At G-8, Mrs. Obama and Bruni Skip WFP's "Simulated Feeding" of African Children in Rome

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/wfp2g8display071109.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 11 -- On the sidelines of the G-8 meeting on July 10, the World Food Program shut down its headquarters for a "simulated food distribution" for the spouses of the G-8 leaders, flying in school children from Ghana to put them on display. Many WFP staff members found the display disgusting, a waste of money and a disrespect to UN recipients. U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama may have shared some of the concerns: she did not attend. Nor did French First Lady Carla Bruni.

WFP director Josette Sheeran, rumored to be under review by the the U.S. which nominated her under George Bush, conducted a "seminar" which some attendees found awkward and stilted, "a quest for personal publicity." WFP has yet to provide basic financial information on how much the "simulated food distribution display" cost, while Ms. Sheeran complains about not receiving requested donations. One wonders what new WFP deputy de Mistura, fresh in from the UN in Iraq, thinks of all this.

The event got very little international press coverage, for which Ms. Sheeran may paradoxically be grateful. WFP's own write up said that "in most developing countries women produce between 60 and 80% of food." But WFP insiders point out that while women make up 60 to 80 of farmers, commercial plots play a larger role that WFP says, depending on the country.

The First Ladies of Japan, Canada and the UK did attend, among others. WFP played up -- helped write? -- the blog entry of Britain's Sarah Brown, who said that one person in six does not know if they will have food today An insider counts that is an exaggeration:there are roughly 1 billion hungry people but a large percentage of them are only without food during the lean season before the harvest when stored food has run out.

The main question is whether the money spent, on telling WFP staff not to work on July 10, and flying in children for Ghana as a "Disneyland Africa feeding station," was worth it. Watch this site.

Since WFP refused to answer on the record, Inner City Press asked twice for response from the UN in New York. On July 8:

Inner City Press: In connection with the G-8, the UN World Food Programme is flying Ghanaian schoolchildren to Rome for a simulated feeding programme for the spouses of G-8 leaders at a reported cost of $500,000. Does Mr. Ban think…Some, including WFP staff, think it’s insensitivity to the beneficiaries of aid and a waste of money. What does the Secretary-General think about it and is he or members of his family participating in it?

Spokesperson Michele Montas: Not that I know, but I can find out for you, of course, whether he has any reaction to that.

Having heard nothing back, 24 hours later on July 9, also about North Korea:

Inner City Press: North Korea has said to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) that it should scale back its international staff, including not having international staff that speak Korean. They apparently “PNG’ed” a South Korean staffer of the World Food Programme. What does the UN system think of a country saying that they can’t have staff in it that speak the language of the country? Is the Secretary-General following, is he concerned about it?

Spokesperson Montas: I think the Secretary-General is always following what is happening to the different agencies, but I think you should address your question to WFP itself.

Inner City Press: And just one follow-up on WFP. This event that they’re having, now it’s tomorrow, at the headquarters of WFP, will be closed down for the simulated feeding programme with Ghanaian children flown in. Yesterday, you said you’d ask. I know he is busy. Is the Secretary-General’s wife there? Is she going to attend?

Spokesperson: No, she is not.

Question: She is not there?

Spokesperson: No.

Question: And does he think this is an appropriate use, I guess, of UN system facilities and funding to fly in children--

Spokesperson: Usually, the Secretary-General does not have express specific opinions on the way agencies deal with their own affairs. As you know, WFP is an agency. It is independent from the Secretariat, autonomous from the Secretariat, and they have their own policies. So I think you should ask them what their justification is for that event and get more details from them.

Question: Okay. I guess, since it may affect sort of confidence, you know, people are always asked to give funds to these agencies. So I just wanted to know whether he thinks it’s an appropriate use, but…

Spokesperson: We don’t usually comment on what the different agencies do.

But is that wise? Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/wfp2g8display071109.html

For G-8 Spouses, WFP Flies in Ghanaian Children for "Simulated Feeding," $500,000 Cost and Ms. Sheeran Disputed, re N. Korea

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/wfp1g8display070709.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 7 -- During the upcoming G-8 meeting in Italy, the UN World Food Program is flying school children from Ghana to Rome for a "simulated food distribution" display for the spouses of G-8 representatives. WFP has ordered staff not involved in the display to not come to work that day. They will, however, received "special leave with full pay."

Inner City Press wrote about this last week, quoting an internal WFP e-mail. On July 7, Inner City Press called in to what was described as a WFP press briefing about the G-8 and asked for response to criticism of the event as insensitive to beneficiaries of UN aid and for the cost, as well as about limitations WFP accepts from the government of North Korea.

The WFP officials on the conference call -- who will remain unnamed at their request -- at first did not answer the question, and then stated that the event would cost only a fraction of the figure Inner City Press used its its July 2 story, $500,000.

Inner City Press asked to be given on the record WFP's figure, including staff time, accommodation and air fare -- and carbon offsetting of the jet travel, if any. Four hours later, after close of business in Rome, a WFP spokesman said that an answer might be forthcoming. In the interim, WFP had scrubbed up and approved a quote from the "background" briefing for a less critical wire service piece.

And so, beyond the WFP e-mail below describing the event, here is the basis for Inner City Press' estimate of cost:

According to the WFP website, 'WFP employed 10,200 people in 2008 (91 percent of staff serve in the field.)' That means about 1000 work at WFP Headquarters in Rome. Even accounting for a satellite building that will stay in operation -- though who knows how many staff will show up or be able to get near it -- we estimate that 800 staff go home and that the average grade is the mid range of a P4 (grades are higher at WFP headquarters than in the field). The direct cost for such a post is about $100,000 but one must add to that pension, staff assessment and a large "post adjustment" because the dollar is weak against the Euro. Therefore a more realistic annual cost for a mid range P4 is perhaps $150,000-160,000.

The work year has 260 days, so a single day of labor lost costs the organization $576. Multiplied by 800, one gets about $467,000 -- plus related security costs, the cost of flying in the Ghanaian children to eat corn-soy blend in view of the G-8 spouses, the construction of a fake schoolhouse by WFP's pool, etc. In addition there is the Italian government paying rent on a building that is not being used to manage food aid but as a set for this theater. The last public figure on the website for the building costs was about $45 million per annum with a daily cost of roughly $123,000. So $467,000 plus $123,000 yields about $590,000.

Immediately after a senior WFP official on Tuesday's conference call said that costs were only "a fraction" of $500,000, Inner City Press formally asked for WFP's estimate of costs, and for confirmation that a WFP staffer was expelled from North Korea.

At deadline nine hours later, the following arrived:

Hi Matthew, On the question regarding the planned event at WFP headquarters on Friday 10 July, I refer you to the response given during the teleconference earlier today. On the question of DPRK, I have the following response:

A senior WFP official said one WFP staff member in DPRK has had to leave the country because his visa was not renewed by the authorities. A number of other WFP staff members have been reassigned, or rotated to new duty stations because WFP's operations have contracted and the number of people required to support WFP's activities have gone down.

"While WFP continues to operate under the new conditions imposed by the DPRK authorities, it has not formally accepted them, and WFP is continuing to push for a return to the original terms of agreement negotiated with the government at the launch of the current emergency operation," the official added.

We continue to wait for WFP's cost estimate. Inner City Press immediately followed up on the above, asking for the costs, if the WFP staff member who had to leave DPRK was from South Korea, and another question.

The initial questions were sent to WFP chief Josette Sheeran's e-mail address. Ms. Sheeran, on whom Inner City Press has previously reported, including where possible praising her work, has taken to hiring yet more former colleagues from the Washington Times, most recently Elizabeth "Lisa" Bryant.

Within the UN system community in Rome, many believe that Ms. Sheeran engaged in a quid pro quo with FAO chief Jacques Diouf, hiring a relative of his for an information technology post in exchange for FAO hiring the husband of her personal assistant, Tanujah Rastogi. They snark that since Ms. Sheeran Shiner bragged that while editing the Washington Times she ran story after story about the Clintons and Whitewater, the Obama Administration with Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State might want to see a change at the top of WFP. Through in the snafu of the $500,000 simulated feeding program and.... well, watch this site.

Rome colleagues:

As you know, Italy will be hosting the G8 Summit next week and leaders from more than two dozen countries will be in L’Aquila. We are honored that the Italian government has asked WFP to host an official program at our headquarters on Friday, 10 July, as part of the spouse program.
This visit is a profound testament to the increasing visibility of WFP's work -- and an opportunity to help the world better understand the important work we do. On our premises, we are arranging a simulated food distribution and a symbolic African schoolhouse, where a small group of Ghanaian schoolchildren will help celebrate our work. (You may have noticed the large exhibit being erected this morning behind the pool.)

Due to the security precautions mandated by the Italian government and the visiting delegations, only those employees involved in the event or deemed necessary for critical operations by their managers will be permitted on the main building premises during the morning of July 10. Among other things, parking will be severely limited at our main building and automobile access limited in Parco de Medici in general.
But we encourage you to take advantage of this special exhibit and bring your families, including your children, on the afternoon of 10 July – anytime after 2:00 – so they can get a taste of our field work and meet the schoolchildren. If you cannot bring your family on 10 July, note that the tent and displays will remain up on Monday, 13 July, so we invite you to bring family members to see the display then.

Though this is a special event, we realize it might cause some inconvenience. We hope you can appreciate what an historic opportunity this is for some of the world’s most influential people to understand what we do and to see the impact of their donations.

Here are some guidelines for the day: If you work in the main building, please do not come to the office Friday morning, 10 July. The St. Martin’s building will remain open. As much as possible, please work from home... We expect the main building to re-open for business as usual at 2:00, so if it's feasible for you to return, please do so. If returning to the office in the afternoon is not feasible for you -- we recognize that some of the Parco de Medici transit options do not run in the afternoon, for instance – you are authorized special leave with full pay. Thank you,
Steve Taravella
Chief of Internal Communications, World Food Programme
Via C.G. Viola 68,Rome, Italy 00148

Footnote: one WFP staffer, anonymous from fear of retaliation, asked if Josette Sheeran would similarly "parade around Food Stamp recipient in the United States," and went on to suggest that if the G-8 spouses wanted to see "needy Africans" while in Italy, they could check out the camps on Lampedusa...

And see, www.innercitypress.com/wfp1g8display070709.html