be seen as including to her spectacular credentials in different areas?
- Peace and Safety: Peace, safety and battle decision haven’t featured prominently in her background. Nevertheless, as with local weather change, they’re typically front-and-center of worldwide information. If the UN Safety Council members are on the lookout for experience on this space, may Grynspan’s relative lack of expertise be thought-about a doable weak spot? Or, would they take into account her current position within the Black Sea Initiative as current proof of her engagement on this space?
- Identify Recognition: Though she is broadly revered in her fields and throughout the UN, Grynspan might not have the identical type of identify recognition among the many public as a few of the different candidates.
Prof. Felix Dodds and Chris Spence have participated in United Nations conferences and negotiations for the reason that Nineties. They co-edited Heroes of Environmental Diplomacy: Profiles in Braveness (Routledge, 2022), which examines the roles of people in inspiring change.
Earlier elements:
https://www.ipsnews.internet/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-1/
https://www.ipsnews.internet/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-2/
https://www.ipsnews.internet/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-3/
https://www.ipsnews.internet/2024/04/next-un-leaderpart-4/
IPS UN Bureau
© Inter Press Service (2024) — All Rights ReservedUnique supply: Inter Press Service
