unity in diversity
wanda is one of eight countries chosen to pilot the ‘One UN’ concept. In an impoverished nation shaped by displacement, there are currently 1 UN agencies. the challenges of ‘Delivering as One’ – and tackling ineffciency, fragmentation and inter-agency competition for resources – are daunting.
‘Unity in Diversity’ is the slogan and guiding principle of the One UN team in Rwanda. In April 2007 all resident and some non- resident UN agencies signed up to an ambitious schedule for the implementation of ‘One Programme’, ‘One Budgetary Framework’, ‘One Leader’ and ‘One Ofce’ endorsed by the Government of Rwanda.1
What does this mean for the people of concern to UNHCR in a country hosting some 50,000 refugees – predominantly Congolese – and still facing the challenge of its refugee past and the afermath of the turbulent events triggered by the 1994 genocide?
Once the ‘One UN’/‘Delivering as One’ reform has been implemented, there are a number of outcomes that could signifcantly enhance refugee protection. The creation of national asylum systems, efective returnee monitoring mechanisms and prevention of new refugee movements are felds where the One UN reform has signifcant potential. In protracted refugee situations such as Rwanda the link between development and refugee issues is obvious. Prospects for durable solutions, in particular local integration, could be enhanced by long-term strategies. A stronger link between development projects and refugee assistance might reduce the kind of discrepancies between services available to refugees and surrounding communities which ofen have potential to stir up xenophobic resentments. One by Tim Maurer
Programme could forge closer coordination and cooperation among UNHCR and other agencies. Property restitution – always a destabilising factor in post-confict post-displacement situations – could be more coherently tackled by a One UN thematic group bringing together several UN agencies such as UNDP, FAO and UNHCR. In
‘Unity in Diversity’ is the slogan and guiding principle of the One UN team in Rwanda. In April 2007 all resident and some non- resident UN agencies signed up to an ambitious schedule for the implementation of ‘One Programme’, ‘One Budgetary Framework’, ‘One Leader’ and ‘One Ofce’ endorsed by the Government of Rwanda.1
What does this mean for the people of concern to UNHCR in a country hosting some 50,000 refugees – predominantly Congolese – and still facing the challenge of its refugee past and the afermath of the turbulent events triggered by the 1994 genocide?
Once the ‘One UN’/‘Delivering as One’ reform has been implemented, there are a number of outcomes that could signifcantly enhance refugee protection. The creation of national asylum systems, efective returnee monitoring mechanisms and prevention of new refugee movements are felds where the One UN reform has signifcant potential. In protracted refugee situations such as Rwanda the link between development and refugee issues is obvious. Prospects for durable solutions, in particular local integration, could be enhanced by long-term strategies. A stronger link between development projects and refugee assistance might reduce the kind of discrepancies between services available to refugees and surrounding communities which ofen have potential to stir up xenophobic resentments. One by Tim Maurer
Programme could forge closer coordination and cooperation among UNHCR and other agencies. Property restitution – always a destabilising factor in post-confict post-displacement situations – could be more coherently tackled by a One UN thematic group bringing together several UN agencies such as UNDP, FAO and UNHCR. In