08 October 2001

Bonn, Germany: The Special Representative of the Secretary General and the Transitional Administrator of East Timor, Sergio Vieira de Mello has met with UN Volunteers Analia Ramos and Jose Benedito together with their Timorese counterparts, Orlando Belo and Manuel da Costa. Along with Munish Duggal, they are the winners of an essay contest on "The Rewards and Challenges of Timorization", which was launched in June by the UNV programme in East Timor.

During the 5 October meeting in Dili, the SRSG presented his guests with award certificates and financial prizes for community-based projects. After the ceremony, he expressed his views on the Bonn-based UN Volunteers programme.

You have just met a couple of the UN Volunteers working in the Districts and who won an essay contest on Timorization. How do you evaluate the progress made in the overall capacity building across East Timor and what, in your opinion, has been the contribution the UN Volunteers have made in this process?

The capacity building is, in my opinion, the core of our mandate here apart from restoring security, law and order in East Timor. The key function of UNTAET has been capacity building because everything else depends on capacity building. New democratic institutions and new public administration, all of that ultimately means the transfer of skills, means training and creating the necessary human resources to be able to ensure that this country becomes independent in every sense, not just in political terms.

UNVs have played a fabulous role in almost every area of activity of UNTAET. I say almost because obviously we don't have UNVs in our military or in our police component. But everywhere else we have had UNVs. When it comes to capacity building they are often the most committed because that is the spirit of the UNVs. You can feel and you can read in their eyes and on their faces very strong enthusiastic commitment in assisting this country and its people to attain full independence.

Therefore I'm very grateful to the hundreds of UNVs that have been working here particularly in this area of transferring skills to Timorese.

This is the largest in scope and in numbers of the UNV involvement in UN peacekeeping missions. Do you think that such a large UNV programme of this scope has been successful?

It has been very successful. We have had UNVs, as I said, in every sector of our activities in East Timor and they have given full satisfaction wherever they have worked; be it in ministries or having the broader tasks such as organization and holding of elections; be it even in political functions like in the department of Political, Electoral and Constitutional Affairs. Even in my broader office I have UNVs. So they are everywhere, they are part and parcel of this mission.

I'm delighted that we developed what, I believe, can be an exemplary cooperation between UN peace missions and UN Volunteers and I would certainly encourage any other colleague in future missions of this kind and of this complexity to rely as much as we did on UNVs. The response was also very quick.

UN Volunteers are known for their work in the area of long-term development. How do you foresee their role within future UN assistance in the soon to be independent East Timor?

As you know we are downsizing or rightsizing UNTAET and that includes UNVs. As you are aware hundreds have left and will be leaving in coming months. But I'm convinced that UNVs have a role in the longer term. Either as part of a successor mission to UNTAET, a plan for which we will be presenting to the Security Council by the end of this month, or indeed in more traditional development activities of the UN system as part of the UN Development Coordinator structure.

So, whatever scenario, UNVs will have a longer-term role in the development of East Timor, there is no doubt in my mind.

What is the first association you have when hearing about UN Volunteers?

The first association is precisely this proximity with the field. UNVs lack fortunately the characteristics of career bureaucrats of which I'm an example in the sense that they are truly focused and committed to assist developing countries not from the headquarters perspective, not from the career advancement point of view, but as volunteers. This by definition commits them to actually translate the ideals of the United Nations, and of this mission in particular which are very ambitious, into reality on the ground.

So this is the first association; the proximity to the needs of developing countries down at the field level.