The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)
Kagashe Beatus
6 May 2008
The Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) yesterday opposed the appointment of Ms Ines Alberdi of Spain as the executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (Unifem).
Ms Alberdi was appointed to head Unifem in April this year, replacing Ms Noeleen Heyzer who is now the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Her appointment has drawn criticism from some stakeholders who say she is a political appointee backed by Europe.
But the UNDP has described the selection process as "comprehensive and extensive."
In a statement released yesterday, TGNP executive director Mr Usu Mallya said the criteria used in the selection lacked transparency and integrity expected from the United Nations.
"TGNP is joining hands with other women and feminist organisations around the world to question the system used in the appointment," read the statement.
Mr Mallya said during the selection the UNDP selection committee had voted for another candidate from the South global as the best from among over 100 other candidates.
"The top candidate was an internationally renowned gender expert with strong linkages within civil society, especially within the women's movement globally and within the South," he said.
But, he added, due to over funding and open political pressure from some European government, other names from the shortlist were not considered paving way for someone less qualified.
"This is a tragedy for the UN in terms of its ability to draw competent candidates, transparency, fairness and its credibility with women's movements around the world," he said.
Unifem is the women's fund at the United Nations. It provides financial and technical assistance to programmes and strategies to foster women's empowerment and gender equality.
It focuses in particular on reducing feminised poverty, ending violence against women, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and girls, and achieving gender equality in democratic governance in times of peace as well as war.
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