New York, September 24, 2012-
Addressing Member States and stakeholders at a High-Level Summit on the
margins of the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York,
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, today announced the appointment of Dr.
Kandeh Kolleh Yumkella of Sierra Leone, currently the Director-General
of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and
Chair of UN-Energy, to serve as his Special Representative for
Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
the new UN initiative.
Calling
on the global community to join the clean energy revolution, the new UN
Initiative under the auspices of Kandeh Yumkella will bring
governments, the private sector and civil society together in a
meaningful partnership geared towards achieving universal energy access,
improving energy efficiency and growing the share of renewable energy –
all by 2030.
Underscoring
the ambitious yet achievable initiative, Mr. Ban stressed that there is
no better person with the requisite leadership skills needed to push
the initiative forward than the 53 year old Yumkella who many UN
analysts have often described as a rising star for the numerous leading
roles he has played within the UN system and the global community.
“Providing sustainable energy for all could be the biggest opportunity
of the 21st century. It is the golden thread that connects economic
growth, social equity, and a climate and environment that enables the
world to thrive,” said Secretary General Ban.
Having
served as Co-Chair of the High-level Group on Sustainable Energy for
All, Chair of SG Ban’s Advisory Group on Energy and Climate Change
(AGECC) as well as his active participation as a member of the United
Nations Development Group (UNDG), participants at the event
overwhelmingly noted that Dr. Yumkella has not only helped to set and
coordinate the global development priorities of the United Nations but
has played a leading international role in identifying the lack of
access to energy as a crucial constraint for development efforts.
For
his part, Dr. Yumkella registered his gratitude for the trust and
confidence bestowed on him on the new appointment. “I am honored to
serve the Secretary General and ready to take this path–breaking
initiative to the next level. More than ever, the world needs to ensure
that the benefits of modern energy are available to all and to ensure
that energy is provided as cleanly and efficiently as possible. Energy
is critical for human progress and for the developing world, energy
poverty is devastating,” he said.
Pledging
to work with all stakeholders “to achieve sustainable energy for all
and drive real action on the ground – action that transforms lives,
communities, economies and the environment,” the incoming Special
Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) and CEO, noted that
Sustainable Energy is a matter of equity and one of urgent practical
importance. “We are all aware of the fundamental role that energy access
plays as a driver for development, in delivering health, education,
food security and economic growth. We need change, and we need it
urgently. We can, and we must, give three billion people the chance to
build more productive, healthier lives.”
Over
the last five years and since the initiative’s official launch in New
York in 2011, Dr. Yumkella has, in addition to his Director General
responsibilities at UNIDO, advocated passionately with the global
community to support Mr. Ban’s initiative on behalf of the world’s
poorest.
His
leadership and efforts have garnered support from every part of the
world including the European Commission and the Clean Energy Ministerial
to the African energy ministers and the Small Island Developing states.
It has also attracted the voluntary participation of about 60
developing nations.
Moreover,
his efforts also led Secretary General Ban to announce at the Rio+ 20
summit held in June that more than USD 50 billion that had been raised
from investors and the private sector in support of the campaign’s
interrelated and complementary goals of ensuring universal access to
modern energy services, doubling the global rate of improvement in
energy efficiency and increasing the share of renewable energy in the
global energy mix by 2030.
But
that is not all. Other highlights of his leadership include tens of
billions already committed by various multi-lateral development banks in
Asia, Europe and Latin America and the formation of
public-private-partnerships on transport, energy efficiency, solar
cooking, finance and energy access for the poor.
However,
all of these achievements do not surprise those who know him from
Sierra Leone and his colleagues in the global development community with
whom he has worked over the last 20 years. Friends, school mates and
colleagues describe Yumkella as a very humble man who strives each day
to live diligently by the quote: “Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
By accepting to lead this new initiative from the ground up, Yumkella’s
pioneering endeavors, love for confronting challenges and “the first”
may have begun during his days at university.
During
his undergraduate education at Njala University in Sierra Leone, he
reportedly held the first position in his class for the entire four year
maintaining a grade point average of 5.0 in his first year and never
below 4.3 even with his active participation in student union politics
and competed in the 400 and 800 meters races.
As
a graduate student at the College of Agriculture, University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaigne, he was the first Assistant to the Dean of
Minority Affairs. Upon graduation, he became the first African or Black
faculty member at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Michigan
State University.
As
the first Sub-Saharan African Director General of UNIDO since 2005, he
has led the once moribund agency to global recognition and is the first
Sierra Leonean to be Chief Executive of a UN Development Agency and
member of the UN’s Chief Executive Board.
Venturing
into the unknown to lead the new UN initiative, and charged with
fulfilling its mandate including its planning and successful
implementation, Yumkella will undoubtedly leave a trail for others to
follow. The only problem, his shoes may be hard to fill given his
history of successful trailblazing acts.
Read this article in full at Sierra Express Media: http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com/archives/47869
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