The New UN Head in Georgia: Reaching Everyone in Society is Key

Exclusive Interview

Dr. Sabine Machl is the newly appointed UN Head in Georgia, having moved here just a few weeks ago. In an interview with GEORGIA TODAY, Dr. Machl discusses the recent Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Festival, the reasons she joined the UN, and her thoughts about Georgia.

Tell us about the SDG festival that took place in Ambrolauri, Racha.

I was happy to be a part of this festival because I arrived in Georgia just recently. A great group of organizers worked to make this event happen. There was one a year ago in Rustavi and this year we were in Racha in a beautiful environment. I think it’s really fantastic that Georgia is reaching out and trying to meet the sustainable goals. In this regard, showcasing a few programs that are a part of the UNDP attracted more people. One of my favorite projects within the scope of the festival was the book reading of Once There Was a Girl – a collection of tales and stories about historical Georgian women. I think that will play a big role in women's empowerment and gender equality, one of the 17 of the SDGs. The festival showed how far we have come and how far we have yet to go, while showing that everybody can and should take part in meeting these goals. The SDG festival was also fun in the way that it allowed a socializing with the locals of Ambrolauri – I think that was interesting for both sides.

Why did you choose to work with the UN?

I joined the UN about eight years ago. Before, I worked in a number of international organizations. I chose to work for the UN because I really believe in the mandates that we have, which is supporting countries around the globe on issues concerning law, human rights, gender equality and on peace in particular. I think it’s really important to see all these different angles working together. I worked for the UN in Kyrgyzstan, Palestine and Indonesia and now in Georgia. It’s interesting because I got to see that no matter where you are in the world, there are still at least a few areas and concepts that we need to work on to move towards. It’s important to reach out to people and the UN is all about that! I’m really happy to see countries meet the Sustainable Goals. These are some of the main reasons I joined the UN.

What do you think about Georgia? How did you feel when you heard you would be working here?

I was super excited. I’d visited Georgia but never lived here before. I’d also worked on Georgia from different parts of the world in my previous jobs. It was very funny too, because where I was working before, in Chakrata, a number of my coworkers were Georgians. So I was not very foreign to Georgian culture. Now that I’m here, I’m even more excited. I can’t yet speak about the experience of living in Georgia since I haven’t been here long and I’ve been staying in hotels. I like Tbilisi and coming out into the regions for the first time, in Racha, was a beautiful experience. What can I say? I love it so far!

Name the challenges in Sustainable Development Georgia is facing.

I think like in many other places, we are looking at certain indicators here: poverty, hunger, gender inequality… All the countries have to work towards these goals actually. It’s very ambitious of the UN to have these goals and have a deadline for meeting them, which is 2030. So, over the next decade, we have some hard work to do, not only in Georgia but around the world too. We need a world where everyone has equal opportunities.

What’s Georgia’s potential in this field – what is the progress we can hope for?

I think we can be very hopeful. I really think there’s a lot of progress already that has been pointed out in a number of reports. I believe Georgia has made a lot of reforms towards progress. It’s really important to keep the momentum and get the whole population involved in this way of development. Really reaching everyone in society is the key. This is the spirit of the corporation that we have in Georgia, too. This means the government, the people, the media, the private sector, and academia and all the rest. It’s about all people working for all the people. If we keep up the work, together we can attain a better society, a better environment and a better world.

By Nini Dakhundaridze

Image source: UNDP