A Destiny in the Making

When the Wall Street banker takes the side of the indebted developing countries in his feature articles reviewing the impact of the global sovereign debt crisis of the 1980s in the Dutch daily NRC-Handelsblad, it is time to leave banking. He is attracted to Unicef's vision and goal of Health for All and its tireless pursuit of structural economic adjustment programmes with a human face. In Africa, Boudewijn Mohr jumps into Unicef's hands-on work in the field. He spearheads the clearing of landmines in Unicef project areas in Mozambique, and engages with children throughout his travels on the continent. Thus he can be found playing football with former child soldiers in Monrovia; touring Nouakchott with street children who show him the tricks of pick pocketing; or gate crashing a diamond mine that exploits child labour near Kenema in the rebel-infested east of Sierra Leone. His stories are both an adventure and the search of fulfilment but at the same time a call to all those who want to do more and are uncertain of what the world holds. Part of the proceeds of this book are going to 'Hands-Up Foundation', a British charity working with Syrian doctors and nurses in Syria under harsh circumstances.

Prior to joining Unicef in 1985, Boudewijn Mohr was a senior international corporate banker in New York, first with Chase Manhattan Bank in Wall Street, and later at Société Générale's branch in midtown Manhattan.  During that time he served on the Board of the First All Children's Theatre (First ACT) in Manhattan, was an active member of the US INSEAD Alumni Association, as well as the Dutch Financial Club.   Joining Unicef in Geneva, his brief was to support its National Committees to diversify their sources of income, more specifically through designing strategies for building partnerships and raising funds with corporations in Europe.   It was not until he reached Africa that Boudewijn Mohr began to feel professional satisfaction and fulfilment of a life's objective: public service in an international organisation 'in the field'. In the process he acquired more than 25 years of working experience in Africa. His role of a Unicef country programme and operational management specialist took him to some 36 countries on the African continent.  Moreover he wrote extensively for Unicef, including Situation Analysis on children and women, mid-term reviews and official documents for Unicef's Executive Board.   He wrote a series of feature articles in the Dutch daily NRC-Handelsblad on the sovereign debt crisis as it unfolded in the developing world in the 1980s. He is the author of 'The Language of International Trade', published by Regents Publishing Co of New York (Hachette) in 1978.   A national of the Netherlands, Boudewijn Mohr holds a Master degree in Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands and an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.