Catalina Uribe — Peace & Development Specialist
Tapping into expertise and capacity beyond borders
“The UN, unlike other organisations has a profile that opens the door to really influence many crucial processes in the countries where your organisation operates. My name is Catalina Uribe, and I’m a Peace and Development specialist with a UN resident coordinator’s office in Myanmar”.
Welcome to the UNDP career journey podcast brought to you by the Talent Development Unit, part of the Office of Human Resources. Our conversations explore fascinating careers in UNDP, and gives an overview on how you can enhance your career experience through continuous learning. Catalina, thank you so much for joining us today. So my first question is related to your early career to understand how you first joined the UN system? If I’m correct, you have started as an intern.
“Yes, that’s true. So, I did an internship at Wells, then it was the Department of Political Affairs in New York, I really wanted to do an internship with the UN. When I was doing my master’s degree in international law in Sweden, I was fortunate enough to be selected for the summer internship. And it was a great experience to really get a glimpse of what the UN does in reality, some of the internal structures and how it works from within that was really interesting”.
And fast forward to today. You recently started a new position in Myanmar as peace and development specialist. So first of all, congratulations. And could you tell us? How did the opportunity come about?
“Sure. Well, I was working at the time as a coordination specialist at the UN resident coordinator’s office in Guatemala, I saw this opportunity. It’s actually as a comment from the Swedish government, it was a very interesting opportunity for me to continue working with the resident coordinator’s system within the UN, but in a different context, and with a slightly different portfolio, if you will, for the position. So, I applied it was quite competitive, of course. But luckily, I was selected. And I’m now since early January, been working with Myanmar. And now with this the current situation there, then it’s all more important and interesting”.
Could you tell us what does your typical workday look like?
“Well, I’m actually working remotely because I started my job also remotely. And supposedly travelling to the country, which probably will be slightly delayed. So, I’m connecting with some time difference. So that implies that I wake up very early and try to get myself back on speed on the latest developments in the country, we have several signal groups through which we share information. So, I tried to read the news to read but being shared there, and I’m preparing were together with some colleagues in my team, I report to the resident coordinator and HQ and other people on the situation in the country. So that’s my essentially mean is preparing that report based on the main events of the day. And then later in the day, I then try to sort of go through the rest of the more you can say normal activities. And it depends on the day, we have different codecs and activities related to hate speech and monitoring case speech and other more of the normal activities. But at the moment, most things have to do with the situation and the takeover from the military. So that’s essentially have been sort of the main target of our actions and activities for the past two weeks. So, it’s very fluid and changing depending on the situation and circumstances”.
Actually, the current political tension in Myanmar really does affect your work.
“Yes, absolutely. Yeah, we have to be on top of everything that is happening and not only looking at what’s happening now, but also trying to analyze what may happen in the near future and you know, a long time so because the UN has such an important Prevention Agenda in part of the mandate of peace and development specialists, MPs and even advisors is to contribute to that agenda, our assessment of what is happening And what may happen in the future, it’s also essential to sort of guide hopefully, some of the actions of the UN at large in this regard”.
To move towards continuous learning and generally developing people and people managers are the strategic focus areas of the people for 2030 Agenda. My question is, what does continuous learning mean to you?
“Yeah, that’s a very good question. I think for me, continuous learning means that it’s not just a separate activity that you narrow down to, I don’t know, of course a year or training online, but rather something that you… becomes like a model in your professional life. So, everything from how you learn about a new context, like I’m having to do now, with regards to Myanmar, or whether it’s something about, I don’t know… podcasting, or writing a speech or something that perhaps you haven’t done so much in the past. So, for me, all those daily activities become a challenge and an opportunity to learn something new. So, I think there’s always that sort of drive to improve and to make things that you already do in your daily life better, and to try and learn how others are doing it and take from that so that you become a better professional investigator”.
Another question I have regarding this is, in general learning resources. So, what are the best resources that helped you develop along the way? Were there any specific projects or programs that you participated in?
“I think the best resources, I think, are twofold. If I can say, one, on the one hand, is having access nowadays to a broader network of expertise, and people will beyond your immediate, you know, network or your immediate surroundings. So for me, being able to access I don’t know, people from I mean, online, even if it’s only you know, videos on YouTube on certain things, or someone who will recommend someone who can, you know, give me some insight on this or that that I think is something… a resource that is extremely valuable, as well as then the other part, which is your most immediate surroundings, and the people around you, I think, learning from team members is extremely valuable, at least for me, it’s been a key part of what has guided me for my career. So having team experience that allows you to really share each other’s expertise, interests, and grow together is very valuable. So, it’s a bit challenging. Now with COVID. And so many people working remotely, then it’s, it’s you have, it’s not just about changing platforms, but really changing mindsets about how to really share capacities and becoming better together as a team. But I think it’s possible and we’re fitting up better with time doing that. But for sure, I think there is real opportunity to both leverage on the wider expertise out there, as well as to continue taking full advantage of team members and team building learning experiences moving forward”.
As you mentioned, 2020, has brought us loads of challenges. And of course, we must be adaptable, and be always ready for changes. I want to ask about the future of work. How would you define the future of work in your present profession? How do you see the evolvement of peace and development?
“That’s very, very interesting. And I think this is why we are all… we’re all trying to see what’s coming next right? for the future work. So, I think if, at least as I’ve seen at this past year, I think people are getting more comfortable, slightly more comfortable, at least, with this remote team. My sense is that for peace and development specialists and internal I think the work of the UN is, I think going to be increasingly possible to tap into expertise and capacity beyond borders. So, I think that’s something that is extremely valuable that the UN that we have such a network of experts all around the world. And the fact that we are now more comfortable collaborating with teams that aren’t necessarily there in the same country with you is going to be I think, a new frontier that we can walk together as intergovernmental workers. And also, I think this has also allowed us to be much more flexible in terms of, you know, working arrangements of how we see like working hours, for better and worse. But I think, if we take it, at least in its potential, it means also that we can more easily adapt to personal circumstances that people might have and allowing more people perhaps the more fun and diverse settings to be able to work more easily. Whether you’re a mom, or like in Guatemala, or you are, as I was, and had to deal with homeschooling, I think all these things become easier as the organization and work allows for these more flexible arrangements, both working remotely and not necessarily from nine to five, and these kinds of, you know, traditional working hours”.
Are there any specific or unique skills that you think are required to be successful? in that specific role?
“Yeah, I think it depends. But more in general, I think he’s a development specialist, we need to first of all being very good at reading the political situation in a country. And I think then analytical skills are paramount. And that in combination with good communication, that is a key skill, it’s not enough if you have an amazing capacity to understand what’s happening and what may happen in the future. So, I think, for us, I feel well informed foresight skills are really important. But that has to be combined with a good capacity to be able to communicate that in an efficient and clear way. So, what I’ve seen in some of the other peace of development specialists, or peace and development advisors, is a very good, for example, capacity to draft, very clear and concise well trust for reports that really then can inform senior level staff about what’s happening in what should be done. So, I think that’s very important. And perhaps a third important skill, I think, is, I guess, it’s not just for peace and development specialists, but definitely for this line of work is essential, is people skills. So, it doesn’t matter how smart you are, and how capable you are to communicate. I think it’s crucially important to have someone who can feel good network, who can tap into different sources of information, and who can, you know, grow those relations, so that you become really a bridge to two different processes within the country and in relation to the country with the UN. So, I think that sort of people’s skills and capacity to relate to create empathy and to build networks is absolutely important in this line of work”.
No, I would like to move towards career risks. So, my question would be, what would you say has been the biggest career risk you have ever taken?
“Oh, that’s easy actually. Because before my position at the UN resident coordinator office in Guatemala, so my previous position, I worked for almost eight years, at another governmental organization called International Idea to the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. And this was an amazing experience, and I really liked it. So, moving from that safe-zone on you could say that I had there who were working for the UN, with a you know, it was one year contract that it was going to be renewed. But I mean, of course, because it was a risky move, in many respects. So that was for sure. The biggest career risk that I’ve taken, but with no regrets whatsoever”.
Final question would be related to UN, the UN system in general. So, what do you think is unique about working in the United Nations? If you were in front of a live audience? How would you pitch UN as an employer of choice?
“Well, I think the UN system, at least for me, I can tell only from my experience, but it’s a unique place where you really find some of, at least in my experience, some of the brightest most interesting people you could ever meet in terms of your team and the opportunities that you find working with top notch experts in your field. But also, the UN has this unique platform for, at least what I believe is extremely useful career roles, none…or very few other organizations have the network and the expanse that the UN has. So, for me, as I mentioned, I changed from Guatemala now to Myanmar, and having that opportunity to work in two very different and yet very similar contexts, I think I could have hardly had in any other organization. So that’s absolutely amazing. And also, of course, the UN unlike other organizations, has a profile that opens the door to really influence many crucial processes in the countries where your organization operates. So, I think course there are benefits also with smaller organizations that perhaps have other types of leverage. But I think working with an organization with a profile that the UN has, thus provide a platform and a voice that other organizations struggle to have. So, I think it’s a very powerful experience to really be in that. And of course, it comes with a lot of huge responsibilities. But I think it’s also extremely powerful and a unique opportunity to really change processes where you find opportunities to do so”.
Thank you, Catalina, and thank you all for listening. We hope these conversations leave you empowered and inspired to keep learning and advancing in your careers. So, listen, and access this audio recording, you can visit soundcloud.com slash UNDP podcast or the talent development up, career development pillar page. You can also send any questions you may have to career.development@undp.org
