UNaccountable

Overview

UNaccountable’s project incubated at the GCSP aims to build a Foundation serving as a public interest organization that provides a coherent and clear accountability mechanism for a highly complex multilateral system, accessible to all.

There is emerging momentum and networks but still no comprehensive, independent approach to accountability of the entire UN System. The foundation will build on UNaccountable's approach and network of practice, which provides the only existing model to fill a major structural gap: the absence of a comprehensive, independent approach to accountability of the entire UN System. This will build an open community of knowledge exchange that builds and learns for a more accountable UN. This will result in an independent, credible Foundation that will provide a consensus-driven, public-friendly “systemic fix” for a more accountable and efficient UN system, all the while reinforcing the role of International Geneva as the center of discrete, pragmatic multilateral cooperation.

Since 31 March 2023, the project is hosted and incubated at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). It is being developed by UNaccountable - a nimble and responsive initiative, formally established in 2022, set up as a company at the Commerce Registry in Geneva.

UNaccountable is guided by current and former senior and executive level United Nations staff, diplomats, civil society and private sector representatives. It works for more effective, accountable and impactful multilateral engagement and consensus-based international cooperation. The initiative is balanced, independent, and does not focus on specific incidents, but rather the structural realities these reflect, and the clear opportunities for structural improvement, not just in one entity, but across the system. UNaccountable acts as a constructive partner to strengthen internal processes, addressing issues around accountability and efficiency, both real or perceived, and increasing transparency and accessibility around complex global governance issues.
 

Expert

Ioana Popp - Founder and Executive Director of UNaccountable

Ioana founded UNaccountable, a social enterprise that constructively engages states and multilateral agencies to support more efficient and impactful international cooperation. Her experience with different types of stakeholders informs her approach to identify structural and procedural approaches to understand and communicate best practices in specific political contexts. This is what allows her to create tailored incentives for stakeholders, individually and collectively, to achieve accountable results.

From 2013-2020, Ioana was a staff member of IOM (International Organization for Migration, UN Migration). In the Office of the Director General, she provided political and institutional analyses for IOM’s strategic framework, IOM mandate and activities. She supported the Director of the International Cooperation and Partnerships Department to identify strategic cooperation areas and broaden partnerships, work she continued in New York and the regional office for Central America, Caribbean and North America. Her experience prior to IOM is in government (Presidential Administration and Ministry of Foreign Affairs), private sector marketing, as well as NGOs and a public-private sector partnership working on urban development, migrant integration and local job creation.

Ms Popp holds a BA in Political Science (University of Bucharest, Romania), an MA in Intercultural Communication (University of Jyväskylä, Finland) and has completed the core diplomatic training of the Diplomatic Institute of Romania.

She is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

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