‘Look at what we share rather than our differences’
Kanni Wignaraja. Pic by Akila Jayawardana
The week’s early meetings, soon after she arrived, were at the plush offices of politicians and policy-makers and the later meetings in the rural heartland of Anuradhapura with humble villagers, the very sons and daughters of the soil.
We meet this top UN (United Nations) official soon after her return from the field trip and just before she goes on vacation to spend precious time with friends and family……for her roots are very Sri Lankan.
This highest-ranking Sri Lankan currently serving in the UN system is Kanni Wignaraja who is Assistant Secretary-General, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.
Far away from her office at ‘One United Nations Plaza’, the glass curtain walled skyscraper that towers over the East River in Manhattan, New York, our chat revolves around what makes her who she is and why she has chosen this pathway to be part of the UN which is a ‘symbol of hope and beacon of peace’.
As a child and teenager, Kanni the eldest, with a brother and sister after her, had lived in Colombo. Her father was a civil engineer and her mother who did not work was keen on nature-based farming, having gone to the School of Agriculture at Kundasale off Kandy before marriage.
“Very active,” had been Kanni’s childhood for her mother’s philosophy was that if children were kept busy they would hardly have any time to get into mischief and “she was absolutely right”.
Schooling was at CMS Ladies’ College for Kanni, playing lots of sports, hockey, badminton, netball, a little basketball and swimming and being groomed for team work and leadership through debating and drama and in the roles played as house and games captain and Head Girl. “You name it – Ladies’ College allowed one to get into a lot of things. These roles gave me the confidence to take on leadership roles and were ‘hugely’ valuable – it is better to make your mistakes when younger and learn and I hope I did. It helped me nurture my sense of what I want to do later on.”
Advanced Level was followed by the natural progression into the University of Colombo to study economics under Prof. W.D. Lakshman in 1983-84 when Kanni was in her late teens. It was an “interesting” year with the closure of universities and non-violent student protests for peace followed by a massive brain drain. (1983 was the year when Sri Lanka was gripped by communal violence.)
Kanni headed to the United States of America for her studies – a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bryn Mawr College and a Master’s degree in Public Administration (Development Economics) from Princeton University.
Soon after, she joined the UN, following a stint with the Ford Foundation in New York and has been at the UN for over 25 years, pursuing its mission and UNDP’s role in the sustainable development agenda.
Always wanted to join the UN, is how she describes her passion, going on to explain that as much as “we can work in the local community on issues of social justice, making sure everyone gets a fair chance, a good life and a decent living, the issue of peace is very important”. For, she strongly believes that there has to be a combination of ‘progress and peace’ and there is a need to look at it both locally and globally.
Out in the field: Kanni holding the nil-manel presented by Ihala Punchikulama villagers (left) chats to farmers and project coordinators at different locations at the Sivalakulama irrigation tank system at Galenbindunuweva which is being rehabilitated under the UNDP’s ‘Climate-smart Agriculture Project’.
The UN Charter, which she says is the DNA of this institution’s leadership, is an “inspiring” document – in which is embedded a set of values that transcend individuals, communities and individual countries.
“We say we are different and look at our differences but I would say that we as human beings have a set of core values that make up our DNA. If we can get there, there would be so much understanding. Why don’t we first look for what is shared as that would be a richer place to start from, with a better chance to get to a place where we have understanding.”
She is an ardent believer that “we need to stand up for others even when our opinions differ with theirs, as they need ‘you on their side’. At the end of the day, we are privileged, you and I, and have a voice and space to articulate those opinions and beliefs, but not everyone does”.
“A role I hope I continue to play is to get people thinking along similar lines of justice and equality, that everyone has rights. You come across people who believe very different things,” says Kanni, citing the current debate (pro and anti) on vaccines. “There is no point in saying I don’t want to talk to anti-vaxxers. You have to hear them out and find out what makes them feel that way. Often we tend to intellectualize debates – we tend to talk about data, that the science is clear and wonder why they can’t change their minds. However, some fundamental things come more from a place of emotion, fear or anger. If you don’t hear that and give that a voice and space how can you convince them? You can’t always do that through data.”
She presses the need for emotional intelligence – the conversation is usually not easy because it is not your fundamental beliefs. People will always be very clear that some other group is inferior and shouldn’t have the same rights. You need to understand from where it’s coming – a place of hate. Then you step back and agree to disagree – it could sometimes be long-held beliefs that have come from inaccurate fear or threats. There is a need to understand this.
How can you change their minds? “Sometimes you have to let it go, but you never give up on a group, a person or an institution. You keep coming back to see where the common ground is. We get impatient – coming back to people with whom the conversations are difficult needs courage.”
Touching on how often in many countries including Sri Lanka, there is UN bashing, she says: “I don’t think that a majority of people know the stuff that happens in terms of conversations, negotiations and mediations that never make it to the press and it shouldn’t. That’s how you build trust but a lot more bad stuff will happen if not for the UN constantly saying that we can do better.”
With the climate agenda being another passion of Kanni, she says that “you wonder why there are so many who don’t want to believe – do they fundamentally believe there’s no climate change or are there other things, sometimes it could be business interests, sometimes it is what they have been taught from the time they were small and sometimes it has come from people whom they respected. You can’t just put that aside. There is a need to tease it out because we have disrespected nature and the climate agenda and how we deal with our planet are crucial”.
In contrast though, Kanni is amazed at what she heard and saw during her walkabout in Anuradhapura – in Muriyakadawala and Ihala Galkulama in Galenbindunuwewa and Kapugama and Udakadawala in Palugaswewa, where she met women and men and old and young to get a “lovely” inter-generational view.
She relates how from the get-go there was no listing of complaints, quite the contrary even though Sri Lanka is going through a harsh economic period and farmers have gotten hit.
When talking of fertilizer costs, these farmers had a calm confidence as in the last two years they have switched the way they grow food and take care of the environment. Under the UNDP project that they are beneficiaries of, Kanni says: “It’s a mix of some of the traditional ways of farming with new technology. Weather forecasts, soil conditions, water levels and market information they access on their mobile phones, while they engage in agricultural practices that are organic. We (UNDP) have learnt as much or more from them as them from us.
“The fertilizer issues have not upset them. They have come to the conclusion that they need to have mixed cropping with livestock because deep tilling used in past practices is causing damage. They know that deep tilling hurts the soil and also releases greenhouse gases and that the soil doesn’t have to be deep tilled because the country has rich soil in most areas. They have also learnt through experience that there should not be overgrazing.
“So, they perform gentle surface tilling with livestock, while getting the organic fertilizer and also move from one area to another without damaging the land. With numerous small tanks, part of a strong cascade system, being rehabilitated by UNDP, indigenous plants such as mango and pol are being grown as well as paddy. They have weathered the market ups and downs.”
Riveting her attention on the innovative womenfolk, Kanni says that they are utilising invasive plants such as Japan jabara to make the “most amazing” handicrafts – handbags and tote bags with beautiful designs, a mix of the traditional and modern.
Kanni has also seen the sense of community rather than competition among these farmers but worries about the lack of a social protection system for a wider majority, in a rapidly ageing population, where only 30% coming under the formal employment system will benefit from a pension. There needs to be investment in a social protection scheme that catches everyone.
Laughingly, Kanni stops a while to ask the Sunday Times photographer: “Den athida – thunseeyak withara gaththa ne (Is it adequate, you have taken about 300 photos),” referring to the non-stop clicking of the camera.
When asked what challenges she has faced in her career-rise as an Asian woman, she is quick to point out that “personally I have not had” but that is not to say a lot of women don’t have. Her parents had always instilled in her the confidence that if she were sure about doing the right thing and standing up for what she believed in, she need not be arrogant or aggressive………“that lesson was important through school, university and also work at the UN, as also people who demonstrated the behaviours that one respected”.
She elaborates that you can be a strong leader on issues and at the same time be kind and caring. It doesn’t have to be either or and being kind is not a weakness. Personally, Kanni has opened up that space to be caring and hearing others’ problems that may not be related to the work space but at the same time she has instilled discipline at the workplace. “I still have very high standards that I expect from my whole team – 36 teams in the region I oversee, some in very small islands and some in countries as large as China.”
To the query why there has been no woman Secretary-General (SG) at the UN, Kanni says that while at this moment there is an amazing SG who is a good leader, “we have to have a woman. It is time that all member states of the General Assembly, the whole world, say that there should be a woman. To say that there isn’t a woman capable of leading the UN is unacceptable. There is a need to get together and choose the right woman”.
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