UNICEF Chief Speaks at KSG Panel

The head of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) headlined a panel discussion on international development held Friday at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG).

Carol Belamy, UNICEF's executive director, Michael Fairbanks, director of the Monitor Company, and Jeffrey D. Sachs, the director of the Harvard Institute for International Development all participated in the Keynote panel of the Fifth annual Harvard International Development Conference held at the KSG this weekend.

This conference concentrated on the theme "Sharing Responsibility: Public, Private and Civil society." Accordingly, the panel centered on ways for the public and private sectors to cooperate on issues of international development.

Today's panel began with opening remarks by one of the conference coordinators, Judith Hahn. She discussed the goals of the weekend, saying "The question that most people are asking is `What is international development and what are you going to do with it?'"

The panelists then gave their own takes on the issue, referring often to personal experience in the field.

Bellamy spoke first, saying that for more than half a century the United Nations had worked to pursue international development and related issues.

She quoted UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who said, "In today's world, we depend on each other. The business of the United Nations is the business of the world."

Bellamy also said more people need to become involved in helping third world countries.

"Never in history have we seen aid to the neediest countries fall to such shameful levels as it has in recent years," she said.

Fairbanks spoke next, telling several anecdotes about his work as a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa.

"I started to wonder why I had done so little and had so much, whereas these Africans had done so much and had so little," he said.

He said that although people in poor countries claim to be happy, they are in no was prosperous compared to the more developed world.

Sachs spoke last, saying that the end on communism created a great deal of hope that the world could function better economically.

However, "We lack the instruments to do well in the world right now economically, and to me that is the most troubling fact," Sachs said.

Sachs, who is also Stone professor of international trade, also discussed many humanitarian problems in third world countries. He described the situation in South Africa as unimaginable, highlighting a growing AIDS epidemic in that region.

"A huge part of the problem is knowledge," he said. "We still lack a real understanding and a real sympathy for the rest of the world."