Optimism and patience are the tools of the trade in UN work

Mari Simonen works long days as the No.2 at the UN Population Fund

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By Jaana Laitinen
     
      "Sometimes people seem to think that if you work at the UN, well, you don't work", laughs Mari Simonen.
      "But they are long days worked there, and hopefully we've achieved some results."
      Since March, Simonen has carried the title of Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Affairs and Management of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). This makes her the No.2 woman in UNFPA after the Executive Director, Under-Secretary-General Thoraya Ahmed Obaid. Simonen currently holds the highest position of any Finn working in the UN.
      "I haven't planned a career as such or gone looking for titles or power. One job has simply led to another. The important thing is to enjoy what you are doing and to do it well."
     
Simonen is back in Finland this week. She will be attending the Asia-Europe People's Forum prior to the ASEM Summit, and she also travelled to Helsinki to publish the UNFPA's annual State of World Population report, which is released today, Wednesday.
      The theme of the 2006 report, which is entitled "A Passage to Hope: Women and International Migration", centres on migration in general and women as migrants in particular.
      The topic is one of the UNFPA's focus-areas, and will be under discussion next week at the first-ever UN meeting on international migration and development in New York.
     
UNFPA concentrates primarily on the position of women, on gender equality, reproductive health, and contraception in the developing world. The AIDS situation and human trafficking are also topics of interest.
      "There are 190 million migrants worldwide. Half of them are women. And yet there is hardly any information about them. It is as if they are invisible in public debates", says Simonen.
     
The great majority of migrants are people with professional skills who change countries in search of work or a better standard of living.
      Often the migrant to the West finds himself or herself obliged to take work that the local population shies away from. The jobs are badly paid and in the worst cases also dangerous. Sometimes work resembles nothing much more than slavery.
      And yet there is much good in migration, says Simonen
      "Migrants earn, save, and send home large sums of money. Last year the cash-flows back to the developing world in this way came to more than USD 160 billion. I might add that this is twice the figure for all official development assistance put together", she remarks pointedly. Only direct foreign investment provides a larger sum.
      "Our job is to reinforce the positive aspects of migration and reduce the negative ones."
     
UNFPA gathers funds from governments and channels them to projects in developing countries. Another task is to act as a collector and distributor of information.
      "We live in a shared world. What happens in one country is going to affect the rest of us at some stage, whether it is a question of HIV, human trafficking, or migration."
     
Mari Simonen has worked in the Population Fund for 25 years. Now 54, she left Finland with her mother when she was still at school, and completed her secondary education in France. University in the United States followed, leading to a doctorate from Berkeley in California.
      "I dreamt of finding an international job, but I did not consciously seek to get into the UN. Then a place came open in the Fund that was practically tailor-made for me."
      As Deputy Executive Director, Simonen is responsible for administration, external relations, gathering funds, and United Nations reforms. This is quite a hefty workload.
      "I wouldn't say I'm doing it alone, but rather together with the other staff-members", she explains.
     
Over the years she has learnt patience and flexibility. Brisk Nordic efficiency is not always the best way to move matters along.
      "Sometimes it does get frustrating when you would like to see results immediately. But people just close up into a ball if you push them too hard. Things can take time, and it's perfectly OK. I've learnt that along the way."
      "All the same, you can't keep yourself going in work like this unless you are an optimist at heart."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 6.9.2006


Links:
  UNFPA
  Mari Simonen, United Nations Information Service
  State of World Population, 2006

Helsingin Sanomat