How to get nominated into an international organisation
With the nomination of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation position, let me try to explain how things like this happen. If it is a position you are qualified for, the first thing you need is information. You need to know when the position of the incumbent is running out. You need to be aware of any “zoning” formula (yes, there is zoning in the international community too, even if it’s informal). Even for positions within the country, having good information helps. There is one Director-General that overstayed his tenure by a whole TWO YEARS. Nobody outside the organisation knew. You’ll never see him in the press. He kept everyone sweet, until one person whispered to one of my friends. That my friend was the MD of a big multinational, but he wanted to work in the public sector. Armed with the information that the tenure of the DG had since expired, he wrote to the President to call his attention to it and attached his CV. He was appointed DG ...