UNICEF

Ed Strong, UNICEF’s C4D Team

I was an intern for UNICEF for the spring semester in 2021.  I worked in the C4D team, which stands for Communication for Development.  More specifically, I was a member of a small team working on a USAID grant specifically for the incorporation of Social Sciences into Community Engagement (SS4CE).  The central focus was the incorporation of community engagement principles into UNICEF protocols for interaction with target communities.  That meant working with local actors, listening to community concerns, focusing on minority or underrepresented voices in the community, providing expertise and direction but also listening to ensure that community concerns are address rather than ignored.

My work was interesting and rewarding. I helped review results from a survey about the use of social science in community engagement which had been filled out by responders from academia, government positions, NGO’s, Civil Society’s, and UN organization.  I created graphs and charts to help visualize quantitative answers and provided analysis of qualitative responses. 

Ultimately, my main project with C4D was to help create a strategy for knowledge management (KM) for the department.  The UN has recently released a global strategy for KM covering from now to 2025.  My work was to create a plan to begin the process of bringing C4D into compliance with the global KM goals.  I built a base of KM resources and worked to develop the strategy and begin implementation.

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Kyle Winters, Extremely Rewarding Work for UNDP’s Finance Sector Hub

The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Finance Sector Hub is a start-up within the greater UNDP. Focusing on financing the Sustainable Development Goals, the Finance Sector Hub works across 17 core areas of financial expertise to align global economic policies and financial systems with the 2030 Agenda.

UNDP Finance Sector Hub

Originally set to work with UNDP’s Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD), like many of my peers, the opportunity fell through the cracks due to COVID-19. Fortunately, I was able to connect with my boss and was quickly re-assigned to the Finance Sector Hub as one of the first interns within the start-up. The unique position of being one of the first interns gave me the opportunity to be treated as more of an equal than an intern in an extremely fast passed environment.

This responsibility was rewarding and at times demanding. Coordinating with our five regional bureaus and numerous country offices often resulted in 4 A.M. conference calls and only about a two-hour window – between 7 and 9 P.M. – where my phone wasn’t vibrating from email notifications.

With that being said, my day-to-day work was extremely rewarding. Across our 17 financial areas of practice, I developed internal and external communities of practice for crisis response. This assisted in cutting UNDP’s response time down to under 48 hours. Additionally, I learned skills in web development and was tasked with managing UNDP’s internal web portal. On this platform, I  helped create forums for discussion, resource allocation, and managed webinars. This internal platform proved to be extremely helpful for communicating the needs of regional bureaus and country offices with our global team in NYC. As we were a new team, circulating information and discovering the needs of country offices was somewhat ad hoc – centralizing everything was useful.

While I was not able to work in-country as I originally planned, my experiences with UNDP’s Finance Sector Hub have surpassed all expectations for a remote internship. Working out of headquarters – remotely from Colorado – afforded me the opportunity to meet and work with individuals not just in Turkey, but all around the globe, something I am extremely thankful for. While I may not continue to work with the Finance Sector Hub after my six-month contract ends, I certainly aim to stay within the greater-UN system through the Young Professionals Programme.

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Alice Lu, Continued Learning and Growth at UNICEF C4D

For my internship experience, I was fortunate to be offered a 6 month role on the UNICEF Communications for Development (C4D) team in the Program Division. The C4D section’s primary purpose in supporting the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2018-2021 is to promote, engage, empower and create positive behavior and social change in communities in the humanitarian context for children. The project I got to work on was a USAID grant by the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance that strived to improve the global capacity and foster partnerships for social science for community engagement in humanitarian emergencies. The goal of this project was to address the need in humanitarian action for the participation of affected communities in effective communication, community engagement and accountability of relief work.

From early morning meetings, I got to be exposed to the WCAR and ESAR UNICEF regional offices, COVID-19 RCCE Collective Service, WHO, IASC and other partners who are contributing to creating the social data tools in the grant. To support my supervisors, I worked alongside another intern based in Mexico to perform program operation tasks, research, and attend conferences on global RCCE response actions in COVID-19. I was excited to be engaged in the design of an M&E framework and support the development of various work products. During this unprecedented time in the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked remotely from my parent’s home which gave me more flexibility and time to balance the internship and schoolwork. Coming from a lack of public health background, I had a great experience so far working alongside the team who has supported my continued learning and growth of understanding the challenges faced by the global public health sector in community engagement and social science in a humanitarian context.

Alice Lu
Alice Lu

Alice Lu graduated with an MPA/MAIR degree and is currently working as an Accounting Associate for Kiva Microfunds.

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Fiona Wu, Private Fundraising and Partnerships at UNICEF

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) saves children’s lives, defends children’s rights, and helps them reach their full potential in countries and regions all over the globe. Being one of the “big names” of the UN agencies, I explored a different facet of its work through my internship with the Multi-Stakeholder Platforms Team (MSP) of the Private Fundraising and Partnership Division(PFP). Beyond working on programmes in the field and working with member states, UNICEF also extensively work with the private sector in terms of fundraising, advocacy, and partnership.

Throughout my internship, I had the opportunity to work with almost all members of the team on different projects. Frankly speaking, prior to joining the MSP team, I have had some prejudice against INGOs working with the private sector. Having either actively participated or independently led on these projects, however, greatly changed my perception. I have seen evidence of private sectors taking the lead in driving conversations, changing social norms, and advancing government policy changes in various contexts.

Fiona Wu and team members during a team retreat
Fiona Wu (L) and team members during a team retreat on the day of Halloween

Apart from the internship, we also participated in a course here in Geneva featuring experienced and renowned guest speakers from various international organizations from UNICEF, to UNHCR, as well as the Mission of USA. These experiences gave us the chance not only to get an inside perspective of the work of these organizations, but also to dive deep into subjects we are interested in.

Although the learning opportunity from professional and academic work is greatly appreciated, perhaps, the biggest perk that Geneva and the Geneva Practicum Program offer is the tremendous networking opportunities. Request for “coffee” with colleagues, people who you meet during events, guest speakers from the class are almost never turned down. An “informational interview” does not necessarily lead to an actual interview, but it always leads to a rediscovery of yourself and your career pathway.

Fiona Wu is a recent graduate with a joint MPA/MAIR degree. She also completed a project with an organization in Syracuse called Hopeprint as part of her MPA. The project looked into social determinants for new American’s health.

Fiona Wu, U.S. Mission Geneva
Fiona Wu (3rd from L) with Students and Professor Werner Schleiffer (2nd from L) of the Geneva Practicum at the U.S. Mission in Geneva

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Kyungmi Shin Initiates Children & Digital Marketing Outreach at UNICEF

This summer I interned at UNICEF in Geneva. My team was the Children’s Rights and Business Unit within the Private Sector Engagement Division of the Private Fundraising Partnerships (PFP) Department. UNICEF headquarters is located in New York, but the entire PFP department is based in Geneva. Due to my previous work experience in the private sector, I have been interested in exploring the intersection of the public and private sectors, and this was a great experience which helped me to expand my expertise and pursue a future career in this field.

Kyungmi shin at the Palais des Nations where here office was located.

As a graduate intern, I was able to get involved in several projects such as the Children and Digital Marketing initiative. I was in charge of finding ways to make the Children and Digital Marketing discussion paper more child-friendly so that children can easily understand what digital marketing is and how it affects their rights.

I developed the idea of creating an animated video which can grab children’s attention with youth-friendly story telling. After watching this short video, children are asked to answer a survey which is designed to find out how much they actually understand the content and what their opinions are regarding this topic. I was given the ownership to initiate and lead the project, and I am happy to finish my internship with actual deliverables.

Before joining UNICEF, I had a very limited knowledge of human rights and how the private sector is engaged with children’s rights. After three months of interning, I am convinced that the role of corporations in children’s rights is significant not only in the aspect of child labor but also in children’s role as consumers and their impact on corporations. This great lesson is so meaningful that I would like to further explore more ways to learn about public and private partnerships. After reviewing a number of impact assessment reports on children’s rights and business from numerous country offices and human rights institutes, I am confident to say that my skills in researching, creating reports, and communication also improved.

Despite the high living costs of Geneva, it was definitely a great experience that expanded my horizons, and I am grateful to share this UN experience in this amazingly beautiful city.

Kyungmi Shin is a MAIR student at the Maxwell School currently interning at the International Finance Corporation in Washington, DC.

Kyungmi Shin in the Swiss Alps.

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Aaron Mwewa Learns the Importance of Passion at UNICEF

Aaron Mwewa is a 2018 graduate of the Maxwell School and the Newhouse School, where he earned joint MAIR/MSPR degrees. This past fall he extended his 2017 summer internship at UNICEF in New York City. 

“Aaron, you can only do something exceptionally well if you are passionate about it. If you are passionate about something, there is no Monday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday because that is all you want to do. When you are consumed by the desire for quality output, the ‘9 to 5 pm just to get the salary work mindset’ is lost.”

Aaron at UNICEF.

These where the words, which were told to me by Kerida Mcdonald, Senior Communications for Development Specialist at the United Nations Children’s Fund on the first day of my internship in her office. Those words struck the right chord with me as I am a passionate supporter of children’s rights.

True to the words of my supervisor, we could email each other back and forth about work over weekends and also way into the evening even after leaving the office. This is why I achieved quite a lot with my boss during my internship. We were able to successfully put together an online course with other team members on communication for development for current practitioners and those who want to join the field. We are also nearing the completion of putting together a compilation of case studies from different countries (12) on the best practices with regards to the use of theater to bring about social change. Being a firm believer in the change which UNICEF wants to bring through its different projects, I also volunteered to help out on work, which was being done by some of the neighboring offices. This helped me to create a good reputation beyond the section in which I worked in to the point that others even just began soliciting for my help.

Aaron Mwewa and David Van Slyke, Dean of the Maxwell School

November, 15th, 2017, was officially my last day after my internship was extended to that date from August, when it was supposed to end. Having needed to come back to school at the end of August, this year, I did the last part of the internship virtually and travelled to New York from Syracuse from time to time when I go the chance. I had to endure the 5 hour bus rides both ways while getting some work done. The fulfillment I got from the work I have been doing made the journeys worthwhile. Indications are that my internship supervisor may want to extend the internship again if that opportunity becomes possible. She actually continues to consult me to this day. That is what passion does. It helps you to do so well that people want to continue working with you. With passion, you work from the heart and not for the pay or simply to clock in the hours. When you work from the heart, you are definitely on to something. Kerida’s parting words to me: “Working with heart is what gets you the seat at the big table even when others think you are too young to be there because you will not be doing what your peers are doing. You will be that exceptional bright shining star that cannot simply be ignored.”

If your desire is to make a difference in the world, you must be different from the world. Passion sets you apart because it gives that cutting edge.

Aaron Mwewa, Living My Dream at UNICEF in NYC

Joint MAIR/MSPR degrees from the Maxwell School and the Newhouse School

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Aaron Mwewa, Living My Dream at UNICEF in NYC

Aaron Mwewa is a Public Diplomacy student who will complete both a Master of Arts in International Relations and a Master of Science in Public Relations by the spring of 2018.

Aaron’s first day at HQ in New York City.

This summer, I was privileged to live my dream — to intern at the United Nations Children’s Fund Headquarters in the Communications for Development (C4D) Section in New York. All of this was made possible thanks to Syracuse University’s robust alumni network. Being interested in the work of the U.N., I took a class with distinguished Prof. Catherine Bertini called “United Nations Organizations: Managing for Change.” Throughout the course, I met former Syracuse University students, including Ms. Shannon O’shea who connected me to Senior C4D Advisor Dr. Kerida Macdonald, under whom I currently work.

My supervisors were so happy with my performance that they decided to extend my internship until Nov. 14, 2017, which is for another three months approximately. I will be doing the extended part virtually and visit the New York office whenever I get the opportunity. What helped me to hit the ground running is the fact that I had been doing work with the same office even before the internship officially began.

This internship is a perfect fit for me, as my ambition is to become a thought leader in Africa in C4D, because I am convinced that communication must be at the heart of any sustainable development effort as it can help to bring those on the margins of society to the table. When women and children are brought to the table, their families have a chance to benefit more from any key social outcomes. For me, there could be no better stage than UNICEF on which I could practice and learn about this evolving field.

While at UNICEF, I helped develop a draft research outline for the forthcoming research on the digital engagement of youths in conversations on developmental issues. This research will take place in 37 countries. I was also essential to putting together theatre for development best practices through a compendium which is scheduled to be published soon. With the assistance of the country offices, I packaged many stories that will be used in the book.
The highlight of my internship was being asked to edit the final draft of the C4D online course designed for UNICEF employees and those who are passionate about the field. This course will help to create other champions like me, who will use C4D to create real impact in the lives of children by giving them a voice. This way, I would have contributed in real Maxwellian fashion to making the world a better place, because a voice for children is a voice for the future.

Aaron Mwewa Learns the Importance of Passion at UNICEF

Corena Sharp, Advocacy & Innovative Partnerships at UNICEF

Corena Sharp is a MAIR student currently interning at the United States Department of State’s Office of International Labor Affairs in Washington, DC. She interned at UNICEF as part of the Graduate Internships in Geneva program.

This summer I traveled to Geneva, Switzerland for an internship with UNICEF. While the headquarters of UNICEF lives in New York, nestled next to Lac Leman and a botanical garden is UNICEF’s Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division. Within the Division, I am a part of the Advocacy and Innovative Partnerships Unit.

What This Means

UNICEF has three main parts: Headquarters, Country Offices, and National Committees. National Committees are their own NGOs who are affiliated with—but not technically under the UNICEF administrative umbrella in rich countries—as compared with Country Offices that are direct extensions of UNICEF in developing countries. In practical terms, this means that National Committees cannot run any programming and must get permission to use UNICEF branding. The existence of National Committees is based in the agreement that UNICEF’s true focus needs to be where children are most vulnerable, yet recognizes that rich countries are by no means perfect advocates for the rights of children. The 34 National Committees fundraise and run political advocacy campaigns to help improve the situation of children domestically and abroad.

This is where my team comes in. We help coordinate between the National Committees and Headquarters and give support in a variety of ways. I participated in two Working Groups on Humanitarian Emergency Advocacy and the SDGs. I helped National Committees strategize and learn from each other, by creating documents of best practices and drafting content for UNICEF’s intranet.

One of my primary projects was to design a 125-page interactive document that maps the Convention on the Rights of the Child with the Sustainable Development Goals. It capitalizes on the momentum of the SDGs by exploring the inextricable links between the rights of children and each goal. When I completed the document, I helped develop the dissemination materials. The document will be circulated across the organization as well as to external partners, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

I was also given the freedom to explore human rights outside of the office. While the 32nd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council met, I was encouraged to go and attend meetings. My two favorite days were watching the council vote to appoint an Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; and attending a panel on ‘Violence against indigenous women and girls and its root causes.’

This was truly an amazing experience that will carry close to my heart as I continue to work for the empowerment of women and girls everywhere.

Corena Sharp in the village of Gruyere, Switzerland in June
Corena Sharp in the village of Gruyere, Switzerland in June

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Na Ra Kim, Private Sector Engagement at UNICEF

Na Ra Kim is working on dual master’s degrees, an M.A. in International Relations and an M.S. in Public Relations, as a Public Diplomacy student at Syracuse University. She interned at UNICEF in Geneva, Switzerland last summer.

I have always believed protecting children’s rights is the most important task for civil society to be aware of and act on, and my interest in children and their rights was bolstered while studying in the Public Diplomacy program at the Maxwell School.

I interned at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Geneva, Switzerland from May to August 2015. I worked under the Knowledge Management (KM) Specialist and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team within the Private Sector Engagement Section in the UNICEF Private Fundraising and Partnership division.

As a Private Sector Engagement Officer, I provided ongoing technical support for knowledge management information on issues related to UNICEF’s private sector engagement. This included uploading content to their intranet site/Internet website, developing templates for collecting information, and drafting case studies and other related materials for newsletters. My role also included participating in conference calls, creating presentation materials and press releases, and supporting data collection and statistical evaluation. Additionally, I researched CSR in different industries (e.g., Food and Beverage, Garment, ICT, Extractives) and the way in which those sectors affect children’s rights and youth development. I also took notes at the Human Rights Council 29th session for the CSR team.

From this internship, I learned about development policy, advocacy, and communication strategy in general, but I mostly realized how important it is to share information and documents within the organization and how it affects the targeting of civil society and leads to its participation.

I would like to add it was a great chance to work with UNICEF staff members and other interns. I was fortunate to work with incredibly nice and sincere supervisors who truly wanted me to learn from my internship, as well as with interns who all encouraged each other to accomplish our goals. Also, it was an honor to meet incredible UN people, ambassadors, representatives and spokespeople during conferences and events. It was a turning point of my life and I really want to recommend this opportunity to everyone in Maxwell.

In addition to my internship, Professor Schleiffer’s lectures also inspired me a lot. He helped me understand the UN system and the history of international organizations in Geneva. Presentations from speakers who currently work at the UN, International Organizations and the Permanent Mission, were the part of his class that I definitely loved the most.

No doubts, Geneva is the most beautiful city to work, travel and dream in. You will find yourself enjoying cheese, chocolate and wine around the nearby lake after work. That’s Geneva.

Nara Kim, at the UN Headquarter, in Geneva
Nara Kim at UN Headquarter in Geneva

Nicole Gerke Reaches Closer to Her Dream at UNICEF

Nicole Gerke is a MAIR student in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. She interned at UNICEF Headquarters in New York City during the summer of 2015.

 My summer in UNICEF’s Headquarters

When I was around 9 years old, I decided to change my answer to the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. It was a big step for me, because it implied acknowledging that petting animals had fallen on my list of priorities. You see, in the beginning my answer was that I wanted to become a veterinarian. But something had changed in me, and I felt like I could no longer stand seeing poverty, racism, and injustice in my country, without doing anything about it.

The more I learned the more I realized that this was not only a problem in my country, it was a problem everywhere. But I also learned that there was a place full of people like me, who also wanted to help those in need around the world – it was called the United Nations. So my answer to the question changed; now I wanted to become “the president of the United Nations”.

More than 17 years later, the feelings 9-year-old me had have not changed. And although I would no longer say that I want to become precisely the “president of the United Nations”, my personal and career goals are still to work for the most vulnerable of the world.

Now you can tell why I cried of happiness when I got the news that I would be working for UNICEF Headquarters this summer.

In June, I started my internship with the Post-2015 Development Agenda Unit from UNICEF. During the time I was there I got to collaborate analyzing the various drafts of the Sustainable Development Goals outcome document, assisting in the generation of UNICEF’s responses to these drafts. I also got to collaborate closely with other Child‑Friendly Agencies (Save the Children, World Vision, SOS Children’s Villages, Plan, and Child Fund) in joint responses to the drafts of the SDG outcome document. The goal was to have a strong agenda for children, especially the most vulnerable.  I also got the opportunity to cover the intergovernmental negotiations for the post-2015 development agenda, where I got to learn precisely how documents of global impact are generated. And finally, once the document was informally adopted, I collaborated in the analysis of the implications this document will have for children in the next 15 years.

Overall, the experience was absolutely enriching. From the process of analyzing drafts and writing responses from a UN perspective, to being able to witness the negotiations, and doing advocacy work for the benefit of children worldwide, it was a wonderful experience. I did not only gain in-depth knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the opportunities and challenges they bring, but I also learned about intergovernmental negotiations at the United Nations, and about UNICEF’s role in this process.

Now with my internship over and the post-2015 development agenda ready for official adoption this September, I am eager to continue to work for the implementation of the agenda. I feel lucky and incredibly privileged to have been a part of its preparation, and I am enormously thankful to the Maxwell School, the Global Programs Awards, and Fulbright for giving me the unique opportunity to work at UNICEF’s Headquarters this summer.

Nicole Gerke Standing at the UNICEF photo zone
Nicole Gerke at UNICEF