A Destiny in the Making: From Wall Street to Unicef in Africa - Hardcover

Excerpt from a book review

Tobias Denskus

Senior Lecturer, Malmö University https://www.mah.se/english

8 June 2018

Writing about careers inside the UN system is a particularly fruitful sub-genre. Mohr’s unique contribution to the genre lies in the fact that he was neither a senior executive of the organization nor did he work in particularly dangerous environments-being the country representative for Sao Tome & Principe has never been exactly a hardship post. But Mohr’s reflections, as mundane as they sometimes must seem to an ‘in-group’ of international aid workers or -researchers, shed an interesting light on working in a bureaucratic framework under the leadership of the iconic Jim Grant.

His memoir opens an interesting door to a time when UNICEF and a system of global governance expanded into a global enterprise to improve the lives of children from the perspective of someone who was close to the strategic center of the organization yet spent most of his fulfilling career a bit on the margins of global diplomacy. 

Mohr works at UNICEF at a time when today’s notion of global governance comes into reality: There is the Bob Geldof-inspired Sport Aid event which leads to the Race against Time in 1986, ‘the largest sporting event in history at that time’ (p.99), global summits and a growth in national committees that contribute significant funds to the organization, in short, UNICEF as a ‘brand’ emerges and has done well ever since.

It is his honesty and his unpretentious storytelling that turn the book into a real gem of the genre.

What others have said 

“A groundbreaking, inspirational book that will hook anyone working or thinking of working in the humanitarian sector, as well as those who love Africa. Using a personal, poetic and readable style that pays extraordinary attention to detail, Mohr candidly gives us an informative insight into the challenges and dilemmas faced in humanitarian work and the way top UN management decisions are taken within the context of momentous world events of that time.  We meet people from all walks of life, from presidents to those working in remote communities, such as the sappers clearing landmines in Mozambique. We come to intimately know his adventurous family, colleagues and friends. I loved the book and was sorry when I finished reading it!”  

Ruth Ayisi, Former UNICEF staff member and journalist/consultant

“From Wall Street to remote villages in Africa is a human adventure and true UNICEF story. A must-read for business people interested in a humanitarian challenge, newcomers to the United Nations and all others who care about Africa.” 

J. Denis Bélisle, Former Executive Director,  International Trade Center (UNCTAD-WTO) and UN Assistant Secretary General

When the Wall Street banker takes the side of the indebted developing countries in his feature articles reviewing the impact of the global sovereign debt crisis of the 1980s in the Dutch daily NRC-Handelsblad, it is time to leave banking. He is attracted to Unicef’s   vision and goal of Health for All and its tireless pursuit of structural economic adjustment programmes with a human face. In Africa, Boudewijn Mohr jumps into Unicef’s hands-on work in the field. He spearheads the clearing of landmines in Unicef project areas in Mozambique, and engages with children throughout his travels on the continent. Thus he can be found playing football with former child soldiers in Monrovia; touring Nouakchott with street children who show him the tricks of pick pocketing; or gate crashing a diamond mine that exploits child labour near Kenema in the rebel-infested east of Sierra Leone.  His stories are both an adventure and the search of fulfilment but at the same time a call to all those who want to do more and are uncertain of what the world holds.

Part of the proceeds of this book are going to 'Hands-Up Foundation', a British charity working with Syrian doctors and nurses in Syria under harsh circumstances.