Report of Internship in UNDP China

Summer 2006

Liong Chan Ching Mario

An Email which Starts the Journey

One day in 2006, when I opened my email account, I saw an email from the career centre of my university, announcing an internship opportunity in UNDP China in the summer. That really caught my attention. UN?! I have been longing for working for UN although I did not know what kind of work I would be eligible to do. The vision of UN – Peace, Equality, Justice, Respect – attracts me. So why not give it a try?

I have been very lucky. Some time after the deadline of the application, I got a phone call from the career centre of my university, saying that I was nominated as one of the candidates to the internship. I was so surprised! I was one step nearer to my dream! I was told that I needed to pass through an interview in May before I could be an intern for UNDP China. Without hesitation, I started reading UN and UNDP China websites as well as newspapers (in more details) from that day onwards to prepare for it.

Interview

No one can imagine how interesting and funny the interview can be. On the day of the interview, I was asked why I applied for the internship and whether I had lived in some really poor regions in the world. After that, I expected to show off the results of my efforts by telling the interviewers what I had learnt about UN and UNDP China and thus I was nervous in trying to recall the information I learnt. Out of my expectation, the question that followed was: what will you do in the coming weekend? The nervous and frightening environment ceased. Instead, I started telling them how I enjoyed movies in my life. That marked the start of an enjoyable and rewarding internship in Beijing.

The City

Beijing is a huge city. Really huge. A short road on the map can take you a lot of time to walk. I tried hard to get used to it at the beginning. Yet it is her selling point. I can just walk freely on the street. Arriving at a totally new place is a challenge to me. I have to figure out where to eat and buy things, how to take public transport, and so on. But all these can be fun when you discover something good and interesting.

Beijing is famous for her history. As the capital for several hundred years, she has a lot of historic buildings and important spots: the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, Peking University, the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, you name them. They are numerous. Even after my two-month stay, I could only walk through a small part of Beijing. Besides her history, she has a very modern appearance. Hauhai and Sanlitun are the famous places for night life. Good music and good drinks! Together with the scenic parks, all of them make up the beautiful and lively Beijing. I wish I could stay longer!

Work in UNDP and UNIFEM China

Working as an intern in UNDP and UNIFEM China is a rewarding and memorable experience. When I arrived at the office building, a very nice lady, He Li, came and greeted me. She guided me and Wang Liang (another intern from Hong Kong) to our office and arranged computers and other necessities for us. I could feel the warmth in a strange place. Later I found that she is not the only one who is so nice but everyone in the office is! The second person I met is my supervisor, Dono. She is the gender advisor of UNDP and UNIFEM China. I had thought that I had to work from day to night for my internship because there are many duties listed in my terms of reference. Yet in reality, I can just take my time to work and enjoy life in Beijing in the evening. It is because Dono has said, “No overtime work is allowed here!” I shared this quote with my friends and they told me they really wanted to work in UNDP!

In the first week, I had a duty to assist in organizing two sessions of gender mainstreaming training workshop. I, together with another UNIFEM intern, Jiyeon, had to prepare some folders for the participants. In addition, Dono had an idea that we had to do a role-play about a gender-blind husband talking to a friend about how “useless” his home-maker wife was, in order to raise the issue of women’s contribution within the family and to the society. She suggested us doing it naturally so that the participants did not know that it was a role-play. We agreed that it would be fun. So, I naturally took on the role of that nasty husband (In reality, I am definitely not, I stress!). Jiyeon and I thought very hard about the scenario and the lines of the role-play. At the end, we pretended that we just argued with each other in the workshop and I was a father with three wild boys and a wife who was a home-maker. I complained to Jiyeon that my wife was a “parasite” (Oh! How could I say something like that?!) Some of the participants thought that it was real. Luckily, Dono and Jiyeon helped me clarify to the participants that I was not like that and I had no children. Knowing that participants of both sessions enjoyed the role-play and found the workshop useful to their work, we were all very happy and thought that our efforts were not wasted.

Another task for my internship is the gender briefing kit of UNDP China. It is a folder with basic information about gender issues in China, with the aim to inform the staff working in the area of development. Based on the documents provided by Dono and information from other agencies, I assisted in compiling the kit by summarizing and organizing information obtained. In the process, I learnt much more about the gender work done in UN and other donor agencies. I have been a gender studies student for six years. The most common question that people ask me is: what will you do after graduation? Except telling them I will pursue a research career in academia, I could not tell them more. I was so ignorant. Now I know that there are a lot of agencies and people working diligently for gender equality. If I have a chance, I will definitely join them!

By working as an intern in UNDP and UNIFEM China, I realized that I had been so ignorant of UN. In my work, I learnt the structure and system of UN and indeed it does tremendous amount of work in the world – politics, peace-keeping, health, children’s rights, women’s empowerment, labour rights, food and agriculture, development, education, science and culture and so on. Its goal is to build a just, fair, healthy, peaceful, enjoyable living to all human beings, which I share very much myself. Of course, I am a bit more familiar with what UNDP and UNIFEM China are doing. Both initiate projects to improve the living of people in China. The work of UNDP has various aspects – environment and energy, social economic development, law and democracy. UNIFEM focuses mainly on empowerment and rights of women. They have projects in various regions of China to meet these aims. Also they have done some research projects to advocate gender sensitive project planning and implementation. In fact, both UNDP and UNIFEM work towards a goal – gender equality. So in their work, gender is a key issue to be examined and taken care of.

Indeed, UN and other donor agencies have changed their approach in doing gender work. In the past, projects would only be considered from the situation of women. Since gender relation was not taken into consideration, projects on empowerment of women were not that successful in improving the lives of women. Now, gender relations are analyzed. Impacts towards both women and men are considered in the projects, with the aim to achieve equality between women and men.

Furthermore, in doing the briefing kit, I learn more about gender situation in China. Women are still in an inferior status when compared to men in various aspects, like education, political participation, and employment. Because of their lower status, they were less taken care of when ill, leading to the fact that women’s healthy life expectancy is lower than that of men. Violence against women and women trafficking are still serious. It seems that with strong economic growth, women do not benefit to the same degree as men do. Much more work needs to be done to improve women’s situation in China.

Friends

You can make friends very easily in your internship. They are not ordinary friends but extraordinarily funny ones! Laughter is our common language and can be heard throughout the day. I met interns and staff from all over the world. They are all talented and funny. With them, you will never get bored. You can also learn a lot from them. I learnt where I can check my DNA to know where my ancestors come from. I learnt that choir concert can be so beautiful and wonderful (Jiyeon took me to a choir concert once). I learnt that India was a very open society in the ancient time with women achieving in many aspects. I learnt that Italy is a very beautiful and a must-go place.

We had a lot of activities after work. We went to the Great Wall together and had conquered the highest spot. We went to Hauhai and enjoyed the drinks and music there. Beijing can be so funny and exciting!

At the end…

The only criticism I have to give to the internship is: it is too SHORT! Time flies. I can still remember the time when I got off the airport shuttle bus and looking for my way to the hostel. I was then wondering how I should adapt to my new life in a strange city. Now it is time for me to say goodbye, leaving all my friends and colleagues. But one thing it is for sure: I have gained the memory and friendship from this internship which will never be lost!

P.S. Remember to bring along your student card to Beijing. The student discount for the admission tickets can be huge!