Loomio
Wed 17 Mar 2021 10:19PM

White Paper 4 - new suggested small pieces of content

RB Ruth Blackshaw Public Seen by 6

Most of the edits & suggestions I made in the review of the White Paper were with the aim to simplify language not to add content. I felt two pieces were perhaps missing and have included suggestions here. The first is in the Vision Statement, it felt as though we weren't painting a picture of the world we want brought about by/contributed to through UNicoins. @Simon Bettighofer @Klas Moldéus your inputs would be particularly welcome here given link to future of work, does the below add or not needed? is there anything else needed?

The other place I felt we were missing some content is towards the end, a bit like the "shortcomings" sections, I think some acknowledgements of unanswered questions where we are also seeking input would be valuable in the closing part. I put two suggestions but would be great to know if others agree or if there are different ones that come to mind. I am not sure how we feel about the second one. My feeling is that there is a risk and/or tension with UNicoins being used to reinforce ways we are trying to change which is hinted at in the shortcomings section of the manager-led model but still the language feels very transactional and I think it would be good to acknowledge this tension.

Proposed new text for both are provided below. Perhaps again we could discuss in thread/make any amendments until 10am CET tomorrow (Thurs) then adopt revised at noon (or none at all if we feel it doesn't add)?

In Vision Statement
The UNicoins team envisages a world where the UN is a hive of innovation and collaboration for the SDGs. In line with the vision set out in Navigating to the Next UN, we envision a future of work in the UN where competition is transformed to collaboration, where silos give way to networks of UN personnel collaborating towards shared purpose and where UNicoins play an enabling role in creating a UN system that lives by its values, including transparency, democracy and collaboration.

In conclusions and next steps section
While UNicoins have great potential, there also remain many unanswered questions which the UNicoins team recognises and would appreciate crowd input on during the review process! These include:

  • How are UNicoins created and by whom? who is the “central bank”? 

  • How can UNicoins be used as a transformative enabler to shift to the Next UN and not to reinforce malpractices in the current UN system? How can the concept and spirit of UNicoins as a way to enable peer-to-peer collaboration, exchange and learning be upheld and the possibilities for UNicoins to be abused or misused minimised? This includes ensuring that UNicoins are not used as a way to enforce a control-based approach whereby managers track staff time and autonomy of UN personnel is further reduced.

MM

Michaela Markova Thu 18 Mar 2021 6:13AM

I like it!

SB

Simon Bettighofer Thu 18 Mar 2021 9:10AM

Generally I like it very much and would be fine with it. Some minor comments:

IN VISION PART:

  • Referring to the 'Navigating report' is fine by me, but it also gives this YUN piece of work a very prominent place. I would only add it if the whole team is really comfortable with doing so, alternatively it could just be left out in the sentence and referred to elsewhere.

  • I wonder if it would help to adjust the last part of the sentence to read "where UNicoins play an enabling role in creating such a UN system..." (added 'such') to clarify that UNicoins will help with the former parts of sentence, not only with transparency etc.

  • Also I am skeptical about 'democracy'. I didn't study political science but I believe democracy is a quite specific concept of people selecting those who govern them. I am not sure if this is indeed the right term to go for. Would suggest to replace by something like 'inclusion'.

EG

Eleonora Gatti Thu 18 Mar 2021 9:20AM

I like the new additions, I think it we already have a significant section on YUN navigating report in section 3 on incentives. I think it is more powerful in the vision statement to put the focus on the SG call for increased cross-UN collaboration. Also agree with Simon's points on democracy, probably "inclusiveness"?

AKP

Akash K P Thu 18 Mar 2021 9:41AM

The new additions are good! I also would like to support the term "inclusiveness" rather than "democracy".

RB

Ruth Blackshaw Thu 18 Mar 2021 10:09AM

wonderful thanks everyone! Will make a revised proposal based on these inputs, really helpful! 🙂