Marjorie Newman-Williams is on a two-year secondment to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) from UNICEF, where she has worked for 25 years. She has held a number of senior posts at UNICEF, including area representative for the Caribbean, communication director, deputy-director of the Program Division, and deputy-director of change management.
She joined UNICEF in 1979 following a career in advertising, marketing and public relations. Born and raised in Jamaica, Newman-Williams majored in language and linguistics at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Montreal and studied communication planning and strategy at Cornell University.
How did you move from the private sector to UNICEF?
In the 1970s, I worked for two private communication agencies, both with major public sector clients. One had the account for the National Family Planning Program and the second won the bid for the Ministry of Health's national nutrition education program, for which I became the account manager. I discovered this other world! I experienced firsthand how major social changes can occur when sound public policy and appropriate funding are coupled with strong partnerships, extensive public education, and willingness to listen to what communities have to say. Both programs were internationally recognized for helping to bring about positive behavior change on a large scale. Working on these initiatives really exposed me to all the complexities of public health programs.
What was it like working at UNICEF?
I grew with UNICEF. I was initially hired for one year in the Jamaica office to help promote the International Year of the Child. I stayed on to provide communication support to cooperation programs in the Caribbean—from Cuba to Trinidad. In 1982 I was invited to apply for an external relations post in Geneva, a new post created to strengthen civil society relationships in Europe and to be the liaison with U.N. agencies such as WHO. I came to understand the amazing power of networking with the broad range of international organizations based in Europe and the people-to-people power of the National Committees for UNICEF. They raise one-third of UNICEF's income through modest contributions from some six million individuals, some of whom are retired nurses and teachers who religiously make small donations from their pensions. I actually met many of these people. It was humbling and gave me a real sense of how important accountability is in public sector organizations. We in international development must remain modest and place the highest value on public trust. It is a priceless asset. People believe in our cause, and we cannot let them down.
What were some of your major accomplishments?
I am especially proud of helping bring the Convention on the Rights of the Child into force, for which I received a UNICEF staff award in 1989. At first the drafting process seemed to be a priority only for a small band of child advocates and NGOs. UNICEF assigned me, a neophyte P.3 with no human rights experience, to the U.N. Working Group on the treaty. This Polish proposal was the victim of the Cold War tug-of-war of that time, and it wasn't really going anywhere fast. As the NGO liaison, I teamed up with the NGOs and a few like-minded staff in UNICEF, and over several years we moved this issue from the bottom of the pile to being one of UNICEF's top global priorities. Together with the NGOs, we became a real force for action and change. The NGOs got UNICEF's name associated with their efforts, governments began to pay attention, and the global network of UNICEF offices helped mobilize political will to adopt this human rights treaty.
What made you an expert on change management?
I got a call out of the blue from UNICEF headquarters in early 1995, when I was the Caribbean area representative. I was asked to return to New York to be part of a small team to manage organizational change. I did ask, "Why me?" The answer was simple: they said I was running one of the better managed UNICEF offices. There had been a major management review undertaken at the request of UNICEF's Executive Board. Recommendations for change had to be implemented. An internal team would see this through. It was in fact a very exciting experience from which I learned a great deal about how organizations effect change. Under Jim Grant's leadership, UNICEF had grown from an annual income of about $250 million in 1979 to become a billion dollar operation. The fact that there was no widespread fraud was a testament to staff honesty because the operating systems and procedures had become so inadequate for an organization that size. Policy directives, guidelines and operating practices were obsolete, and UNICEF was no longer responding appropriately to the needs of some major constituents. Accountability was weak, and the organization needed to rethink and retool.
Why do you think PAHO needs to change?
The compelling case for change is usually driven by the external context. Organizations must continually ask themselves how well they are meeting the expectations of clients. Are we delivering what is expected of us? How has the world around us changed, and are we doing the right work now? In public health in our region, PAHO is no longer the only game in town. Most governments are much more capable than they were years ago, and they can turn to other organizations for advice. There are new organizations like the Gates Foundation that have more resources for public health than we ever thought possible for an NGO. The policies of the World Bank and other U.N. agencies have evolved, and in the U.N. system concepts such as common country assessments, joint programs and the role of the U.N. resident coordinators are all relatively new. The factors that influence people's health outcomes are diverse and changing, and there are health challenges no one anticipated 10 years ago. And then there is the political opportunity of the Millennium Development Goals. It was time for PAHO to ask itself, "Are we operating in ways that make us as influential and as effective as we need to be to keep public health high on the agendas of national and international players in today's world?"
How do you see the process going so far?
Change always brings a period of chaos and confusion. The ground that you're used to standing on moves from under you. It can feel like "Whoops! Nothing under my feet!" You either go down or say, "Okay, let's turn around this paradigm, think differently, act differently." And it's not going to come from above. The director has mapped out the big picture and the vision and now rightly expects managers and staff everywhere to go figure it out. Change that is sustainable is the one designed by people all over an organization. You will need support, some training perhaps, a consultant or two to help you, but it is the solutions found by staff that create lasting change. At PAHO the director has outlined the criteria—she has said PAHO must be country focused. That means whatever you do has to support the end client, the countries and the people who most need what PAHO offers. If you're in technical cooperation in Washington, you have to make sure you are in touch with networks of knowledge, new science, and new initiatives that will inform decisions taken in the countries. In this paradigm, the countries are the center and the rest of the organization constitutes supporting networks. Staff in Washington cannot be front-line managers of country activities; they have to be front-line for another set of clients, those operating globally or regionally. At the regional level people must add value by doing what staff in the country offices cannot do, and vice versa.
If the change succeeds, how do you see PAHO in five years?
There will be mutual respect and trust among PAHO people and a more acute awareness that PAHO exists to serve people who need such an organization. The overall assessment will be based on what PAHO delivers externally, not how well people respond to internal imperatives. PAHO staff will be able to look at the organization with external eyes, from the outside in, and judge performance from the client's point of view. Matrix thinking will have become second nature. When a problem lands on someone's desk, the natural response will be to involve those who know something about the issue and can help solve it. Not just to limit action to those who are part of your box in the organigram. PAHO will be a truly interdependent system, capable of building strong partnerships that are driven by the need to find solutions to complex public health problems. People will be comfortable with the idea that no one is so bright that they know all the answers. And if the change is successful you will simply feel it. Staff will look forward to
Mondays. You'll hear comments like, "Gee, I really got a quick response to my request and it was very much what was needed." Or, "PAHO really is the dependable source of public health advice in the region. They continually analyze evidence and research, they know where the policy winds are blowing, and they offer practical solutions and timely advice." People will simply reaffirm that PAHO is a great organization, you can trust what they say, you can count on them to make a major difference in public health. The name PAHO will stand for excellence.
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