Q&A
“Customer Service is Related to Accountability and a Good Governance System” – UN Representative Mr. Aurélien A. Agbénonci is the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Rwanda since 2008. Under the framework of Delivering as One, the UN Resident Coordinator is the leader and chair of the UN Country Team in Rwanda and – together with his peer Heads of Agencies – aims at supporting the country in its development strides by delivering the One Programme Mr. Agbénonci believes that the coherence of the new system should be underpinned by clear principles of national ownership and peoplecentered approaches. The value added to the reformed UN system lies in harnessing a comprehensive One Programme to Rwanda’s development plans. It is against this background that Mr. Agbénonci expressed satisfaction for the strong partnership between the Government of Rwanda and the UN today. Despite the UN’s failure in Rwanda in 1994, Rwanda wants “a better UN in a better Rwanda”, he said, in an exclusive interview with the ServiceMag. Mr. Agbénonci commended Rwanda’s tremendous socioeconomic progress and institutional transformation over the past one and a half decades. He noted with satisfaction the impressive results achieved on the MDGs targets and said that the country is on track to achieving the MDGs. Mr. Agbénonci also provided insight on the values of customer service. “…there is no development without good customer service in all sectors”, he said. Below are excerpts of his interview with The ServiceMag:
TSM: What are some of the challenges the UN faces in this process of integration into One UN family? Our motto is ‘Unity in Diversity’; it means that we want to be one unified force using the comparative advantage of each component of the family. We used to work on a very fragmented way with limited impact. Now the most important thing is to reformat ourselves, to change all agencies staff mindset in order to be more effective: UN is about peace, fostering/helping countries to reach their development goals. In order to be able to do this, we need to build synergies around these tools. For instance, if you go to Bugesera or Byumba and the population has a problem, then they want to know who is solving problems. One UN is about how to pull together the knowledge that is available in the different UN organizations to support the Government facing and addressing the issue. So the challenge is; how do you use the comparative advantage of the whole network that we have to better assist the leadership of every country where we operate to tackle the issues that they are facing. It is not an easy task because old patterns are still there leading sometimes colleagues to the bad temptation of the prima dona mode or to try to play the one agency show sometimes. The challenge is how to make the best use of the know-how that exists in each organization and to understand that the job to be done is not about ourselves but about serving the people of this country. We have mandates which should be used for the ultimate goal which is to support national development strategies and help in designing sound policies and in implementing them.
TSM: Rwanda is among the pilot countries of ‘One UN’, how would you assess its performance so far? First of all, let me recall that the leadership of this country volunteered, even requested, to become a pilot country. The Government of this country has several reasons to do so, and I think the main one was that they want a better UN in a better Rwanda. To answer your question, based on what I hear from the Government, development partners, civil society and other clients we are dealing with, the performance so far is very good. With the support of the Government and a better dialogue we are making progress. I know we still have a long way to go but the direction is the right one and we will make it happen. TSM: As the coordinator of all UN agencies, what are the priority areas in your work? I would say three: maintain a quality dialogue with the host country in order to better align our assistance to the needs; make sure UN agencies are really giving the best they can and are functioning properly; and continue playing the pivotal role in policy dialogue by supporting the coordination among development partners. I must try to represent the UN Secretary General and the organization the best I can, in the country.
The SERVICEMAG March - May 2011| 17