By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, July 7 -- When the UN released its “Millennium Development Goals Report 2014” on July 7, it said that “aid is shifting away from the poorest countries.”
Inner City Press asked the report's author Keiko Osaki-Tomita and the shift, and asked Shantanu Mukherjee, MDG team leader at the United Nations Development Program about UNDP's layoffs impact on the Goals and their assessment.
Keiko Osaki-Tomita said the shift was identified by the OECD, adding that multilateral institutions, presumably including the World Bank, are moving toward “soft loans.” Mukherjee said that some “poorest countries” have graduated to lower middle income status, citing Ghana and Tanzania.
On the layoffs or “re-structuring” of UNDP, Mukherjee politely said that UNDP's senior leadership is better positioned to answer. Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access, which has been asking about these layoffs after being told by UNDP staff about them, agree -- so where is senior UNDP leadership? Click here for a view from New Zealand, citing Inner City Press.
The UN set aside the first question in the MDGs press conference for the UN Correspondents Association, whose head Pam Falk tried to ask follow-ups though it is unclear if any of the answers will be reported. Meanwhile other journalists were left to the end of the press conference when questions were taken in bunches. FUNCA is opposed to such set-asides at the UN, along with the bare minimum expectations now published here. Watch this site.
