“ChatGPT is an artificial-intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 families of large language models and has been fine-tuned using both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques” (Wikipedia).
UN Bribery and Money Laundering Networks
Since 2015 a number of bribery and money laundering networks were identified by the U.S. Department of Justice operating at the United Nations, resulting in arrests and criminal trials. In one case, an appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court. Here is what ChatGPT has to say about convicted bad actors in these networks.
On the Patrick Ho network:
“Title: The Patrick Ho Bribery Network at the United Nations: An In-depth Analysis
Introduction:
The Patrick Ho bribery network at the United Nations (UN) represents a complex web of corruption and illicit activities that operated within the realm of international diplomacy. Led by Patrick Ho, a former Hong Kong government official and the head of a prominent non-profit organization, the network aimed to influence UN officials and advance the interests of specific individuals and entities. This essay delves into the inner workings of the network and provides an ordered list of key actors involved.
I. Background of Patrick Ho and the Bribery Network:
Patrick Ho, the former Secretary for Home Affairs of Hong Kong, rose to prominence as the Deputy Chairman and Secretary-General of the China Energy Fund Committee (CEFC), a non-profit organization with strong ties to the Chinese government. The CEFC presented itself as a platform for international cooperation and development but, in reality, served as a conduit for Patrick Ho’s corrupt activities.
II. The Modus Operandi of the Bribery Network:
The Patrick Ho bribery network employed various tactics to achieve its objectives. These tactics typically involved bribery, money laundering, and the provision of illicit financial benefits to UN officials and other influential individuals. The following steps outline the modus operandi:
Identification of Targets: The network strategically targeted UN officials who held significant decision-making power or influence over key issues. This included officials from countries of interest to the network’s objectives.
Establishing Relationships: Through intermediaries and personal connections, the network established relationships with the targeted UN officials. These relationships often involved exploiting personal or professional vulnerabilities, such as financial difficulties or the promise of career advancement.
Offering Bribes and Illicit Financial Benefits: The network would offer bribes, kickbacks, or other illicit financial benefits to the targeted UN officials. These benefits could include cash payments, luxury goods, travel expenses, or even shares in lucrative business ventures.
Influencing Decision-making: Once the network successfully established a relationship with a UN official, it would seek to influence the official’s decision-making processes. This could involve swaying votes, advocating for specific policies, or providing confidential information to advance the network’s interests.
Concealing Illicit Transactions: The bribery network employed sophisticated money laundering techniques to conceal the illicit origins and transfers of funds. These techniques included the use of shell companies, offshore bank accounts, and complex financial transactions across multiple jurisdictions.
III. Key Bad Actors in the Patrick Ho Bribery Network:
Patrick Ho: As the mastermind behind the network, Patrick Ho orchestrated its operations and served as the primary point of contact for UN officials. He utilized his position at the CEFC and his personal connections to facilitate bribery and exert influence within the UN system.
CEFC China Energy Company Limited: The CEFC, under Patrick Ho’s leadership, played a central role in funding the network’s activities. The company provided financial resources and logistical support for bribery schemes, enabling Ho to carry out his illicit operations effectively.
Intermediaries and Facilitators: The network relied on a network of intermediaries and facilitators to establish connections with targeted UN officials. These individuals acted as liaisons, coordinating meetings, arranging payments, and maintaining communication channels between the network and its targets.
Corrupt UN Officials: The bribery network involved several UN officials who willingly participated in illicit activities in exchange for personal gain. These officials abused their positions of trust, compromising the integrity and impartiality of the UN system.
IV. Investigation, Arrest, and Legal Consequences:
In 2017, Patrick Ho was arrested in the United States on charges of bribery and money laundering related to his activities within the UN. Following an extensive investigation, evidence of the network’s operations …”
On the Ng Lap Seng network:
“Title: The Ng Lap Seng Bribery Network at the United Nations: An In-depth Analysis
Introduction:
The Ng Lap Seng bribery network at the United Nations (UN) represents a far-reaching scheme of corruption and illicit activities aimed at influencing UN officials and advancing personal interests. Led by Ng Lap Seng, a wealthy Chinese billionaire and philanthropist, the network operated within the complex realm of international diplomacy. This essay provides a comprehensive examination of the inner workings of the network and presents an ordered list of key actors involved.
I. Background of Ng Lap Seng and the Bribery Network:
Ng Lap Seng, a prominent figure in the business world, amassed significant wealth through his ventures in real estate and international trade. As the Chairman of Sun Kian Ip Group, he sought to leverage his financial resources and influence to advance his personal agenda within the UN.
II. The Modus Operandi of the Bribery Network:
The Ng Lap Seng bribery network employed a range of tactics to achieve its objectives, including bribery, money laundering, and the provision of illicit financial benefits. The following steps outline the modus operandi:
Identifying Targeted UN Officials: The network strategically identified UN officials who held key decision-making positions or had influence over critical matters. These officials were often from countries or departments of interest to the network.
Establishing Relationships and Exploiting Vulnerabilities: Through intermediaries, personal connections, and various social engagements, the network sought to establish relationships with the targeted UN officials. They exploited personal or professional vulnerabilities, such as financial difficulties, to gain their cooperation.
Offering Bribery and Financial Benefits: The network would offer bribes, kickbacks, or other illicit financial benefits to the targeted UN officials. These benefits could range from cash payments, luxury gifts, expensive trips, to investment opportunities in lucrative business ventures.
Influencing Decision-making and Policy: Once a relationship was established, the network sought to influence the decision-making processes and policies within the UN. This involved manipulating votes, advocating for specific agendas, and providing insider information to further their own interests.
Concealing Illicit Transactions: The bribery network employed sophisticated money laundering techniques to conceal the origins and transfers of illicit funds. This included the use of shell companies, offshore bank accounts, complex financial transactions, and networks of intermediaries to obscure the paper trail.
III. Key Bad Actors in the Ng Lap Seng Bribery Network:
Ng Lap Seng: As the mastermind of the bribery network, Ng Lap Seng orchestrated its operations and provided the necessary financial resources. He utilized his wealth, connections, and philanthropic endeavors to establish influence within the UN and carry out his corrupt activities.
Jeff Yin: Jeff Yin, a business associate of Ng Lap Seng, acted as a key facilitator within the network. He helped establish relationships with targeted UN officials, coordinated meetings and payments, and played a crucial role in executing bribery schemes on behalf of Ng Lap Seng.
John Ashe: John Ashe, a former President of the UN General Assembly, played a central role in the bribery network. He accepted bribes from Ng Lap Seng and his associates in exchange for advancing their interests within the UN. Ashe abused his position of power to manipulate decision-making processes and facilitate corruption.
Francis Lorenzo: Francis Lorenzo, the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the UN, was another key actor within the network. He acted as an intermediary, facilitating bribes and providing assistance in influencing UN officials. Lorenzo used his diplomatic status to further the network’s agenda.
Sheri Yan: Sheri Yan, the CEO of Global Sustainability Foundation (GSF), played a significant role in the bribery network. GSF acted …”
On New York-based South-South News (funded and founded by Ng Lap Seng):
“Title: The Role of South-South News in Facilitating Ng Lap Seng’s Bribery and Money Laundering Network
Introduction:
South-South News, a news service founded by Ng Lap Seng in 2010, served as a crucial tool in facilitating his bribery and money laundering network within the United Nations (UN) and beyond. This essay explores the ways in which South-South News was utilized to advance Ng Lap Seng’s illicit activities, including bribery schemes and the concealment of funds.
I. Establishing Credibility and Influence:
Ng Lap Seng’s Vision: Ng Lap Seng envisioned South-South News as a platform to promote cooperation and development among countries in the Global South. By presenting it as a reputable news service, he aimed to establish credibility and gain influence within the international community.
Garnering Access to UN Officials: South-South News positioned itself as an organization dedicated to reporting on UN affairs, allowing Ng Lap Seng and his associates to gain proximity to UN officials. They leveraged the news service to foster relationships, identify potential targets, and exploit vulnerabilities for their bribery schemes.
II. Manipulating News Coverage:
Shaping the Narrative: Ng Lap Seng and his network utilized South-South News to shape the narrative surrounding certain issues and individuals within the UN. By controlling the content and tone of news articles, they aimed to influence public opinion and sway decision-making processes in their favor.
Positive Coverage for Targeted Officials: South-South News provided favorable coverage to targeted UN officials who were part of Ng Lap Seng’s bribery network. This positive portrayal aimed to enhance their reputation, deflect suspicion, and maintain their cooperation in furthering Ng Lap Seng’s interests.
III. Channeling Bribery Funds:
Concealing Illicit Transactions: South-South News acted as a conduit for channeling bribery funds and facilitating money laundering activities. Ng Lap Seng and his associates used the news service’s financial infrastructure to transfer funds discreetly and obscure the origins of illicit transactions.
Payments Disguised as Media Services: Bribe payments were often disguised as legitimate media services, such as advertising or sponsorships, provided by South-South News. By issuing invoices and receipts for these services, the network could legitimize the movement of funds and create a semblance of a genuine business transaction.
IV. Expanding the Network’s Reach:
Extending Influence Beyond the UN: South-South News allowed Ng Lap Seng’s bribery network to extend its influence beyond the UN. The news service provided a platform for networking and establishing connections with government officials, business leaders, and influential individuals from various countries, thereby expanding the network’s reach and potential for corruption.
Securing Political Support: Ng Lap Seng strategically utilized South-South News to secure political support for his initiatives. By showcasing favorable coverage and highlighting the accomplishments of politicians sympathetic to his cause, he aimed to garner political backing and protect his network’s operations from scrutiny.
V. Legal Consequences and Exposure:
Arrest and Investigation: Ng Lap Seng’s involvement with South-South News and its role in facilitating corruption came under scrutiny, leading to his arrest in 2015. Authorities launched investigations into the network’s operations, exposing the extent of bribery, money laundering, and illicit activities conducted through the news service.
Legal Accountability: Ng Lap Seng and his associates were prosecuted for their involvement in bribery and money laundering. The exposure of South-South News as a tool for facilitating corruption contributed to the legal consequences faced by the individuals involved in Ng Lap Seng’s network.
Conclusion:
South-South News, founded by Ng Lap Seng, played a pivotal role in facilitating his bribery and money … “
The task is huge: 2.6 billion people, or 41 percent of the world’s population, is without access to basic sanitation. As a result, most have to make do and defecate or urinate wherever they can. In crowded urban areas, the result is an unpleasant source of disease and filth that fouls living spaces and sickens or kills many people.
In Indian cities, between one-quarter and one-half of the population, mostly slum-dwellers, has inadequate or no provision for sanitation.
Many government-built communal toilet blocks are in a sad state. They are overburdened by queues of people that can stretch a mile-long in the mornings. They can also be too expensive for many slum dwellers. Often government-built toilet blocks are in disrepair after just three months, and people return to defecating in the streets.
In 2008, the International Year of Sanitation (http://esa.un.org/iys/), more than 330 million people in India do not have access to proper sanitation facilities. And in the case of the remote town of Musiri in Tamil Nadu state, many residents relieve themselves on river banks, leading to infectious diseases like diarrhoea.
But an ingenious scheme is keeping streets clean and people relieved. Rather than viewing human waste as an expensive problem and annoyance, poor residents are being paid up to a dollar a month to use public toilets. By paying people to use the toilets, the government avoids having to run campaigns to get people to change their habits.
“In fact, many of us started using toilets for urination only after the ecosan (ecological sanitation) toilets were constructed in the area,” S. Rajasekaran, a truck cleaner, to The Times of India.
The urine is being collected to be used as a crop fertilizer by the state’s agricultural university (http://www.tnau.ac.in/ ). About 150 residents use the eco-sanitation toilet daily. It is designed to collect faeces as well: it too is used as fertilizer.
“We’re motivating people to know the value of their urine,” Marathi Subburaman, who came up with the novel idea, told CNN. “The urine that is collected goes into fields for paddy crops, and of course the faeces becomes good compost in a matter of months.”
Subburaman’s non-profit Society for Community Organization and People’s Education (SCOPE) has teamed up with Tamil Nadui Agricultural University and are studying how much urine is needed to fertilize a field.
“Next year, we can install urine banks so we can sell the urine to farmers,” he said.
The locals are given cards and each trip is recorded. At the end of the month, the cards are handed in and the money collected.
The average amount paid out is based on the assumption most people need to go twice a day.
If some get cheeky and try to make more money from pretending they need to go to the toilet, there is a solution: “If they ask to go three, four times a day, then something’s wrong,” Subburaman said. “We ask them to go to a doctor.”
Another successful model is the Indian NGO SPARC (Society for Promotion of Area Resource Centres) (http://www.sparcindia.org/). SPARC is an Indian NGO established in Mumbai in 1984 that began working with women pavement dwellers.
It has been designing and building toilet blocks in Indian cities, bringing access to toilets and washing facilities to hundreds of thousands of poor urban Indians. It has built toilet blocks for 400,000 people in eight Indian cities. It trains community groups to build, manage and maintain the toilet blocks. It has also proven that local groups can take on the management and costs of providing toilet facilities.
Resources
World Toilet Organization: The global non-profit organization committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions. Website:http://www.worldtoilet.org
World Toilet College: Established in 2005, the World Toilet College (WTC) started as a social enterprise, with the belief that there is a need for an independent world body to ensure the best practices and standards in toilet design, cleanliness, and sanitation technologies are adopted and disseminated through training. Website:http://www.worldtoilet.org/ourwork3.asp
Official website for the 2008 International Year of Sanitation. Website:http://esa.un.org/iys/
Waste has expert knowledge on domestic solid and liquid waste management and sanitation issues. Its website offers a comparison of designs and methods for toilets. Website:http://www.ecosan.nl/page/353
Development Challenges, South-South Solutions was launched as an e-newsletter in 2006 by UNDP’s South-South Cooperation Unit (now the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation) based in New York, USA. It led on profiling the rise of the global South as an economic powerhouse and was one of the first regular publications to champion the global South’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers. It tracked the key trends that are now so profoundly reshaping how development is seen and done. This includes the rapid take-up of mobile phones and information technology in the global South (as profiled in the first issue of magazine Southern Innovator), the move to becoming a majority urban world, a growing global innovator culture, and the plethora of solutions being developed in the global South to tackle its problems and improve living conditions and boost human development. The success of the e-newsletter led to the launch of the magazine Southern Innovator.
The global food crisis continues to fuel food price inflation and send many into hunger and despair. Around the world, solutions are being sought to the urgent need for more and cheaper food. Right now there are 862 million undernourished people around the world (FAO), and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for food production to increase 50 percent by 2030 just to meet rising demand.
The crisis is forcing many countries to turn to other food sources to feed their populations. As the price of poultry, cows, sheep,pigs and seafood rises, rodents are coming more and more into the picture, in particular, rats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat). For example, in Africa, farming the cane rat is seen as a better option than chickens, because they are easier to care for.
Using rats as a food source draws either disgust or amusement from many, but eating rat meat has a long history. Rats are being actively farmed and processed for food in countries as culturally diverse as Nigeria, Cambodia and India.
In Thailand, fast-food vendors are enjoying a rat boom, selling them poached, fried, grilled or baked. They claim they are tastier than other meats and are healthy because they come from rice fields.
In Cambodia, spicy rat dishes are increasingly appearing on menus as people can’t afford more expensive meats. Inflation has pushed the price of beef out of the reach of the poor. A kilogram of rat meat now sells for around 5,000 riel (US $1.22), up from 1,200 riel (US $0.29) last year. But beef goes for 20,000 riel (US $4.88) a kilo.
“Many children are happy making some money from selling the animals to the markets, but they keep some for their family,” agriculture official Ly Marong told The Guardian newspaper. “Not only are our poor eating it, but there is also demand from Vietnamese living on the border with us.”
Cambodians have found it easier to catch rats as the rodents flee flooding in the Mekong Delta. Marong says Cambodia is exporting more than 1 tonne of live rats a day to Vietnam – a newly booming income source for the country.
In India, the secretary of the state for welfare in the state of Bihar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bihar) has called for more rat harvesting and eating to beat the rising prices of food. Vijay Prakash sees another benefit to rat eating: killing the rats will help keep the population under control and reduce the amount of grain stocks being devoured by the voracious little eaters.
At present, over 50 percent of Bihar’s grain stock is destroyed by rats.
Practical Prakash realises he has a sales job on his hands, and is currently meeting with hotels and restaurants to include rat on the menus and make the dishes appetising.
“Some socially deprived people in Bihar have always consumed rat meat. If they can eat rats, why can’t the rest of the people?” he told India’s The Week. “This will help in mitigating the global food crisis. We are sure that it will work wonders.”
In Bihar, the traditional rat eaters are called the Musahars – a group looked down upon as ‘untouchables’ in India’s caste system of social hierarchy – who have always made their living by hunting rats in the rice paddy fields.
“We’d like to have a network with other experts to boost the rat meat business” said Prakash. “We will encourage and help the Musahars to organize rat farms in order to commercialise rat meat. The government has decided to engage the Musahars in commercialisation of rat meat for their overall development.”
Estimates place the number of Musahars at 2.3 million people, many of whom are considered the most deprived and marginalised in Indian society.
While Bihar is in the north-east of India, rat eating in the South of India has reduced the amount of chicken eaten.
In the rural south-eastern part of Bangladesh, villagers have had to turn to rats as a food source because they have done so much damage to the local crops.
Deploying hill traps during the once-in-50-years bamboo blooming season, the villagers try to stop the rats from eating the seeds. The seeds are so nutritious for the rats, it causes them to breed four times faster than normal. The growing rat population then moves on to eating the local crops of rice, ginger, turmeric and chillies.
The rats are now so plentiful, they have become a major food source.
But as is being shown in Africa, rats, and in particular, cane rats, do not have to be a meat of desperation. Large cane rats have long been eaten as bush meat – a Food and Agricultural Organization report found rat made up over 50 percent of the locally produced meat eaten in some parts of Ghana.
Now a concerted effort is underway to change the perception of cane rat and even turn it into an exportable meat.
Cameroon’s first commercial cane rat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_rat) farm opened this year in the capital, Yaounde. It is meant to be a training farm to show others how to commercially raise cane rat for food. The feisty rats are very large, the size of a small dog. They are said to taste “succulent, tender, sweet.” Cameroonian rat-meat entrepreneurs are also very ambitious, telling the BBC they want to win people over to cane rat meat around the world. One day, they would like to see cane rat as an acceptable meat that can be served on airplanes and in the finest restaurants.
Pioneering work in developing techniques for breeding cane rats in captivity has been going on at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria (http://www.ui.edu.ng/) since 1973. It has been so successful, commercial large-scale rat farming is growing in Southern Nigeria.
Farmer Ade Olayiwola of Ibadan, Nigeria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibadan) told the Tribune Agriculture journal that cane rats are a high-profit, low-stress animal to farm.
“It is more assuring than the poultry business which could bring fortune to you in the day, but could also bring unexpected problems suddenly, to the extent that if care is not taken, one may run into serious financial crisis as well as other problems,” he said.
Resources
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has produced guidelines and a paper on the proper care and raising of cane rats for food production. It is based on experiments conducted in the 1980s in Benin. Website:http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/U5700T/u5700T0k.htm
Development Challenges, South-South Solutions was launched as an e-newsletter in 2006 by UNDP’s South-South Cooperation Unit (now the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation) based in New York, USA. It led on profiling the rise of the global South as an economic powerhouse and was one of the first regular publications to champion the global South’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers. It tracked the key trends that are now so profoundly reshaping how development is seen and done. This includes the rapid take-up of mobile phones and information technology in the global South (as profiled in the first issue of magazine Southern Innovator), the move to becoming a majority urban world, a growing global innovator culture, and the plethora of solutions being developed in the global South to tackle its problems and improve living conditions and boost human development. The success of the e-newsletter led to the launch of the magazine Southern Innovator.
It could be said the world and the global order both stand at a crossroads. Countries have never been so connected as they are today because of the communications revolution that began in the 1990s. The trade linkages brought about by the most recent phase of globalization (post-1980s) have dramatically increased prosperity for some regions and countries, China being the most obvious example. But, as we are reminded on a daily basis, the environment is stressed, with species depletion and pollution being the most extreme signs of this stress. And war and civil strife are still with us.
In 2015, the United Nations launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 15 years after it had launched the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. Both sets of goals attempt to benchmark progress on improvements to human well-being and to give countries and the international community a road-map to what is most important. The eight MDGs have been followed up with 17 SDGs (and many views on how effective such a strategy really is). It seemed as good a time as ever to reflect on what role I have played in this period, as well as to look forward to what will happen over the next 12 years (2030).
The Quotes
“The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for all its members.”
“We must build a new world – a far better world – one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.”
US President Harry S. Truman
“It has been said that the United Nations was not created in order to bring us to heaven, but in order to save us from hell.”
UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold at University of California Convocation, 13 May 1954.
“Today continuing poverty and distress are a deeper and more important cause of international tensions, of the conditions that can produce war, than previously.”
“The stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war.”
“The grim fact is that we prepare for war like precocious giants, and for peace like retarded pygmies.”
Canadian Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson
“A shift is necessary toward lifestyles less geared to environmentally-damaging consumption patterns.”
“We may get to the point where the only way of saving the world will be for industrial civilization to collapse.”
Maurice F. Strong, Former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations; Founder of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
“a super-crate, to ship a fiasco to hell”
“a sinister emblem for world power”
Architect Frank Lloyd Wright
The First Development Phase
From its founding, the United Nations was constructed around the highest human aspirations after two devastating World Wars, while also drawing fire from its critics and skeptics (American architect Frank Lloyd Wright being one of the more biting).
In January 1949, US President Harry Truman set forth a challenge for the remainder of the 20th Century. The wealthy nations must aid the poorer ones to become wealthier and more democratic: in short, to become like the United States (Starke 2001: 143). The means of accomplishing this was to be international development, and its tool, foreign aid.
Development as defined by President Truman at the start of the first international development period of the 20th century meant “nothing less than freeing a people from want, war, and tyranny, a definition it is hard to improve on even today (Starke 2000: 153).”
I grew up in the Canada of the 1970s and 1980s. For most of that time, the charismatic and internationally-minded Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was in power. Canada’s profile and role in the United Nations and international development was high at this time, in particular in ‘peacekeeping’ missions.
Peacekeeping holds a special place for Canadians. An innovative initiative from then-Ambassador to the United Nations and later Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson in the 1950s (he received the Nobel Peace Prize for it), Canada has since had a long history with peacekeeping missions.
When I served with the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve in the early 1980s, we trained not only for war with our Cold War foe the Soviet Union, but also for peacekeeping missions. In fact I nearly went on one if not for my acceptance to study at the University of Toronto in 1985. Otherwise, I would have been off on a peacekeeping mission that year.
This phase of international development and the United Nations was framed by the Cold War and its tensions and limits: the world divided between opposing ideologies and economic systems and travel between these two worlds (Communism versus free markets and democracy) was severely restricted.
And when I graduated in 1989 from the University of Toronto, all this fell apart very quickly. The First Phase of International Development had come to a swift end.
The Second Development Phase
In 1997, I was hired to head the communications office for the UN/UNDP Mongolia mission. It was a pivotal time in international development. With the forces of ‘globalization’ unleashed (and China’s rapid rise already well underway), the UN was clearly also in a period of great change and stress. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and its trading system (Comecon), pitched former Communist countries into severe crisis. Comecon locked-in Soviet Union satellite allied nations (including Mongolia) into a reciprocal arrangement of trade links and subsidies. The Mongolia I arrived in in 1997 was a country in turmoil. Poverty was widespread, food was difficult to get, unemployment was very high, families were falling apart under the stress of the crisis, and people’s health was poor, with very high rates of alcoholism and STDs.
This second phase of international development can be characterized by the international response to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the adjustment to the rapid changes brought about by the forces of globalization. The communications revolution was getting underway at this time as the Internet began to arrive, even in Mongolia, which had been cut-off from full relations with the Western world during the period of Communism. Mobile (cell) phones were around but still a luxury item used by wealthy businessmen or senior government officials. International aid and development was primarily in the domain of large international institutions and bilateral donors.
UN/UNDP Mongolia played an important role in helping to stabilize Mongolia during the late 1990s and to put in place the foundations for recovery from crisis (called “one of the biggest peacetime economic collapses ever” at the time). Mongolia eventually, briefly, became the fastest growing economy in the world by the second decade of the 21st century.
In the 1990s, the UN was being challenged to think and do things differently and to respond to the communications revolution. This presented a great opportunity to use the Internet and computing to communicate in new ways; to innovate and experiment. Despite its crisis, Mongolia was able to embrace these new ways and was called a “role model” for the wider United Nations by 1999 (the end of my assignment in Mongolia).
United Nations identity card circa 1997.UN head of communications for Mongolia, David South (seated front row centre), 1997-1999.As the UN’s head of communications in Mongolia (1997-1999), I founded the UNDP Mongolia Communications Office and oversaw a two-year communications programme to respond to the biggest post-WWII peacetime economic collapse. Award-winning and influential, the Office pioneered the use of the Internet in international development crisis response and was called a “role model” for the rest of the United Nations.
The Third Development Phase
With the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, it could be argued, a third development phase had begun. The turn of the century was also during the so-called ‘Dotcom Bubble’ when investment in the Internet economy was peaking, and China was on the cusp of being accepted into the WTO (World Trade Organization) and getting set for another period of rapid expansion and growth. Both phenomenon were fueling greater trade and connectivity, especially between the countries of the so-called “global South”.
The MDGs were an attempt to guide and focus development at the international and national level by setting forth eight goals as a challenge. But, just as these internationally agreed goals were being rolled out, something was quietly happening away from New York. In China, it was clear the country had done something truly remarkable: following its own development goals and plans, China lifted the largest number of people in human history out of poverty in the shortest space of time. Those who are students of history will know how stunning an accomplishment this is: China was once a country held up as a poster child for poverty, political instability, frequent famines, human misery and global isolation. China had been the country featured in the charity and famine appeals pleading for relief and aid, just as the countries in Africa and Southeast Asia were to become.
China’s growing export power was also powering globalization. And liberalized trade was powering growth for many countries in Asia and Latin America. This increasing export trade and global connectivity was creating new wealth for many countries and growing the middle classes of the so-called ‘global South’. At the same time, the Internet revolution was being joined by the mobile technologies revolution. These communications tools were making it possible to connect with people who had been frozen out of global markets, while simultaneously creating whole new digital economies employing people and creating new wealth.
Beginning in late 2006 after working around the world in various UN missions on assignments related to the MDGs, I began an exciting new opportunity with the then-Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (SSC) (now the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation – UNOSSC).
From 9-11 December 2017, I participated in the Workshop on Innovations in Service Delivery: The Scope for South-South and Triangular Cooperation held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Hosted by the a2i (access to information) division of the Bangladesh Prime Minister’s Office, the implementing unit for Digital Bangladesh, it was convened by the Government of Bangladesh and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC). Senior Partner David South is third from the left on the panel. Photo: Yoko Shimura
21 Years of Creating International Change | 1997 – 2018
1999: Publish many books on Mongolia’s development, includingIn Their Own Words: Selected Writings by Journalists on Mongolia, 1997-1999 (ISBN 99929-5-043-9) and the Mongolian rock and pop book (ISBN 99929-5-018-8). Whilst working for a UK-based international development consultancy, I prepared papers for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), for various UN agencies including UNCTAD and UNAIDS, and coordinated the preparation of the report and launch strategy for the World Bank’s Task Force on Higher Education.
Following on from the success of the UNDP Mongolia Communications Office, I worked with the head of the UN Ukraine mission to strategically relaunch the mission web portal, incorporating the newly launched UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
2001: Begin work on the development of the award-winning GOSH Child Health Portal for the National Health Service (NHS). As part of the NHS’ Modernisation Plan, it was called a “role model” for the NHS and one of the “three most admired websites in the UK public and voluntary sectors,” and was developed and launched under heavy public and media scrutiny. Each stage of the Portal’s development would coincide with a high-profile media launch. For example, the Hospital’s 150th birthday celebrations included Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and pop star Madonna.
2002/2003: Win the Childnet Award in 2003 for the Children First website.
2004:South Africa. Work at the University of Pretoria for UN South Africa on a digital communications and marketing strategy for a youth volunteer organization.
2005: Turkmenistan and Mongolia.Work for UN missions on an MDGs communications strategy and on the country programme review.
2006:Turkmenistan. Work for UNICEF. Begin working for the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (SSC) in New York.
Reader response experiment begins with crowd-powered news website NowPublic. Initial proposal for the development of book or magazine on innovation. Awarded grant for Cuba study tour by BSHF.
Adjust e-newsletter content based on reader responses. Begin posting content on Twitter platform.
2010: Begin development of the new global magazine Southern Innovator with the UN’s Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (SSC) and a design team in Iceland led by Solveig Rolfsdottir. The magazine was produced to the UN’s design standards, as well as abiding by the UN’s Global Compact. With production in Iceland, the magazine could be designed and laid out using 100 percent renewable energy sources.
Develop and launch the new branding for David South Consulting and its website, davidsouthconsulting.com, all designed by one of Iceland’s top graphic designers and illustrators, Solveig Rolfsdottir.
It is called “a terrific tour de force of what is interesting, cutting edge and relevant in the global mobile/ICT space…”. Launch www.southerninnovator.org website (now www.southerninnovator.com) and social media including Twitter account @SouthSouth1.
To avoid censorship and interference, Southern Innovator‘s editorial operations were based in London, UK and its design studio was based in Reykjavik, Iceland (a high-ranking country in the World Press Freedom rankings and a former top place holder in the UNDP Human Development Index). Using a women-led design studio, it developed a design vision that could communicate across borders using clear graphic design and high-quality images. For example, when it launched in 2011, infographics were rare in development publications and at the UN; now they are commonplace. It also tried to be as ‘green’ as possible. The studio was powered on 100 per cent renewable energy (in particular, geothermal energy); the hard copy of the magazine is printed on paper from renewable forests.
Called a “Beautiful, inspiring magazine from UNDP on South-South innovation.”
With 201 Development Challenges, South-South Solutions stories posted on the NowPublic platform, a total of 336,289 views by 2012 had occurred, according to the NowPublic counter.
Called “fantastic, great content and a beautiful design!” and “Always inspiring.”.
2014: Launch fifth issue of Southern Innovator Magazine at the GSSD Expo in Washington, D.C. U.S.A. The Twitter account @SouthSouth1 called “ one of the best sources out there for news and info on #solutions to #SouthSouth challenges.” Final issues of e-newsletter Development Challenges, South-South Solutions published.
The two publications proved influential on a number of fronts, being early to draw attention to the following: the rising use of mobile phones and information technology in development, the world becoming an urban place, innovative food solutions including the nascent insect food sector (now a big thing), altering perspectives on what is possible in Africa, the use of data science to innovate development, and tracking the growing number of technology hubs and the fast-growing start-up culture in the global South. The publications were cited for shaping the new strategic direction adopted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (the UN’s leading development organisation) and its first youth strategy, and the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the world’s first global innovator magazine, Southern Innovator’s design had to be appropriate for a diverse audience. It has drawn praise for being both “beautiful” and “inspiring”, while its use of sharp, modern graphic design and infographics inspired others in the UN to up their game when it comes to design.
2015: Develop scale-up plan for Southern Innovator Magazine.
South-South cooperation and innovation have now become the key methodology for the UN’s delivery of its programmes and projects. In 2015, China pledged US $2 billion to “support South-South cooperation” and called for the international community to “deepen South-South and tripartite cooperation”. In development parlance, they have been “Mainstreaming South-South and Triangular Cooperation” in their plans.
The current policy vogue for innovation in developing and developed countries can trace its roots back to some of the early work done by these two publications (and which was further amplified by the annual Global South-South Development Expo (GSSD Expo), which often would feature innovators from the two publications, spreading the innovation message around the world). Both publications had set out to inspire and “champion a global 21st century innovator culture”. And they have done this, as can be seen from concrete evidence and anecdotal responses from individuals and organizations alike.
UNDP (the United Nations Development Programme) had the following to say about the UNOSSC’s senior management up to 2015 under the Directorship of United Nations Envoy for South-South Cooperation, Yiping Zhou, calling it “unsatisfactory”:
“The United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) is an independent entity created by the General Assembly in 1974, General Assembly resolution 3251(XXIX), to support cooperation among developing countries.
UNOSSC receives its mandate and policy framework from General Assembly decisions and resolutions. UNOSSC also serves as the Secretariat of the High-level Committee (HLC) on South-South Cooperation, a subsidiary body of the General Assembly.
UNOSSC is hosted by UNDP and, as is the case with similar entities, is expected to follow UNDP rules and regulations, including those pertaining to financial and HR management. UNOSSC is likewise subject to UNDP’s oversight and due diligence instruments.
The Audit makes 16 recommendations with the objective of improving UNOSSC’s effectiveness in the areas of: governance; programme and project activities; and operations.” Excerpt from Statement (5 May 2016)
The retirement in 2016 of Southern Innovator‘s Editor-in-Chief, Cosmas Gitta, meant the magazine lost its strongest advocate within the UNOSSC and thus was not included in the next budget post-audits.
The US investigations by the F.B.I. (Federal Bureau of Investigation) leading to arrests and subsequent court trials from 2015 onwards, were joined by Australian authorities in 2018. These revelations and confessions paint a picture of a high-level, multinational criminal conspiracy to launder money and pay bribes at the United Nations that also included the collusion and aid of various senior UN officials at the time. Not only do these revelations offer new context to Southern Innovator‘s attempts to gain future support from the UNOSSC, they explain why Southern Innovator faced extensive obstruction, deception and unethical and unprofessional behaviour during this time, despite the documented success of the magazine and its associated e-newsletter to reach and inspire readers, while shaping UN strategic policy on innovation (Strategic framework of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperatio, 2014-2017).
“The e-newsletter Development Challenges, South-South Solutions proved to be a timely and prescient resource on the fast-changing global South, tracking the rise of an innovator culture driven by the rapid adoption of mobile phones and information technology …
“In 2010, work began on the development of the world’s first magazine dedicated to the 21st-century innovator culture of the global South. My goal was to create a magazine that would reach across countries and cultures, meet the UN’s standards, and inspire action. Southern Innovator was the result. Mr. [David] South played a vital role in the magazine’s development from its early conception, through its various design prototypes, to its final global launch and distribution.
“Both the e-newsletter and magazine raised the profile of South-South cooperation and have been cited by readers for inspiring innovators, academics, policy makers and development practitioners in the United Nations and beyond.
“I highly recommend Mr. [David] South as a thoughtful, insightful, analytical, creative and very amicable person who has the unique ability to not only grasp complex problems but also to formulate a vision and strategy that gets things done. … ” Cosmas Gitta, Former Assistant Director, Policy and United Nations Affairs at United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) in UNDP
“I think you [David South] and the designer [Solveig Rolfsdottir] do great work and I enjoy Southern Innovator very much!” Ines Tofalo, Programme Specialist, United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC)
David South Consulting 
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