Reflections on a United Nations' Career: An Insider's Account (Springer Biographies) - Hardcover

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Ian Howie, Associate Professor, Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne, and Adjunct Professor, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, has spent more than 35 years working in the field of international development. The bulk of this time was spent with the United Nations as a career official and included multi-year assignments as the United Nations Population Fund’s representative in China (with responsibilities also for Mongolia and North Korea), Viet Nam, Ghana, Rwanda, and Papua New Guinea. Reproductive rights were integral to these appointments, especially when negotiating government policies. Professor Howie also spent seven years at UN Headquarters, New York, following his appointment as the Chief of the Division of Human Resources. Earlier, he served as Chief Technical Adviser with the International Labour Organisation managing primary healthcare projects in rural Bangladesh and, following his plotting of a unique model delivering health services at villagelevel, oversaw its adoption in the plantation sector in Sri Lanka, and in the industrial estates of Kenya and the slums of Nairobi.

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This book is more than an autobiographical account of the career of a young graduate from Australia who spent his life working as a United Nations official. It is in fact, a critical, indispensable debriefing of a UN insider’s account as it follows the life of a development practitioner for more than three decades within the global aid sector.

It also goes where few others have dared to go before, providing first-hand insights into the realities of a UN career official’s life. While many throughout the world may wish to join the “UN family” or have already become part of the development sector, it is presumed they all have a vision to act as vehicles for positive social change. However, expectations can and may differ once realities have sunk in. The book opens a unique space in the international aid sector – particularly, population security – around elements of personal and professional rewards and costs.