The alliances needed to rebuild the developing world Achim Steiner
Brazil it’s my honor to welcome a
Finnish diner are you on of them
hi good to be with you hello nice to be
with you as well there’s obviously so
much going on in this moment so many
things we could talk about I really want
to ask first focusing on Kovan 19
coronavirus this moment obviously has
mapped on to and exposed so many
inequalities that already existed in our
world that I know you focus on on a
daily basis and your work has though has
this moment has this crisis this global
health and economic crisis change the
way you think about development
I think it has Sally and I think it has
for billions of people I think more than
four billion people across the planet
have been in lockdown mode this has not
happened in living memory and in fact I
cannot think of an episode in history
where literally across the planet in a
synchronized fashion we had to deal with
the pandemic and we were able to address
a pandemic to some extent in unison
despite of all the divisions and I think
in that sense yes everything has changed
right now the question is what happens
next and the pandemic in that sense has
been a great equalizer because you had
to respond in the same way whether you
lived in a rich country in a poor
country alone or with others but it was
also great an equalizer because the
ability to respond in terms of access to
health care in terms of the resources a
country or a family may have available
to cope with this obviously reveal
something that for some new words and
development already existed before the
underlying conditions of inequality
certainly have become very pronounced
and very visible and in the response to
cope with nineteen I I guess let me ask
it this way you know it’s from knowing
you from knowing you NDP’s work there’s
a way in which the inequalities the
injustice is the great disparities both
within countries and then across
countries north to south developed
developing already existed and you you
already knew them intimately
do you think though that the precise or
or I mean really epic I mean just
unprecedented way in which those
inequalities and inequities have been
laid bare and exploited in a lot of ways
by this pandemic and the fallout has
that in any way shifted your thinking or
or changed your thinking in the way you
or is it just sort of more of the same
in a deepened commitment you know what
I’m getting at not at all I mean it
starts with the fact that over a hundred
days ago I was suddenly essentially
asked to stay at home and as the head of
a United Nations Organization has 17,000
people across 170 countries just that
experience of trying to run an
organization including the duty of care
for our staff who you know are not only
in locations where there is a health
care system where you’re able to go to a
place and receive support many of my
colleagues are working in the middle of
crisis countries in civil wars in very
important Act so that was the first
thing how do you run an organization
like this in the midst of a global
lockdown when you have all these people
who in turn all these countries also
looking to to help and I think that
experience that almost shocked certainly
focused our minds immediately on what it
needs to try and respond to something
that yes in theory we all had discussed
could happen but as the world has shown
across the globe we are ill-prepared red
secondly as we respond what was
disturbing was to see that in so many
respects we were unable to help some of
the most vulnerable because we were not
prepared and those countries they don’t
have money access to medical equipment
but as the crisis continues clearly
there is a lot of thinking about what is
it that we can do to never end up in
this kind of situation again how can we
think forward and I think that is just
beginning to both permeate our work as
development professionals but you know
development is a metaphor in a sense for
choices that you and I our governments
on our behalf have to make and I think
in that sense we’re just beginning to
think about what is life beyond the
crisis of coverage 19
going to do in the way that we think
about the future of our societies of the
relationship between the state and its
citizens the role of the private sector
what is a public good that we all invest
in collectively in order to be better
protected and I think these are the
kinds of questions that are going to
drive our thinking and let’s be honest
right now many of our society is
actually responding under stress we see
criticism we see polarization we see a
lack of trust also and I think that’s
the first priority will be to
re-establish trust in one another but
also in the way that in our societies we
can manage these issues and that is
quite a challenge so I want to hear
absolutely questions I want to ask I
want to hear more about some of the
examples of how this looks on the ground
and actually how what your what und
piece work looked like before the crisis
and now and if you could give us a sense
of how communities are responding but
before I do that there’s something
embedded in your and your what you just
said which is it’s easy - it’s not easy
it’s not easy to solve it but we can
push a lot of the responsibility for the
failure to prepare on nation states
themselves their lack of prioritization
we could talk about market failures we
can talk about a lot of things but some
people would in this moment say well
where were our global institutions there
are global some would even go far enough
to say they seem missing in this moment
from this debate from the solutions
certainly they didn’t prepare us
adequately enough and that allow these
crises to lame out of control is that
true well in one sense it is true
because global institutions are also a
reflection of our individual
preparedness I mean whether it is the
United Nations the International
Monetary Fund the World Health
Organization clearly there are many
things that we are learning we perhaps
should have done earlier but it is not
for lack of actually drawing the
attention of world leaders to these
issues pandemics have been only scenario
crisis platform and radar for many years
in fact
I attended a g7 summit in Germany at the
time with secretary bunky Luna there was
actually scenario planning exercise with
the heads of government on a pandemic
and yet the magnitude of this particular
covert 90 in this situation exceeds
anything that we had anticipated so I
think yes but let me also say what is
the politics of international
cooperation the other is what the
institutions of the United Nations for
example also the Bretton Woods
institutions that call the International
Monetary Fund the World Bank are doing
and here I would challenge those because
in fact it is these institutions that
while every country is turning inwards
and looking at his own priorities and
crises at the moment are in fact out
there across the globe helping to keep
countries going
the IMF with over a trillion dollars in
terms of access to countries to have
what they call fiscal space just the
money to be able to pay unemployment
benefit to help all these people have
lost their livelihoods in the informal
sector the World Health Organization
trying to corral over 190 nations into a
common response because this virus
simply cannot be contained by countries
acting individually and in the United
Nations system and whether it is UNDP
the World Food Program UNICEF we are
working on the ground at the moment
delivering food to literally a hundred
million people trying to keep services
there in trying to import with an air
bridge medical equipment is urgent
neither because in many countries there
are not even enough ventilators just for
the hospitals that already exist
nevermind the onslaught of patients that
are coming and perhaps most importantly
there is also an economic fallout that
is happening simultaneously to the
medical systems crisis and on the
continent of Africa in some ways the
socio-economic follow has almost arrived
earlier than the virus because camp is
about to lock down and literally
hundreds of millions of people overnight
have lost their life because many people
don’t realize that on a continent such
as Africa 7080 percent of people who
earn a living this on the informal
sector you stop trading you shut down
your corner shop or your workshop
tomorrow there is no income there is no
social safety net your life is literally
economic freefall so give us a sense I
pick a place pick a couple places of I
mean I think it is really hard for those
of us who may think our lockdown is you
know difficult enough in a New York City
or a London to and who have resources
and privilege and although they to
imagine both the crisis of lockdown as
well as the ripple effect the dominoes
of all of these different crises on the
health well-being sanctity mental health
of a community what does it look like in
those places and can you also give a
sense of what development in the sense
of resilience could actually look like
if we if we use this not just as a
crisis to respond to but as a wake-up
call let me start with the immediate
response for example how do you provide
temporary basic income in a country
where most people don’t have a bank
account in many developing countries the
poor simply are not players in a
financial system they have no assets
they have no firm address or land title
so they don’t even own an accounts of
digital platforms have obviously emerged
as an enormous opportunity to leapfrog
so when there’s a country like togo that
literally in a matter of weeks set up a
cash transfer scheme for close to three
million people whether you go to
Pakistan were 12 million households
that’s 18 million people are receiving
cash transfers right now these are
things that are being put in place which
in a matter of weeks and speak also to
the extraordinary opportunity of the
digital revolution it is literally fast
forwarded into many economies and
societies overnight and UNDP is very
much trying to help with its digital
finance offer how to set up these
systems within telecom communication
companies national government
international financing but we’re also
providing tracking system support in
order to allow countries to identify how
as the buyer is spreading we’re also
looking at ways in which the continuity
of government itself can be assured for
instance providing Xoom licenses to
Parliament’s who can approve the budgets
the emergency butters because they could
not convene how did the set up situation
groans in government to allow them to
communicate with their provincial and
local government authorities because
communications essentially were
impossible and these are the kinds of
immediate measures we are taking but
then when you look forward what we’re
also trying to look at is for instance
opportunities take Africa 600 million
people today do not have access to
electricity what an extraordinary
opportunity taken renewable energy solar
wind geothermal off-grid as they call it
an on grid and put in place a massive
investment program to establish access
to electricity electricity it’s one of
the main drivers in terms of technology
and power for development if he could
come out of this crisis and connect back
three four hundred million citizens on
the African continent to access to
electricity with clean power we would
stimulate the economy create jobs in the
rural economy where the poorest are help
Africa move on to low-carbon energy and
development path and at the same time
have shovel-ready projects because this
is in every crisis what people look for
what can we do immediately to get the
economy going again and I could give you
many other examples like this but this
is just an illustration in one
particular area that combines immediate
need it combines economic stimulus but
also a longer-term view of a transition
towards a greener economy which is
really where we need to head after this
crisis so first of all preview everyone
out there we’re going to go to your
questions in a second there’ll be
another chance later on to ask questions
so be sending your questions to Bruno
that came a little later I want to ask
about and obviously the moment we’re in
with coronavirus is now cast against a
moment where we are having a
conversation the United States and
globally about racial injustice and
inequality and that obviously maps on to
the global conversation about
development and and the roots of under
development if you will but before we go
to that little little later I want to
ask before coronavirus happened you and
I were having conversations about
capitalism and markets and whether part
of the inherent nature of under
development
in or lack of opportunity and inequality
in various parts the world was a product
not only of history but also of the
current market system and its failures
has has the coronavirus moment changed
your thinking on that or visa vie
obviously climate change in these other
dynamics of where the systems and
assumptions were operating under seem to
be kind of systemically failing
communities in this way Sal Chile in
different countries different political
choices systems ideologies have shaped
the development choices that countries
have made now we have lived through the
last 30 to 40 years in any kind of
debate between is the state the solution
to under development to inequality to
poverty or is it the market is it
dynamic entrepreneurs is it investments
coming from the financial system I think
whether you believe in Milton Friedman
or you breathe in John Maynard Keynes
two key economies to stand for this kind
of economic theory of what is the role
of the state frankly speaking I think at
this moment in time there is a deeper
debate first of all how much do we
believe in the state institutions as a
vehicle to serve the public good and I
think we see in countries rich and poor
a great deal of disenchantment remember
the period leading up to Corbett ninth
in the last two to three years so
massive protests were politic
essentially set into the street Hong
Kong Paris Santiago de Chile just to
mention a few examples the confidence in
our political system and leadership to
deliver the kinds of outcomes economic
societal clearly was being contested and
I think the debate right now is not so
much about estate going to fix
everything is the market going to fix
everything clearly neither in its
extreme has been the answer and I think
it brings us to a core subject which is
governance you know our state
institutions essentially are
institutions that we as individuals as
voters as taxpayers empower to do things
on our behalf and I think where are we
going to see a significant shift is
first of all in recognizing but actually
our state institutions matter
notion that you know the less state the
more market the better the outcome
simply is not going to work in a crisis
such as carbon 19 in fact we have this
interesting phenomena right now where
everybody says can they get more
private-sector investment to deliver
public goods the reality right now is
that taxpayers money has to be used to
stabilize many companies from going
bankrupt so the stake the public stake
in the private economy is actually
growing ironically but that’s not really
the solution I think we need to find
ways in which through our economic
policies first of all the things that
matter to us in society are given the
priority that they deserve and this is
what people are looking for we believe
in our future we believe in our
societies our community because we see
something that is worth living for worth
working for worth striving for and I
think inequality and sustainability have
emerged as the two litmus tests right
now that governments first we’ll have to
perform against and secondly I think the
market where there’s the financial
system of 300 trillion dollars of wealth
around the world whether it is the
corporations or whether it is a small
medium scale enterprises how can they be
part of delivering that better future as
opposed to being a separate economic
system which is sometimes how it is
debated and that’s why I think in the
United Nations we have a great deal of
debate right now how do we mobilize the
kinds of first wall response measures
that can help to protect people the most
vulnerable from being essentially
bankrupted or left with nothing to eat
which is literally the scenario at the
centum how do we invest in an economy
that has to restart but has to restart
on a different trajectory and I think
here
fiscal policy subsidies sectoral
policies will in part determine whether
we go back to where we were before which
clearly already had problems or whether
we leapfrog ahead and digital technology
is just one example clean energy
opportunities as another and for
instance the idea that we could in a
matter of three to four years and
connect all schools on the African
continent to the Internet and therefore
avoid what has happened right now
the vast majority of schoolchildren
Africa have literally deprived of their
entire access to education which is one
reason why the Human Development Index
is literally in freefall right now for
the first time in 30 years I’m going to
turn it over to Bruno for some questions
from the tech community yes yes and we
do have a few questions I’m going to ask
maybe two or three the first one is from
so now Lutheran this really relates back
to what we just said about inequality
but another side in health education the
question is over half the world
population lacks access to water
sanitation which includes for example
the end washing facility needed to
contain the spread of kovat beyond
public health are there any new efforts
underway underscore new to address the
needs for essential hygiene they are
urgently needed and quite rightly there
is a realization right now that for
instance the pandemic says you know wash
your hands for hundreds of millions of
people as our listener is also saying
there is actually no access to water
that you can simply wash your hands and
it’s fascinating a young Kenyan boy just
got an award from the president of Kenya
because he devised a simple contraption
that would allow you to use very
precious water without having the touch
you know the watering can developing a
little foot device that you could use
people are improvised you know I think
we need to learn more from how poor
people actually find solutions to their
problems it’s one reason why in UNDP we
established a year and a half ago 60
so-called accelerator labs which are
very much focused and trying to
understand how are people within a
country trying to solve those problems
how do we then bring scalable
opportunities technology into that as
well and hopefully the issue of access
to clean water which is really an
indictment on our economic development
part I mean we in the year 2020 should
not be living in a world where seven to
eight hundred million people actually
still go hungry where one third of the
food we produce is actually lost its
waste between farm and market and is
wasted in the way we consume food and
these are the kinds of irrationalities
that
I think the economic pathway that we
have chosen has her too long overlooked
that too many people are being left
behind and left out of our economy and I
think that is one thing that will change
the conversation about the future and
access to water clean water is one very
stark illustration but there are many
others in our current economic reality
so another question comes from an
article and it’s about who is supposed
to be working on that she asked has copy
change the way UNDP or UN institutions
in general are looking at public-private
partnerships for the recovery in the
shorter term and also over the long term
well first will operationally let me
tell you that as UNDP / also the United
Nations we are at the moment
collaborating with a number of companies
whether it is for assembly maintaining
averages to transport protective
equipment medicines and supplies to many
countries that essentially have nothing
to turn to in terms of the existing
infrastructure airports are closed
airlines are basically stopped flying so
that is a critical part of working roles
with the private sector secondly
telecommunications companies in many
countries first of all getting
information out to citizens involved us
reaching partnerships with
telecommunication companies the
communication sector as such and then we
are looking particularly at the digital
solutions also because for instance
tracking and tracing entirely new apps
and systems are being mobilized right
now the technology the intellectual
property if you want rests in the hands
of private companies but the license to
operate something else in a transparent
and also that’s a respectful of privacy
and human rights aspects is in the hand
of government so bringing them together
is very much part of it but then also
reaching out of the financial sector
debt we need to address together with
the banks and financial system an
extraordinary challenge of the coming
months which is a mounting debt in many
developing countries that unless we
manage this together and a lot of this
debt is actually held by the private
sector it is not public debt as they
called it traditionally and therefore we
need to work with the private sector but
let me give you one more fascinating
example the
sector in Africa we could literally over
the next three to four years working
with the insurance sector which is an
you know a sector in our economy that
has optimized the use of artificial
intelligence delivering you know
insurance products that are able to
manage risks and assess risks health
insurance to four hundred million people
because in many parts of the development
of people have no national health
service they have no health insurance as
a poor person you will spend your last
money that you have on the sickness of
your child or of your parent can be
bring micro health insurance into these
economies where governments and the
insurance sector work together and they
could literally we estimate bring 400
million people into a minimum health
insurance system that would reduce the
extraordinary inequality that we have
just seen manifests itself in this code
nineteen crisis so yes there is an
enormous opportunity but it requires two
things one for the state the government
institutions to recognize what is the
economic policy that will attract the
private sector into delivering also
public good outcomes and secondly I
think leaders in the private sector CEOs
in particular I think need to step
forward and we have seen more and more
about in recent years to embrace their
responsibility to shape outcomes that
define the future of our economies and
societies it is not the state regulates
all the problems and the private sector
is essentially best off if it can just
focus on its own shareholders or
entrepreneurial success we need both and
that is why this is I think another
critical change that we will see over
the next few weeks and months that
public and private sector will forge
alliances we need generational projects
that require both and I think that may
be one of the transformative advances
we’ll see
let me ask one one last question which
would require a full interview maybe we
can just give the headline the headline
answer and it comes from from Frank
Hennessy it is do the thing that the
collective response to climate change is
more achievable now as a result of the
global experience of the pandemic that’s
a tough question to answer right now I
think in many respects the obvious
answer is probably not because with all
the economic fallout with all the crises
and let’s also you know acknowledge the
kind of geopolitical tensions the
prospect for addressing climate change
collectively has probably run into a
momentary challenge which is first of
all the ability to focus on it and
secondly also the willingness of the
international community to work together
despite different interests I think
however what we may see is that it is
the public who through covert 19 may
have discovered what it means to not
listen to science the ability to learn
that in action on climate change right
now it will not create just temporary
problems of a pass once you pass a
certain level of warming in our
atmosphere you are locked in for
hundreds of years with all the
consequences so I do believe in fact
that over the next year or two we will
see an accelerated commitment to
addressing climate change challenges and
the first test will really be in the
year 2021 when the conference of the
parties the climate change convention
comes together again and countries have
to submit their revised national climate
strategies this is an obligation they
signed up to and they’re supposed to
come with a higher level of ambition
this will be the moment of truth and I
think it will be the litmus test on
whether out of this crisis we may
actually see an accelerated transition
towards a low-carbon economy it’s also a
wing undp have therefore made one of the
four main areas in which to work with
governments and with the public and the
private sector right now accelerating
the transition towards a greener economy
is one way to recover out of this crisis
okay thank you really back later for
more questions sadly back to you keep
those great questions coming yeah all
just took three of mine I came I I
alluded to this before it feels
impossible to have this conversation in
this moment and not talk about the
global movements around conversations
around racism structural racism racial
injustice and in particular in that I
would like to hear your thoughts in the
context of development because I
mentioned earlier you’re the son of
German farmers you grew up in Brazil a
country that obviously has a complex
history around race and the legacy of
slavery and white immigration etc and
you work in development which is a field
that on the one hand right the global
inequalities are a product of
imperialism and colonialism and on the
other hand often global development is
accused of proceeding in a semi sort of
neo imperialist kind of way a sort of
North knows best if you will I’m curious
how you think about this global
conversation around equity and racial
and ethnic equity in particular in this
moment so it’s it’s a difficult topic to
discuss in a generic level and yet in
another sense it is a condition that in
virtually every society is present so
let me move from the abstract first of
all to the very real and very personal I
live in New York City right now I am
witness to because it happens in my
neighborhood to the protests that are
happening in the United States and I
think in large part they are an
expression of frustration and
desperation but also in many respects
one of aspiration I think the fact that
these protests and these marches full of
people from all kinds of backgrounds
first of all speak to something that I
think so many of us at the moment were
worried about having lost the sense of
solidarity and I would actually argue
there are those who will lock themselves
up those who look at their neighbor as a
threat but actually in reality here in
New York I have seen extraordinary
solidarity volunteers coming forward
people helping their neighbors to
organize shopping looking after the
Olien right now in these protests you’ll
also see a sense of um deep anger but
also a impatience with doing something
about a situation that has in this
context been particularly associated
with racism sometimes in other countries
it can be ethnicity it can be religion
it can be gender discrimination and the
configuration of inequality with
prejudice and with economic power is
something that runs right through the
whole development discourse like a red
thread and UNDP or the office of the
High Commissioner on Human Rights or my
colleagues in UNICEF or you and women
every day across the world we are
confronted with its whether it is
gender-based violence but it is the
attack on ethnic minorities we are
dealing with yes bigotry with history
but also with choices that are being
made today that simply are not
acceptable and are not supported by the
majority of societies so what is it that
we can do to change it and I think the
first thing is to accept that it is a
responsibility of everyone secondly that
it is not just government that can
legislate this out of existence
it begins in our communities in our
local government in our schools and our
families and I think that is where you
build up an ethic that recognizes racism
for what it is it is racism it is saying
that just because you are of another
color you somehow have fundamentally
different rights obligations or
opportunities and in the development
context you often measure this with
inequality in terms of access to
education in equality in terms of access
to the Internet the Human Development
Report of UNDP in 2019 shows inequality
very much as a focus and interesting
enough we have still be underlying
inequalities of the past and on top of
that we identified two more that will
amplify inequality if you don’t deal
with them one is access to the Internet
because in least developed the poorest
countries only 20% people would have
access to Internet in rich countries 80%
half in the future our economies that
creates a locking of structural
inequality and disadvantages
opportunities that were born for a
generation or two and secondly climate
change which deals with vulnerability if
you’re poor you cannot protect yourself
in the same way that a rich person can
and I think these are the kinds of
issues that define development in the
21st century it is not anymore for most
of us whether you may have access to
infrastructure or to services it is that
inequality that will ultimately tear us
apart the societies and that is what we
began to witness in recent years because
people all over the world were
expressing their frustration and a lot
of that was rooted in inequality
inequality related to race and to many
other aspects in which those who let’s
say I’ve been the winners of a certain
era in economic policy have simply taken
for granted I mean that is an important
discussion to have but it starts
literally in our neighborhoods and goes
all the way to a global phenomenon where
we still have many developing countries
where as I said earlier on such as on
the African continent 600 million people
don’t even have access to electricity
nor to clean water these are things that
simply should not be a reality anymore
in the 21st century and they are
unnecessary and unjustifiable okay but I
mean yes I agree with that obviously I
want to feel hopeful that this moment is
a you know that the winds are changing
that there is some kind of reckoning
that all of these crises and realities
have forced us to do and that we may
have a heightened moment as you said of
solidarity of you know an increase in
globalism a real actual sense that we
all are in this together even though
we’re not all in the same boat and at
the same time I know I’m not only gonna
speak for myself I worry that we’re that
this moment is going to lead to an
amplification a ramping up of the kind
of nationalism the exclusionary the
the sort of the winners preying on the
losers or dismissing the losers and and
and a dismissive dismissive nature of
everything you just talked about and I’m
not the only one right who see that they
were at this kind of turning point we
could go one way or the other what makes
you think what gives you hook that we’re
gonna turn toward an era where we
actually care more try to care for
people next door like we care for
ourselves try to care for people halfway
around the world like we care for
ourselves and really advance a real
mission of equality and solving inequity
so in one sense because the human story
is actually one of getting over some of
these issues it is a constant struggle
but let me give you a couple of
illustrations why you know I for one
believe very much in the prospect of the
future being a possibility or
opportunity that we can shape you know
only two to three hundred years ago nine
out of ten people live on this planet
live in extreme poverty today in the
year 2020 it is the reverse one out of
ten lives in extreme poverty and we’ve
added on another six and a half billion
people so just from the point of view of
eradicate extreme poverty and this is
something that has happened over three
hundred years but in many developing
countries there has been extraordinary
ways also in training education in
creating economic opportunities so on
that trajectory the story viewed in the
longer term actually is not a story of
failure is a story of success imperfect
success but secondly let us also look at
them the possibilities that we have in
terms of shaping what is it increased me
in the dependent world 1945 on the ashes
of the Second World War the idea of
setting up a United Nations it was you
know in some ways an aspirational dream
then and it remains one today but I
think the fact that 75 years later we
live in a world that first of all is far
more interdependent and whether it is a
pandemic whether it is extreme poverty
extremism cybercrime climate change this
mention a few of the key issues that
will define our own well-being the
outcomes for our nation’s actually have
led us to work together and despite what
people often say o multilateralism is in
crisis is this falling apart
no it’s not yes it is facing stress
points it has to reinvent itself and
above all people have to believe in the
need to work with one another despite
having differences multilateralism is
not about one happy family the United
Nations exists precisely because nations
are divided but we want to find a better
way to sit with each other and find
solutions rather than go to war with one
another we learned so many bitter
lessons in history and that is why I
would argue very strongly that in
looking to the future
the first thing that after - others we
make choices we as human beings and the
choices we make will define the future
that we will live in and I think that is
where we have an extraordinary
opportunity to not be naive but
certainly to be optimistic because
history actually has shown us time and
again that it is doable I can refer to
people such as Matt Matt Gandhi Nelson
Mandela I can refer also to many others
who never saw the success because they
were killed in the process of struggling
for a better world the story carries
both elements in it but I think
ultimately the human condition is one of
hope and is one of aspiration and it is
one also of values that actually bring
us together despite sometimes politics
trying to divide us so brutally hmm I
think we have some more questions from
Brno yeah a couple of questions from the
audience David Collins is asking what is
the effect that you have seen in
developing countries of commitment in
terms of specifically safety and fear
and what should the response of
governments be together those fears
first of all information I think the
worst thing that can happen in a crisis
such as this pandemic is you know
misinformation that may be rooted either
in ignorance or in bigotry and both have
been very visible in fact we as UNDP but
also the High Commission on Human Rights
the secretary-general himself have
PKD cold and we were in fact engaged in
well over 100 countries in assisting
government to combat misinformation
first of all suddenly to allow people to
understand what it is that they can do
where they can seek assistance and I
think these are three steps that
obviously help in first of all creating
more empowered citizens because in many
countries the government is just not
able to take care of you so what can you
do to improve the situation that you and
your family face secondly I think it is
critically important that we recognize
the vital role that digital technologies
and platforms can play in this moment we
are seeing compressed summons into a few
weeks leapfrogging into an era of using
digital platforms information
connectivity broadband that we you know
maybe would have expected to happen over
the next five or ten years and
ultimately I think leaders leaders in
our community in our society played an
extremely critical role especially when
trust in government institutions is at
the moment not at its highest level so
religious leaders leaders in the
business community our mayor’s teachers
people who have the respect in our
community are an integral part of
helping to combat an infidelity that
very often is not helping but is a
synergy creating suspicion and tension
and so investing in our collective
ability but also for government to lead
on this in terms of the kind of
infrastructure it makes available here
is critically important because that is
what maintains cohesion and unity in our
response there is another question which
actually has to do with cooperation so
you mentioned before it touches upon the
point that the world is not really
cooperating to the level you used to
batter the pandemic has brought together
a certain level of cooperation so the
question is the sort of talk about the
state of globalization and global
cooperation are you encouraged or
discouraged by what you have seen a
response to the pandemic I think the
honest answer has to be I’m concerned
and I’m worried because I see too many
voices right now questioning the very
foundation of our
come out of this coded nineteen crisis
you know the World Health Organization
very much in the center of attention of
international debate right now I think
it will sometimes forget that World
Health Organization is not a world
health police organization it is an
association of member states in which it
has been given functions and
responsibilities but the fact is it
requires everybody to cooperate now you
know there are debates about did it
respond quickly enough they did have all
the information how does it treat
different member states the fact of the
matter is that in the midst of a
unprecedented crisis our colleagues in
the World Health Organization have been
working 24/7 to help the world
understand what is this virus how can we
respond to it and also helping countries
very practically with a rapid response
plan on how to deal with it so that is
one example I think in which that notion
of working together is yes under stress
and if we attack the very institutions
that are neither perfect nor they fully
empowered like a world government to
simply tell us what tell Member States
what to do which was never the intention
is part of the reality but let’s also
look at other examples the IMF after the
financial crisis instruments were
changed the IMF has been able to respond
very quickly overnight with rapid access
to finance the government’s to be able
to put these cash transfers schemes in
place that will now help people to stay
alive the Global Alliance for vaccines
Garvey just had a replenishment meeting
it actually exceeded its target it got
eight billion dollars in pledges in
order to promote vaccinations and to be
part of a global effort to eradicate
diseases so there are good examples
where the world is actually despite its
frustration and its concerns and baps
fear actually coming together working
together and I think we should be
careful not to over exaggerate perhaps
this moment in time when people are
critical and justify they are also
entitled to ask critical questions but
the number of countries working walking
away from a joint response a collective
response is actually less than you can
count on the fingers of one hand so
there are 193 member states in the
United Nations let’s keep some
perspective let’s keep calm let’s keep
our nerves not to be complacent but
we’re not falling apart we’re just
having a really tough time staying
together under very trying conditions
yeah I came I just have one more
question which is to that point you’ve
made I think a pretty compelling case
that the world isn’t falling apart and
that maybe global institutions aren’t
falling apart but you you I’ve also
heard you talk about that maybe it could
be that nation-states are in some way
it’s certain nation-states are in a way
falling apart and that instead of this
narrative of oh well global nations are
handling the pandemic well and you know
the global South isn’t that there’s
actually a more complex narrative there
about the kind of nationalistic populism
sort of us versus them divisions cutting
against the solutions in this moment and
effective leadership in this moment can
you can you elaborate on that well Sally
leadership is one of those things that
we all talk about and yet it’s something
so difficult to measure what makes a
leader trusted what makes a leader
effective I think even the coded 19
response has shown that some countries
have great leadership but basically
struggle to get the pandemic under
control in other countries there was
very wadis leadership and a very
different outcome was actually observed
I mean the anomalous of one of the
countries to this day that has hardly
any cases of cold at 19 we see other
countries recovering very quickly I
think leadership is something that
ultimately speaks to two things one you
have to be trusted because then people
will follow your advice
and certainly leadership is not
something that you claim you earn it and
you are able to then deploy it and let
me be very clear I’m not at all naive
about the very critical moment we face
I’m watching with great concern the
political tension is the social tensions
and I think it
get worse because let’s be clear the
worst of the economic fallout is in a
sense yet to come in parts of the world
where it hasn’t yet arrived and in parts
of the world bread will translate into
you know bankruptcies millions of jobs
being lost
you can’t just rebuild the business that
you spent 10 years you know it’s your
garage or your corner shop that you had
to just start again as if nothing had
happened so clearly we are heading for
some very difficult territory but I
think at the end of the day it is that
sense of fairness that will allow
leaders to provide the kind of
leadership that we’re looking for which
is to bring societies together and also
to bring nations together let me be very
clear we have a health crisis
that’s called coded 19 it’s a pandemic
ultimately nobody’s safe until everybody
is safe so the vaccine that we’re now
all talking about will become a litmus
test for the world on whether this is a
people’s vaccine as the secretary of the
United Nations has called for or whether
it becomes the next frontier or which
the world will literally fall apart in
terms of trying to secure access for its
people this is a real moment of truth
and I think much of what will happen
next we will be able to see in that
debate over how the vaccine when it
becomes available if it becomes
available is distributed among nations
but also the new nations who do be
vaccinated first the people in the
hospitals who work there the doctors the
nurses is it the elderly is it the
children these are some terrible
dilemmas that need to be debated and
need to be resolved in a fair and
transparent way and they go to the core
values of who we are