New UN Ombudsman has been listening to problems ‘all my life’
Introduction:
With eight days on the job, Shireen Dodson, the new UN Ombudsman, did not set out to become a career mediator, but began to master the basics as a young child, when she diplomatically negotiated between her divorced parents.
In an interview with UN News, she explained how she would delicately negotiate separate times to sit down at her mother’s, and — later in the day — her stepmother’s table, on the key US family holiday of Thanksgiving.
After more than 20 years working at the Washington-based Smithsonian Institution, as she was about to retire, the US State Department offered her a position as the Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Civil Rights, which over several years morphed into her current role.
She told Liz Scaffidi why she feels the role is a great fit, and how she hopes to boost collaboration and partnerships across the UN.
With eight days on the job, Shireen Dodson, the new UN Ombudsman, did not set out to become a career mediator, but began to master the basics as a young child, when she diplomatically negotiated between her divorced parents.
In an interview with UN News, she explained how she would delicately negotiate separate times to sit down at her mother’s, and — later in the day — her stepmother’s table, on the key US family holiday of Thanksgiving.
After more than 20 years working at the Washington-based Smithsonian Institution, as she was about to retire, the US State Department offered her a position as the Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Civil Rights, which over several years morphed into her current role.
She told Liz Scaffidi why she feels the role is a great fit, and how she hopes to boost collaboration and partnerships across the UN.