Mr. Sha Zukang, the new USG of DESA is a very cable Chinese diplomat, but true to his background and training has remained a diplomat and a Chinese. His style of governance involves mixing statements with jokes, mostly made-in-China jokes and therefore, it is hard to know when he is serious and when he is not; when he is telling the truth, when he is not. It is not easy to trust him.
He is also overly bureaucratic and overlly obseesed with protocols etc. Even though he heads one of the most important think tanks of the UN, Mr. Sha often boasts in public saying, "I do not read books". Not a great preamble to raise the credibilty of an organization that is expected to provide guidance to global economic and social problems.
Some of the names or positions your report has mentioned as sources of problem are the very same people Mr. Sha has now turned to for running and "reforming" UNDESA. It is therefore highly unlikely that much will come of these efforts initiated by him.
Mr. Sha is a very intelligent person, but he is hardly visionary nor has he demonstrated much acumen (so far) in the area of management.
The clean up must start with immediate removal of all the three heads of the Executive Office - Zaitsev, Peluso and Oveissi who have been in these positions for last several years. These three have systematically scuttled all reform initiatives of the past, especially those that risked their respective monopolies. Another person that Mr. Sha's relies a lot on, is Mr. Jomo, the Assistant Secretary General who is an activist economist with zero background in management - he comes from an NGO background.
Starting from Mr. Desai's time alomost all consultant reports on DESA management observed serious management shortcomings, especially with its Executive Office, but these reports have either been suppressed or no action has been taken.
In a recent evaluation report on UNCRD, a Tsseloniki type centre based in Nagoya and funded by the Japanese government, has reported serious management lacunae in the tehnical cooperation office. The head of this office has so far refused to respond to these findings. Instead this person is making every effort to punish the people who reported these lapses.
UNDESA is rotting from within, though there is little doubt that UN needs a think tank organization such as this. But has to ponder whether the way it is currently structured and the way it is run, or the persons who are running it, is the best way to handle this task.
No one should be looking at Mr. Sha and his top management team to answer this question - they are the source and not the solution of the problem.
Efforts in DESA reform must not be initiated from within, but from outside.
A special team made up highly qualified and with persons of unimpeachable background should be set up to undertake the important task of DESA reform. A more wholistic assessment of the organization, linking its substantive requirements with its management setting is indeed the need of the hour.
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