What is your current position?
Programme Coordinator Humanitarian Action and Resilience, UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
What attracted you to your program of study at the BSIA?
BSIA offered flexibility and encouraged me to look beyond any one discipline like international relations or political science. That made me excited to dive into topics that interested me, from international education policy, to humanitarian and development work, conflict and security, economics, and feminism, and to understand how all these components interrelate in the problems facing the world today.
I also liked the small class sizes and close support and interaction with faculty. Even before joining, I remember speaking with the Director of the MAGG programme and learning about all the internship opportunities they offered. I felt the school would be 100% supportive to help me enter the field of international affairs.
What was the most impactful experience you had while completing your graduate degree?
Almost too many to count! Alistair Edgar, Jasmin Habib, and David Welch were all wonderful teachers and mentors who supported me during my time at BSIA. There are two specific experiences that helped my confidence and career direction.
First was the fellowship experience, which gave me an understanding of how policy works in practice. Under the guidance of Dr. David Welch, I worked with two other fellows, Katie Heelis and Jinelle Piereder, on a research project looking at Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZs), which was a contentious issue at the time. We published a brief on the common misconceptions about the number of countries currently operating ADIZs, the specific procedures involved and the political and security implications of ADIZs. After its publications, we had the opportunity to travel to Washington DC to present the findings to the US State Department and National Security Council.
Second was the United Nations Internship, which I undertook at the final semester at BSIA. I worked at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Myanmar. While there I worked mainly on their alternative development programme, which supported opium farmers to transition their crops to coffee. I conducted research on UNODC’s operations and activities to monitor programme advancement, drafted a cooperative business plan, and formulated gender and livelihood assessments. That’s how I became interested in the UN’s efforts to advance gender equality, which has led me to my current work.
Tell us about your job, what do you do?
Since graduating, I have been extremely lucky to work in a field that I love and work with incredible people. Today, I work on UN Women’s humanitarian programming with our Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, which is based in Bangkok, Thailand. My job is to support UN Women’s offices and other humanitarian partners across the region to respond during humanitarian crises and disasters, making sure that any humanitarian response understands the needs of women, girls, and LGBTIQ+ people and helps them equitably access services and recovery efforts.
UN Women has a ‘triple mandate’ which means that my job incorporates elements of policy, coordination across UN agencies and other stakeholders such as NGOs or governments, and programming of direct humanitarian response activities.
My typical day at the regional office involves (a lot of!) meetings. Today for example, my day includes a planning meeting to outline our activities and budget for next year, followed by a coordination meeting for the regional gender in humanitarian action working group. I then have a meeting to finalize logistics for a rapid gender analysis training we are co-organizing in the Pacific, another discussion for a photo and essay project to increase visibility of LGBTIQ+ people living through humanitarian crisis, then a presentation at the regional cash working group to introduce a database we developed of women-led organizations across the region to improve the visibility of their work and access to funding in responses. Finally, I have a meeting with UN Women’s humanitarian HQ team to prepare for discussions with government donors.
Beyond the regional office, my job also includes traveling to support the UN Women Country Office teams during emergencies or for emergency preparedness. This year, I have traveled and worked with our offices in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Viet Nam. When I am there, my work is more focused on supporting our operations, meeting with women-led organizations, and working with other humanitarian organizations on integrating gender into analysis and response plans.
How does your work help make a difference?
Working at the UN can sometimes feel challenging because it’s such a large, slow-moving organization. But what makes my job fulfilling, especially at UN Women, is that our team is deeply committed to embedding feminist values into everything we do. I’m fortunate to meet and work with activists and women, girl and LGBTIQ+ led organizations who are front-line responders during disasters, helping their communities rebuild, and fighting for gender equality while they are doing it.
For example, during my time with our team in Afghanistan, I saw that women are disproportionately impacted by the compounding humanitarian crises, in addition to the extreme political and economic situation Afghan women face. Despite these challenges, Afghan women are playing a critical role in crisis response and supporting one another in ways that international actors cannot. The UN Women team there is committed to ensuring that these women have the resources and support they need to continue this work. We focus on amplifying their voices, securing funding for grassroots organizations, and ensuring that gender-sensitive approaches are part of all humanitarian efforts.
What are the next steps in your career progression… where do you see yourself going?
I hope to keep working within UN Women! It is great to show up to work every day with an entire office of feminists and be able to work on such a wide range of interesting and important topics.
What advice do you have for a potential student looking to complete their degree at the BSIA? Or for someone looking to work in Global Governance and International Policy?
Take full advantage of all the practical experiences BSIA has to offer: internships, co-op programs, and fieldwork are invaluable to starting a career in international affairs. Experiences like internships with the United Nations or similar entities are a great way to get hands-on experience, learn how the UN system operates, and meet and work with really incredible people.
And speaking of working with people – networking is key in international policy. Connect with your professors, visiting experts, and peers who share your interests. Attend conferences, workshops, and seminars to broaden your professional connections. Relationships you build here can open doors to job opportunities or collaborations in the future.