As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated. I now work mainly on climate issues, especially in Brighton and Hove, and new work can be found on the website of Climate:Change, our independent think-tank on socially inclusive action in the City: www.climatechangebh.org.uk.
Meanwhile, however, this website has over 850 entries, mostly representing my work on international development from 2010-2025. Among much else, there are over 50 book reviews, more than 20 papers and training cases on bridging research and policy and on managing think-tanks, nearly 100 articles on climate change, and many papers on other topics, including aid, food security and nutrition, and the future of international development. See ‘Topics and Themes’ for more details. I can be reached at sm@simonmaxwell.net.
UN Reform: An eight step programme for more effective collective action
UN Reform: An eight step programme for more effective collective action ODIOverseas Development Institute (London) Opinion 49, September 2005
The United Nations development system is the source of many norms and standards at global level, ranging from the Millennium Development Goals to technical standards in areas like health and food safety. It also delivers humanitarian aid, technical assistance and support to social sectors like health and education. Making the system work better is a constant preoccupation – in 2003, Kofi Annan observed that ‘ . . . The system is not working as it should . . . We need to take a hard look at our institutions themselves . . . They may need radical reform.’ At present, the outlook for serious reform on the development side is not especially propitious – but it could be................. (see link in title for full article)