Delay, but likely business as usual, in WFP appointment

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Some months back, I spoke with a senior contact at the World Food Program about the upcoming end of Josette Sheeran‘s first term as Executive Director of the World Food Program.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meets with Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme. (UN Photo # 466405)

At the time, the Obama Administration had not yet determined if it would re-nominate Josette Sheeran, who was first nominated by President George W. Bush in 2007. Sheeran’s term is up in April 2012 and it was expected that the Obama Administration would announce whether it would support a second term before Friday’s meeting of the WFP Executive Board.

Colum Lynch at Turtle Bay reported last week that the Obama administration has decided not to re-nominate Sheeran, instead pushing the current U.S. representatives on the FAO Executive Board, Ertharin Cousin, for the post. But though the job usually goes to the American nominee, the only response to the nomination has been the sound of crickets.

Ertharin Cousin, Obama's pick for WFP Executive Director (State Dept Photo)

The actual appointment–”not an election,” I was reminded in a follow-up conversation this week–is made by the UN Secretary General and the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, in consultation with the WFP Executive Board. This means that although Sheeran isn’t supported by the Obama administration, she could still be given a second term if Ban and da Silva so choose. (Also on the short list, according to officials who spoke with Lynch, is Dan Glickman, a former Democrat Congressman and current vice chair of the World Food Program USA organization.)

What “consultation with the Board” means though is entirely up to the Secretary General and Director-General. In previous years, it has taken the form of a formal discussion at a meeting of the Board. At other times, it has been calls to individual Board members. The process is extraordinarily opaque and the WFP Executive Board has little ability to affect the process or its timeline, though the Board president has made overturesin that direction this year.

The President shared with the Board a letter she intended to send to the United Nations Secretary-General concerning Board consultation in the process to appoint or reappoint the WFP Executive Director, whose new term would become effective in April 2012. The letter informed the Secretary-General of the Board’s intention to contribute to an open and transparent process for the appointment, and requested that he provide an indication on the intended timing and mode of consultation.

In the meantime, the official re-iterated that Sheeran is interested in a second term, but is keeping her head down and staying focused on the work at hand.

Lynch noted that some in the Obama administration are concerned that Ban has remained silent because he doesn’t support Cousin’s nomination. (It’s all about them, of course.) More likely though, Ban is simply including the head of the WFP among the other changes he intends to make in his cabinet early next year. I expect that a week or so before the Executive Board’s meeting in February, Ban will praise Sheeran for her service and announce Cousins as his pick. Ban is, after all, still Ban, even in a second term.

Ban Ki-moon thinks - Obama is a first term President - he is being advised to hire Dan Glickman as replacement to Josette Sheeran

"UN's problems with money doesn't come from Obama but rather US Congress - we need a leader at WFP who would be able to persuade and work with US Congress in order to preserve the current level of funding thru out these austerity times"...a close Ban Ki-moon political advisor said.

That's why Ban Ki-moon is keeping in his desk a CV of Dan Glickman, he was:

Before his appointment as Secretary of Agriculture, Glickman served for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. During that time, he was a member of the House Agriculture Committee, including six years as chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal farm policy issues. (Bipartisan Policy Center)

This move is also seen as a slap in the face to Obama Administration who is pressing Ban Ki-moon for months to appoint at the helm of WFP Ertharin Cousin (current US Ambassador to UN Agencies in Rome). Will he choose Obama's candidate or rather chose someone who would be able to work with US Congress - we will have to watch.

This is the CV of Dan Glickman as per Bipartisan Policy Center

Dan Glickman is currently a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) in Washington, D.C.

Glickman served as Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) from 2004 until 2010. The MPAA serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries.

Prior to joining the MPAA, Glickman was the Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government from 2002-2004. Glickman also served as a Partner and Senior Advisor to the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, DC.

Glickman served as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from March 1995 until January 2001. Under his leadership, the Department administered farm and conservation programs; modernized food safety regulations; forged international trade agreements to expand U.S. markets; and improved its commitment to fairness and equality in civil rights.

Before his appointment as Secretary of Agriculture, Glickman served for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 4th Congressional District of Kansas. During that time, he was a member of the House Agriculture Committee, including six years as chairman of the subcommittee with jurisdiction over federal farm policy issues. Moreover, he was an active member of the House Judiciary Committee; chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; and was a leading congressional expert on general aviation policy.

Before his election to Congress in 1976, Glickman served as president of the Wichita School Board; was a partner in the law firm of Sargent, Klenda and Glickman; and worked as a trial attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from The George Washington University. He is a member of the Kansas and District of Columbia Bars.

Glickman currently serves as the Executive Director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program; on the board of directors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Communities in Schools; Food Research and Action Center, a domestic anti-hunger organization; National 4-H Council; William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan; and the Center for U.S. Global Engagement, where he is Chair of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. He co-chairs an initiative of eight Foundations, administered by the Meridian Institute, to look at long term implications of food and agricultural policy. He also chairs an initiative at the Institute of Medicine on “accelerating progress on childhood obesity.”

He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, a senior fellow of the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and the Council on American Politics at The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University, and is Vice-Chair of the World Food Program-USA. He also serves as a member of the External Advisory Board to CIA Director Leon Panetta. He is the co-chair of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs' global agricultural development initiative. He is the author of “Farm Futures,” in Foreign Affairs (May/June 2009).

Ban Ki-moon looses faith on Obama's reelection - moves to appoint a different candidate to replace Josette Sheeran

U.S. pushing Cousin for U.N. food chief

Posted By Colum Lynch

Click here for this article on Turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com

The Obama administration has been pressing U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appointErtharin Cousin, the U.S. representative to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome, as the new head of the World Food Program (WFP), the premier international agency responsible for feeding the world's poor and distressed.

Cousin, formerly president of the Polk Street Group, a Chicago-based public relations firm, has served in various corporate and non-profit jobs, including a stint at Albertsons, the food giant, and served as chief operating officer for America's Second Harvest, a national anti-hunger organization.

The Obama administration wants her to replace Josette Sheeran, the Bush administration choice for the job, when her five-year term expires in April 2012.

Officials say the administration had expected a decision to have been made by now and have grown concerned that Ban may not select their favored candidate. Dan Glickman, a former Democratic lawmaker from Kansas and Secretary of Agricultural under former President Bill Clinton, is also said to be on the U.N.'s short list of candidates. Sheeran is said to be pursuing a second term.

The United States is the world's largest financial contributor to the World Food Program, providing more than $1.5 billion worth of assistance and food in 2010, which accounts for more than 36 percent of all international giving to the U.N. food agency. The World Food Program's executive director has always been an American, generally selected by the U.N. secretary general and the director general of the FAO, on the basis of a recommendation from the United States.

The Rome-based FAO is responsible for feeding more than 105 million people in 75 countries, and employs about 10,000 people.

The eventual winner of the WFP job, though, could potentially be forced to grapple with a Palestinian bid to join the organization's executive board, which is composed of 18 U.N. members and 18 members of FAO. The Palestinians can join FAO if they can get a two-third vote of the membership, which would allow them to mount a bid for membership on WFP's executive board.

So far, the Palestinians -- which have already been admitted as UNESCO members -- have said they are exploring membership bids in some 16 additional U.N. agencies, at some point in the future. They have not yet said, however, whether they would mount a campaign for membership in the U.N.'s food agencies at the next major membership meeting in June, 2013.

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