Monday, October 24, 2016

Bingo with UN jargon

A typical UN meeting would be a two-hour "After Action Review" or "Impact Indicator Breakout Session." We'd play UN  Bullshit Bingo, betting packs of cigarettes on how many times these phrases would be said.

"I call 'strategic objectives' and 'reach a consensus,'" someone would say on the way to a meeting. "Fine, but I get 'humanitarian architecture' and 'accountability mechanism,'" someone else would say. Another voice would chime in from the back of the Land Cruiser: "I won on 'performance framework' last time—I'm gonna ride that horse again."
Jessica Alexander, Chasing Chaos: My Decade in and out of Humanitarian Aid (New York: Broadway Books, 2013), p.  104.

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