Report of Internship in UNDP China

Emily Man

Master Programme in Communication

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

How time flies. I have been here in Beijing as a UNDP intern for nearly two months. It is really a great and precious experience to me. Thank you very much for the UNDP China Office, the Peace and Development Foundation and the Chinese University of Hong Kong for offering me such a great chance.

I am under the guidance and direct supervision of the Communications Officer, Ms. Zhang Wei. My major duties and responsibilities are to conduct research for the MDG Awards event, to coordinate media events like press conferences, to do the translation of the media advisory notes and press releases, as well as to prepare the daily newsletter. During my undergraduate study, my major was Translation, and for my master degree, it is Communication, which is mainly about theories. Frankly speaking, I do not have much training in practical skills in the communication working field. Therefore, the experience here has made me understand more about the actual operation in the communication field. Thank Ms. Zhang for being so kind and patient to me, such an inexperienced intern. And thank Ms. Wu Tao, for being so helpful to me whenever I ask for her opinion.

The most exciting task to me is to prepare for the seminar of Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the United Nations Millennium Project and Special Advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Goals. He is such a great person. Also, there were many media representatives from different organizations, including the international, national and local one. I always like to talk with the journalists so that I can understand more about their work. As for the seminar, it is about growing partnership between China and Africa. Before being an intern in UNDP, I did not know much the relationship between the two countries. After Profeessor Sachs’s concise and precise presentation, I did learn much, particularly to how the local people feel towards the assistance from China. After the seminar, he stayed behind to talk to the people who attended the seminars, including both the journalists and other participants. I could see that he is so enthusiastic and energetic. There is no doubt that all these are very treasurable experiences.

Despite the abovementioned, working in UNDP China Office does give me an opportunity to acquire practical working experience in the UN system. It provides me an understanding of UNDP’s development policies and thematic priorities. I am really grateful to all the staff members of the UNDP China Office, especially Ms. He Li and Ms. Josie J. Zhou, who have worked so hard on top of their heavy workload to accommodate me and other interns through the whole period of the internship. Besides, whenever I check my UNDP email account, I think that UNDP is an organization of high visibility. Emails or documents of different teams and departments are circulated around and can be easily found via the Intranet. I appreciate this so much since I think high visibility is one of the most important elements for the operations of an organization.

On the other hand, there are many training opportunities. Even I am only an intern for about two months, I got quite a number of chances to attend different seminars, workshops and training courses. Other than the seminar aforementioned, I also attended some which are about Integrated Package Services (IPS) and poverty reduction. The speakers are all from overseas UN offices. There was an exchange of ideas during the discussion and I could feel how enthusiastic they are to help the people in need. My horizon is broadened, and I told myself that I should devote myself much more to helping the others. Another meaningful workshop is about HIV/AIDS. It offered me new insight to the understanding of this disease.

Last but not least, during the internship in Beijing, I meet many new friends. They are all very nice to me. And they also celebrated my birthday with me, that it nearly made me moved to tears. I would not forget all memorable moment here with them.

Once again, I express my deep gratitude to all parties for making the Internship Programme happen and for offering me this great opportunity. I hope that more and more students from Hong Kong could have a chance to work in UNDP so as to understand more about what is happening all around the world. We should care and love others more and devote ourselves to the society.

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