Prepared for the United Nations Foundation by William J. Durch

As the work of the UN’s High-Level Panel on Threats Challenges and Change began in early 2004, Durch was invited by the United Nations Foundation to pen a brief essay on the experience of research, writing, managing, and vetting what became the Brahimi Report. Its principal admonitions were to:

• Be respectful of but not bound to the past;
• Ground the conceptual analysis (but at risk of resistance if the analysis is too explicit);
• Stay in touch at many levels;
• Determine the must-haves and the no-go areas;
• Know your audience and aim to create a buzz about the product;
• Recruit an active, engaged Chair;
• Find and stick to a release hook (with enough time to work but not enough to lose focus); and
• Put as much or more effort into implementation as into the original report.