Obama should teach a thing or two to Ban Ki Moon and Sha Zukang on transparency and participation

I was reading this article in The Huffington Post, and was pleased that finally someone from the left (as Huffington) managed to see the light at the end of the tunnel and have the guts to afront the radical changes that need happen to reform the United Nations and IFIs (World bank and IMF, etc).

Who would have imagined that transparency, participation and collaboration would be stated goals of any official U.S. government (USG) policy -- and not just in a rhetorical manner, but rather as an invitation for constructive engagement with American citizenry?

From the Huffington Post (By Rebecca Harris)

The United Nations in general and UN-DESA in particular could stand to learn a thing or two about openness from the recent efforts of Barack Obama in reforming the United States Government.

If the UN and its managers were advocating so much their love for Obama, the minimum they should do is to at least mimic Obama's latest actions such as for example the endorsement of a United Nations Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, which Obama put into practice in the very first days of his administration.

In his Memorandum Obama called for US Government to be:

1. Transparent - promote accountability and provide information for citizens
2. Participatory - public engagement enhances the Government's effectiveness and improves quality decisions
3. Collaborative - engagement of citizens in the work of their government

Imagine now if the United Nations and its Funds and Programmes (including UN-DESA) could do just that.....?!

Instead of sending Catherine Pelluso to visit all DESA's Divisions and Branches and talk down and try to intimidate us with the "newly established Human Resource Rules and Contractual arrangements", why don't Sha Zukang doesnt build an open DESA Website in which to :

• Foster Transparency : - by making public all DESA's projects, finances and personnel and shutting down the useless TCMS (we like their old term)
• Foster Participation: - by allowing all DESA's staff participate in the policy formulation and reforms inside our own work space and making their voice heard
• Foster Collaboration: - by engaging DESA's staff from various Divisions and Branches into inter-branch, cross-thematic Teams or cross-divisional-projects aiming at enhancing a culture of collaboration and exchange that would ultimately strengthen DESA's products and reputation.

Let's hope and pray that our comrade Sha Zukang will learn from comrade Obama's best practices.