SARC Stories - Annelie Rostedt
My background
My name is Annelie Rostedt. I am a Swedish social scientist with a master's degree in political science, and bachelor's degrees in political science and social work respectively. Other qualifications include human rights, international relations and anthropology. For the last ten years I have been working in the areas of development, human rights, social security/protection and migration. I have always had a strong interest and passion for travelling, working abroad and getting to know different cultures, which has taken me to Asia, the Middle East and different parts of Europe and Africa.
JPO assignment in Uganda
In 2005 I took up a JPO position as Health and Human Rights Officer with WHO in Uganda. The position was the first of its kind in a WHO country office. Through advocacy and capacity development, I supported the integration of a human rights-based approach into the health sector. I also facilitated strong partnerships between WHO, OHCHR, the Ministry of Health, the national human rights commission and NGOs in advancing the right to health. In addition, I worked with the former UN Special Rapporteur on the 'right to health', on awareness raising activities on neglected tropical diseases and the impact of development cooperation in promoting equitable access to health services.
WHO Headquarters in Geneva
After two years in Uganda I was reassigned to WHO Headquarters in Geneva to join the Health and Human Rights Team (Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights). This accorded me the opportunity to work at both country level and Headquarters as part of my JPO assignment. One of my primary responsibilities was to develop the tool "Human Rights and Gender Equality in Health Sector Strategies: How to Assess Policy Coherence". I also contributed to the operationalisation of human rights concepts to specific health topics, through development of fact sheets and other publications (on a human rights-based approach and on neglected tropical diseases). Moreover, I promoted the incorporation of a human rights-based approach in development cooperation and aid effectiveness fora such as the OECD/DAC Human Rights Task Team. When my JPO position ended at the beginning of 2008, I was offered the opportunity to continue with WHO and stayed on for another two years.
My experience as SARC in Zambia
I eventually felt it was time to go back to field (country office) work and the Special Assistant to the Resident Coordinator positions caught my attention. At the beginning of 2010, I joined the Resident Coordinator's Office (RCO) in Zambia as a Coordination Specialist. Since last year, under the UN reform agenda, the UN system in Zambia has intensified efforts to move towards 'Delivering as One'. One of the core elements of my assignment has been to develop and oversee a framework for effective inter-agency management and accountability under the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). I have facilitated the development of a UNCT Zambia Code of Conduct and an internal division of labour to establish UN agency roles and responsibilities under the national development plan and the Joint Assistance Strategy for Zambia. I also support UN participation in aid coordination and mutual accountability fora and joint UNCT reporting under the 2011 Paris Declaration Survey, as well as coordinate UN M&E working group activities.
Looking back after six years within the UN ...
After five years with a UN specialized agency, it has been interesting to move to the 'centre' of the UN system and to have the opportunity to better understand the mandates and programmes of more than 20 resident and non-resident UN organisations. I do believe that the UN will be better placed to support the achievement of development results by effectively drawing on the expertise and capacities across agencies. In addition, my experience in health and human rights has enabled me to fully recognize the importance of integrating human rights norms and international standards into development/humanitarian programmes.
I commend Sweden/Sida for supporting the JPO and SARC programmes - these are making an important contribution in advancing human rights and development and implementing UN Reform at country level.
Favourite quote: If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.
Contact: annelie.rostedt@one.un.org
Photos from Annelie Rostedt and the UN Communications Group/Zambia