People I met

The most impressive thing during the internship is people, people from the world.
I think you might agree with this as well wherever you are. According to a quote in Africa, if someone passes away, it is like that a huge librady is destroyed as each person has own story and knowledge.

I would say that in the international development field, one of exciting things is to encounter many people around the globe and which makes me grow and appreciate others. From little kids to old men, I can learn a bunch of things from their stories and experiences. Thus, I would like to introduce some people while I am working for the organization.

1. My supervisor

First of all, I am so lucky to meet such a wonderful supervisor who is allowing me to hanldle many works, as you know, an intern position is a good way to experience real work though, it sometimes makes young students (like us) frustrated since supervisors are usually too busy to be attentive to their interns. HOWEVER, my supervisor is taking care of me so much, asking me what I am interested in. Sometimes I can go to a meeting without my supervisor. One event I was engaged was World Youth Skills Day in July. As she gave me many opportunities to contribute to organizing the event. I could learn and meet people from both inside and outside the organization.

2. Intern colleagues

We have three interns in the office, one is from Burkina faso other is from New York City (haha) and lastly, me from Korea. It is so good to have friends in the office who can share lunch and talk about the future of the world (literally). On the top of that, I can meet others who dream the same dream. In the organization we have an official social gathering on every Friday so that interns can share information and talk about works. Making friends from all around the world is valuable in a way that I can meet up the future colleagues in the field in advance.

3. People outside the organization

I know working at a big building and HQ sometimes means that I cannot make contact with people whom I can meet in other places such as developing countries. However, beyond my expectation, I could meet wonderful people outside the organization through meetings and events. I remember the time when I had a meeting with an NGO, a representative of the NGO was an artist who came from Muslim country and was helping Muslim women to make them express their thoughts through mural art. Her work was beautiful and at the same time powerful. She was passionate to change the Muslim communities through arts which can lead women to raise their own voices.

Also I met a young business woman (she is 15 year old) who participated in World Youth Skills Day. She now sells fruits and vegetables to customers in her community in Kenya and her dream is to be a social entrepreneur.

Instead of asking for jobs, she said that as a youth, she needed a space to make her own business and future. She also added that the thing she asked was that people should know the youth can create business so that they needed not just support but an entrepreneurship education and creative ideas. I was impressed by her strong voice with full of passion for her work. She was planning to make her business more innovative and I felt that we should focus on and help how the youth like her can make their future by themselves, and our job would be supporting them to dream, not just aiding.

 

Post 2015 Sustainable Development

We all know about Post-2015 Sustainable Development, we might be told too much.
I didn’t expect to witness the moment of discussion about Post 2015 Sustainable Development, but I did. It was impressive how all countries expressed their thoughts and made a consensus (still they should make it though)

In July and Aug, there is a POST-2015 INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATIONS at the HQ and every member state discussed and talked about agendas on Post 2015 Sustainable Development.

You can check out the agenda and results.
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org)

In terms of education, the goal was set as below:

Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Target 4.4: By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.

Target 4.6: By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.

Target 4.b: By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular LDCs, SIDS and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and ICT, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries. 

Target 4.c: By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially LDCs and SIDS.

The goal was set to promote lifelong learning opportunities and quality education. Comparing other agendas, the goal for education was easier to make agreement among member states. I would say it was extremely difficult to make any agreement on any other agendas. Some countries even appealed that they didn’t like commas in some sentences from the perspectives of their countries. The implication and monitoring plan was set though, there are still many areas to go extra miles.

It took a long time, in a last couple of days before making a consensus, the discussion was not ended until 5 AM ( we should be awaken until then and could not go home, it is an extra ordinary experience to stay at the UN building during the night)

I know we should make more detailed plans, and on the top of that, the willingness and implementation of each country is critical to make the world better. However, at least I could say that the world made efforts to make agendas and plan for the better world, and it was honor to witness and participate the historic moment.

Meeting and Decision making

One of my jobs is relating to so many meetings to be covered. Personally I expected to get to know the system and how they make decisions. My office is liaison office and which means that it is like a bridge to connect UNHQ to HQ in Paris.

I remember the time when I attended a meeting for the first time. I was overwhelmed to witness the moment a important decision was made, and it was the same as I had seen in the TV.

Delegates of member states discussed and spoke out about the resolution on children and armed conflict. The process was quite long (I had to stay from 10:00 AM-6:00 PM without lunch)

In 2014, a “devastating year” for children living in conflict areas, and lamented that a number of the conflicts had intensified as they spilled over into 2015, “imposing terrible short- and long-term consequences” for many children. Thus, The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2225 on Children and Armed Conflict making abductions the 5th trigger for inclusion in the Report of the Secretary-General.

During the discussion, what I found was the difficulty on making a consensus. Even a simple and basic sentence such as “Protect children around the world” bred controversy as each country had own position and interest. Some countries spoke out that there needed to be punishment to other countries. Also, opposite countries condemned others.

I think this first meeting was a starting point to understand the system which gave me to think about many things. Attending a meeting itself was awesome but at the same time I realized that discussion among many countries, delivery and implementation is extremely difficult. It might be one of the reasons why we cannot eradicate poverty or educate every
child.

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Education is peace

Education breeds confidence, confidence breeds hope.
Hope breeds peace – Confucius.

A quote from the report my supervisor handed on me today. I fall in love with the insightful point that connects hope to peace. Indeed, when you are hoping something, it brings peace in your mind and soul. So to speak, education is peace.

The Big Apple

Now I am in New York City. I chose to stay in NYC while others are going around the world outside the States, there are several reasons I decided to stay in the States. In addition to some personal reasons, I would like to experience the work in the office as I have experienced a field work job in the last year. I was wondering about high-level policy discussion within the system of International Organizations, and finally the BIG APPLE is waiting for me.

AND I am certain that I am the most economic traveler among my friends at IEDP. Megabus charged me $5 from Philly to NYC (haha)

On Wednesday, I started to work, and it didn’t take long to realize that I could learn a lot and it would be a great impact on me. I have met great co-workers and supervisors who are attentive and care for me to give many opportunities. To warm up the work, I attended a meeting between my supervisor and an organization which works for women’s rights in Saudi Arab, preparing to hold an art exhibition about women artisans in Saudi Arab. We discussed about some issues about Saudi Gov. and how to set up the exhibition.

# Draw disability

After the work, I participated in the reception for an exhibition. It is a global art campaign on issues of disabilities. The illustrations are made by youth from all over the world with the common theme of ‘Disability,’ highlighting the importance of inclusive education to create a non-discriminatory world. The three large cubes are wrapped with individually unique drawings of disability.

This event was held by my unit and there were 400 drawings from all over the world. Each painting includes the message about how to live altogether and the way to understand them. It was fantastic to meet a bunch of people who work for education along with great food.

For 3 days, I have attended many meetings and got a brief explanation about the organization and explored the building I work in. I will talk about my work in the next post.

PS: NYC has a number of features to enjoy. If you go to Central Park, you can meet a turtle chewing the food  🙂

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