Younger generation gains valuable experience working for global body

Editor's note: As the UN celebrates its 75th birthday, young Chinese working at its headquarters in New York or in the field share their stories.

Since mid-March, Ge Xinyi has been working from home in New York City due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only recently planning to return to the office occasionally after restrictions were eased.

Ge, who will be 28 this year and is from Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, has spent four years at the headquarters of the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, where she works as an officer responsible for planning, monitoring and evaluating organizational communication and advocacy-related activities.

"We (UNICEF) have a lot of short-, medium-and long-term strategic plans, and my job is to make sure the plans are on track," Ge said, adding that this is her third role in the UNICEF office.

During the pandemic, she has focused on the agency's COVID-19 global communication plan, such as monthly priorities. She also provides updates twice a week on work and campaigns related to the disease.

In May, she also took on the task of working out ways to better implement UNICEF's programs through publicity and communication during the pandemic.

"Through the dissemination of information, we want to advocate changes in behavior and let the programs help local people," she said.

The agency has long encouraged hand-washing, but the pandemic has given Ge and her colleagues a chance to further raise awareness of the importance of this to help contain the virus.

"It is also an opportunity to push governments to invest more on improving water sanitation, which will result in improvements to child health," she said.

Before taking on her current role, Ge worked for UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programmes. Her duties included monitoring humanitarian assistance in emergencies caused by wars, natural disasters, public health issues and political conflicts, and providing guidance for member states' offices.

Working in a fast-paced department is not easy, but Ge said she enjoys setting herself challenges.

"I started my previous job in September last year, and we were scheduled to launch a flagship report in early December. That meant I had to familiarize myself with the entire working process as soon as possible, and I had to take immediate action," she said.

Ge's boss once told her that the job was like throwing someone who can't swim into a pool and getting them to learn how to swim by themselves.

"It can be a painful process, but you feel a great sense of achievement once you succeed," Ge said.

Ge's passion for the UN was likely ignited years ago when a "Model United Nations" event was held at her high school.

"I was unfamiliar with the UN, but I met lots of friends and really enjoyed the whole process. I was even presented with an award, which was completely unexpected," she said.

In her freshman year, Ge traveled alone to the Czech Republic for an internship sponsored by a European Union foundation. She also attended the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar.

"I found I wanted to do something related to public affairs and to work in the UN system, so I applied to take a master's on social policy in the United States," she said.

After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Ge spent almost two years as an intern and later as a consultant in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at UN headquarters.

In 2016, after completing several interviews and examinations, she finally became an official UNICEF employee.

"Working in the UN system is a particularly good learning process because you meet people from different countries with different backgrounds," she said.

Ge has also had the chance to experience problems and situations she is unfamiliar with, but which are prevalent in some countries. This has given her a more comprehensive understanding of the world.

"Working here allows you to keep an open mind on different views," she said. "This is a process of continuously broadening the way you think."

Ge said she would like to do frontline work or relocate to a UNICEF office in Southeast Asia or Africa to access more on-the-ground projects.

"The work at (UNICEF) headquarters is very important, but I also want to get involved in the implementation of the policies we generate. I want to do some specific things that can help me better understand the meaning and importance of my job," she said.

Guo Lei's story

After leaving Nairobi, Kenya, and transiting in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for two days and then Sri Lanka, Guo Lei finally arrived in Shanghai last month.

"Our office in Nairobi was closed because of the pandemic, so I decided to come back to China," she said. "It may be impossible for everyone to return to the office this year."

The 29-year-old works as a project leader on innovation initiatives at the UN Human Settlements Programme, headquartered in the Kenyan capital.

The agency supports member states in improving living conditions through sustainable urbanization, promotes urbanization as a positive transformative force for people and communities, and helps reduce inequality, discrimination and poverty.

Guo's department, a newly established division, focuses on exploring innovation to promote the better development of cities.

"We look for the kind of cutting-edge technology that can help us solve urban problems more efficiently. We also focus on some nontechnological ways of innovation, such as policy and institutional innovation," she said.

Policy changes are needed to drive development in some areas with limited resources, as it can be impossible for such places to adopt the most-advanced technology, Guo said.

In February, she helped organize the Tenth World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The event, with the theme "Cities of Opportunities: Connecting Culture and Innovation" called for united action to ensure a better future for cities and towns.

"We were quite fortunate, because the pandemic hadn't broken out in the UAE at the time," she said, adding that the virus has had a significant impact on their work.

"We have had to adjust what we were advocating before the pandemic. For example, unemployment and food issues were not top of our list, but now they have become more urgent. We have also had to change our working methods."

Guo is involved in Block by Block, an innovative collaboration project involving UN-Habitat and Mojang, which makes the popular adventure game Minecraft. UN-Habitat, which is based in more than 90 countries, promotes the development of socially and environmentally sustainable cities, towns and communities.

The project is part of the agency's approach to using information and communication technology to encourage the younger generation to take part in urban design and governance.

Minecraft players enter a virtual community marked with the UN-Habitat logo for city construction.

"The game allows players to better understand urban planning, such as how to improve traffic flows, make cities more connected and safer, and reduce carbon emissions," Guo said.

"In the real world, people may not have the chance to learn about urban planning, but in the game, they can."

In Nairobi, Guo and her colleagues also focus on environmental protection projects and programs related to property rights and land ownership.

"The development problems facing each region or country are quite different," she said.

In 2016 and 2017, Guo worked at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's office in Beirut, Lebanon, handling issues related to refugees' education and employment.

"In Lebanon, we basically focus on refugee-related topics, because the country hosts many Syrian and Palestinian refugees, but when I was in Africa, development was the priority," Guo said.

Different concerns and focus points usually reflect contrasting conditions in countries and cultures, and Guo said this was one of the main features that drew her to work for the UN.

"I like to work, study and communicate in a multicultural environment, where people are not trapped by the culture they represent. Everyone here sticks to universal values. With this common ground, the convergence of different cultures is very interesting," she added.

Working at the UN has given Guo the opportunity to visit different places around the world, and she describes herself "not as a nationalist, but more a global citizen".

"I don't just look at the interests of a certain country, but think about how to solve social problems and how to promote systematic transformation," she said.

Cai Yinan's story

After completing a three-month internship at the Department of Public Information at the UN headquarters in New York, Cai Yinan chose to return to her hometown of Beijing in 2016.

Cai, 29, now works for an NGO focusing on climate change, but her experience at the UN "more or less" influenced her career choice.

"The internship gave me a better understanding of multinational organizations and their work, allowing me to accept a diversified working environment," she said, adding that she now has frequent meetings with foreign colleagues and has adapted well to this international working style.

In 2016, after obtaining her master's in communications, culture and technology from Georgetown University in Washington DC, Cai started her UN internship. She was mainly responsible for operating social media platforms at the visitors' center.

She and a senior officer helped the center develop and launch an app to guide tourists on virtual visits to all UN agencies.

Cai and her colleagues also assisted at meetings or conferences held at the UN headquarters, where they handled work such as arranging receptions.

Some of these meetings left a profound impression on Cai, including a briefing in 2016 by a staff member from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

The briefing, on the situation facing refugees in the Middle East, included a vast amount of firsthand material such as photos, videos and interviews, which left Cai feeling "shocked and touched".

"If you are not part of the UN system, you may feel that these things are very distant from you or are none of your business. However, if you are on the inside, you will have more empathy and a deeper understanding of what's going on around the world, " she said.

Working for the UN can also help people better accept and respect a diversified world, Cai said, adding that this could be one of the reasons the organization is attracting more young Chinese.

More recruits

At the end of last year, of the 114,000 employees working for the UN around the world, more than 1,300 were Chinese, according to annual figures released by the organization.

Cai said: "Of course it's good to see more Chinese working in the UN system. As China is now playing an increasingly important role in the global community, it's no surprise that more young people from the country want to take part in international affairs."

Guo, from UN-Habitat, believes that more "true information" about China will circulate as a result of the rising numbers of Chinese working for the UN.

"China has done a lot to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, but if there is no one from China to tell those stories, the international community won't realize how hard we've been working," Guo said.

On the other hand, she said active participation can enable Chinese to familiarize themselves with the rules and methods required for international affairs, as well as gaining more experience.

"With more and more talent and experience, we can use these rules to better play our roles, at the same time better protecting our rights and interests," she said.

Ge, from UNICEF, said that in addition to the enthusiasm needed to work for the UN, it is important to work out "what you want to do, which part of the work you are most interested in, and where you want to start".