JPC at UNICEF Peru Wrapping Up Strong

Olaolu Adeleye -Update 2

Since my last update, the pace of things have picked up dramatically! In one sense this is great as one remains busy, conversely it means that time is flying!

The beginning of September began with the departure of my main supervisor – Melva. As well as being the head of Programmes, she was the Deputy Representative for Peru, so naturally her absence leaves a big void. We are awaiting the arrival of the new representative (a Colombian) toward the end of October. 

Olaolu and UNICEF Deputy Melva Johnson.
Johnson has recently moved to Thailand.

With the absence of Melva, the focus of my responsibilities has slightly shifted. I have been collaborating with the PFP (Public Fundraising and Partnerships) team on a number of their activities. We are currently working with Peru Rail to establish a partnership that would allow for a UNICEF Public Service Announcement to play in their stations and on their trains. The hope is that this will help increase awareness, but also be a catalyst for encouraging donations from travellers. We intend to have boxes of some sort circulate on the train at some point of the trip, but we are still do trial runs to see when is the best or most ‘lucrative’ time for them to ask. 

One initiative that I am particularly excited about is a potential partnership with Alianza de Lima. Alianza is one of the largest football (soccer) clubs in Peru. However they have had a history of violence at their matches. As part of an attempt to tackle violence and change their image they have approached us. Given that we have a number of programs with our Social Protection Team that work with stopping domestic violence against children there is a lot of promise for being able to align our framework with their own approach. Our potential partnership would be three pronged and focus on (i) fundraising, (ii) advocacy and (iii) S4D (Sport for Development).

Olaolu and colleague Pablo at the International Seminar "Investing in Children; A Commitment to Equity at 25 Years of the CRC"

We are currently formulating a proposal, which will then have to be approved by our office in Geneva where the final decision on whether or not the partnership can move forward. Often this is contingent on the proposed amount the club will look to donate or will commit to fundraising. Alianza’s initial idea was to have the UNICEF logo placed on their jersey; however, with their primary sponsor being Cristal (a local beer company) this is a conflict of interest. With Alianza we would be fundraising through their various channels and be beneficiaries of a number of functions (especially those which involve Cristal which we cannot be affiliated with). Our primary sources of funding will come from the coordination of galas, functions, tickets and club events. We will attempt to leverage their profile and platform for a strategic partnership, which can help to raise funds and also increase awareness and help with advocacy. 

The final component of the partnership would also involve trying to use some Sport for Development approaches to implement in their 34 youth facilities across the country. These techniques include lessons on mediation, conflict resolution, healthy lifestyle habits etc… Inevitably we want to have the opportunity to help empower the kids to be aware, productive members of society and not just football players. We shall see how things materialize – in the meantime, we have been invited for a tour of their facilities for our next meeting, and may even potentially attend a game!

Supporting JPCs-Country Representative Paul Martin

 

The programme team has been busy working on a collaborative document which will be used as a tool for policy and advocacy. The SITAN (Situational Analysis) document is produced by each country office and helps give its readers a rights based analysis of the state of women and children. Each programmatic area is issued questions as guidelines to help give a snapshot of the each thematic area. The SITAN document thus is made up of two parts the i) country profile highlighting the state of affairs in Peru, and then an ii) in depth analysis which centres its analysis on rights.

I have been asked to contribute to the poverty chapter of the analysis. My excerpt discusses the main contributors to poverty to Peru and why the sustained growth of the last decade has failed to transfer to the majority of the poor. Looking at inequality, spatial disparities and economic opportunities for the poor I compare the Gini coefficient of Peru with other countries in the region. I then compare monetary poverty data to multi-dimensional poverty – coincidentally this was what my dissertation for my M.Sc. was based on. The idea is to roll it out by the end of the year along with a series of events which will commemorate the 25th year of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. 

My personal work with Programmes is also moving along, albeit slowly. Coordinating with each of the program heads has been quite difficult as we have had a number of events recently. As one of the primary objectives of the materials I hope to create will be establishing metrics which explain our reach, I have spent a substantial amount of time liaising with our regional staff and acquiring information. The amount of funds, which is given to administrative costs, is truly alarming! 

Because I am trying to quantify the cost of certain services, I am torn between including the overall cost (which includes administrative costs and technical capacities) or the direct cost without these elements. UNICEF Peru works with and empowers government to facilitate and take ownership of their own programmes; this is a stark difference from many other countries where UNICEF are seen as the service providers. UNICEF Peru focuses more on policy development to facilitate service provision this means nature of costs is slightly different because they include the whole process. So the question now is do I say…. 

i.e. w/$50 x 2 children can…. 

Or w/ administrative costs say

w/$75 x 2 children…. 

This week, we are preparing for a regional event that will have experts from various government ministries, representatives from the private sector and civil society organization as well as foreign representatives from Latin America and the Caribbean. The seminar will be a roundtable open dialogue on the importance of investing in children and how this investment translates into making them productive members of society.

On a cultural level, I will attend a food festival called Mistura at the beginning of September. If you ever have a chance to come down to Peru, I advise you try and coordinate your journey with this event. Although it is jam packed it is well worth the wait!  The exposition gives you an idea of the variance of the food from the Coast, Mountains and Jungle (Costa, Sierra & Selva). The various vendors who participate come from all over the country and it is held right on the beach in a district in Lima called Costa Verde. 

Finally, we are just about set for the UN Championship! During the month of October the various UN agencies that are based in Lima have an annual tournament amongst themselves. The tournament will involve a 6 a side football competition, a basketball competition and a co-ed volleyball tourney. It will be a great team building exercise; hopefully we will be able to represent UNICEF with some pride!

Alianza de Lima Stadium