Travel and Personal
Last Day At UNDP Kenya
Wow! Its my last day at the UNDP - already. The past week has been overwhelming, and now its the end of the road. I am so conflicted, I don’t want to leave. Ever happen to you - you want to but don’t?
Anyway, I know so much about this country now. Today’s paper had a piece about how the drought is affecting Macadamia nut farmers. I am working with a Macadamia nut cooperative to develop a business plan. This happens almost daily - something about mango, cotton, financial services, internet technology. I know something about most sectors. I have something invested in this country, and in the GSB program. For two months, it was my baby. Now its not. Just like that.
Well, on to other bigger things. Don’t know what, or when. Next on the agenda is a return to India, then Geneva. Then maybe skiing for a week, and a trip to London and Madrid. The usual.
Then, maybe back to Africa. As a colleague put it, once in Africa you are bitten by the virus, and slowly but surely you will want to come back. It has already happened to me, and I’ve let my colleague here talk me into returning. I hope I will be back, sooner than most foresee.
My next post will be from outside the UN. Meanwhile, here’s another reason why Africa is poor, and all this development aid is useless.
These are figures off the top of a friend’s head. About 60% of the UN budget goes to pay the salaries of expats and UN nationals. Another 20% goes towards legalized corruption, i.e. capacity building of ministries - buying cars, equipment, foreign trips and the like. So its only about 20% that gets to the end user. That is very little money for a lot of people.
Goodbye from UNDP Kenya on that sobering though.
Discussion
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The figures provided were anecdotal, based on observation. I would be surprised if you find formal information on this topic, as the expenses include program expenses that are generally not made public.
To elaborate, traditionally, expenses are measured along two lines for non-profits: program and administration (a possible third cateogry is fundraising). Anything outside program expenses is generally considered ‘overhead’, and should be as low as possible. Most non-profits suggest that with low overheads, they are extremely efficient at ‘delivering’ aid.
However, the figures I mentioned include program expenses, and look at the costs for staffing and travel of program managers, consultants, etc. As any UN project manager will tell you, this is a significant portion of any project’s expense. So even if administration expenses are low, overall staffing costs can be very high. This just reiterates Benjamin Disraeili’s assertion that:
I suspect you will not find this detailed information anywhere, except inside the UN. I hope it clarifies the point, though. I’d be curious to know what you are looking for and how you got here. And if you do find studies on the issue, please pass them on.