Salvator Cusimano | Coordination Officer | Department of Peace Operations, UN Secretariat, New York

Welcome to the United Nations Career Journey Podcast, brought to you by the Office of Human Resources at the UN Secretariat and UNDP, the UN Development Programme. In this series we interview colleagues from around the world working for the UN. We ask about their career paths and what working for this global organization means to them. My name is Kome Jaeger and today we’ll hear from Salvator Cusimano, a Coordination Officer in the Department of Peace Operations in New York.

Salvator, welcome to the UN Career Journey Podcast. Thank you for joining me.

Thanks, Oghenekome. Thank you so much.

Oh using my full name — I like that.

You ready to jump right in?

Yeah. Thank you.

All right, let’s go. You are Canadian. Tell me how you got involved working with refugees in Canada.

Yeah, sure. So, I think my interest in working with refugees in Canada sort of came from my family’s own migration history. But also a sense that this was a way that I could start to get involved in my own community, where there were human rights challenges…where there was a problem with an international dimension that was happening right at home. I think it was those two things that sort of drew me back home, but it was also a sense that I had just finished a Master’s in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies abroad and I was thinking about moving internationally, trying to sort of move in the direction maybe that I’ve gone in since then. But I don’t know, something about going back to the city that I was born…something about working in the community that I grew up in that really spoke to me at that point in my journey. And yeah, I did that for almost two years.

What originally attracted you to humanitarian work?

I think one of the things that really drew me to this field is the chance to support people and having their fundamental rights respected, upheld and completely fulfilled.

When I worked with let’s say with UNHCR, but then even later on in more of the political work that I’ve done up to my current day, I think it’s that fundamental principle that’s kind of kept me going and that attracted me in the first place.

Oh, that’s interesting. Your work has certainly taken you near and far. Close to home in Canada and as far away as Central African Republic. What did you learn from your time based in Bria, which is where you were in the Central African Republic, right?

Yeah, that’s right. So, for most of my time in the Central African Republic, I was in a town called Bria in the eastern part of the Central African Republic. It wasn’t my first time in the Central African Republic. I had done a short, a very short assignment in Bangui, the capital city, and when I went back because I found the UN’s engagement there and I found the country to be a place that I wanted to get more involved in.

And I guess what I learned from my time there is that the UN’s engagement in conflict contexts, the UN’s engagement in difficult political context has limits. It requires modesty. It requires an awareness of what the UN is able to do and not able to do. What it should do and should not do.

And those limits become clear. The more you listen and pay attention to, in this case, central Africans. But I think anybody affected by the conflict, involved in the conflict, trying to resolve the conflict and in this case, that’s really what I took away, is that listening very carefully…being humbled before the situation that I was in and really trying to find any small way where the United Nations could support people who were really trying to bring peace to their community.

You certainly have a lot of experience in the field. Do you have a best experience that you’d like to share with us?

There’s so many good times I’ve had in various locations that I’ve worked on.

I guess my field experiences, so to speak, have taken me to Europe. They’ve taken me to Africa. They’ve taken me to the Middle East. But I think the best experience was this time I actually celebrated my 30th birthday in Central African Republic in Bria. And that was a really interesting day. I think at first, I kind of was thinking to myself, it’s pretty crazy that 30 years after I was born, I find myself here in a place that I probably couldn’t have imagined being when I was a kid. That was the first thing, just reflecting on where things have taken me as I turned 30. But then, the people in the community, the central Africans, I worked with really closely, my colleagues, they made it a really fun day.

One of them had a lamb slaughtered, and we grilled it and we shared it with the community and the people we were working with. And yeah, I just remembered that as a day that was a really interesting moment of reflection for me. But also just, yeah, kind of embodying the togetherness with the people that I worked closely with both within the UN and in the community there. And that’s something I’ll remember for quite a while.

So it was a day of reflection and celebration?

Yeah, definitely.

And of course, some good eating to add to that, right?

Yes, definitely. And that is an important thing to me for sure.

Always. And now you’re back in Headquarters. Could you briefly tell us where you work and what you currently do?

Sure. Yeah. I returned to Headquarters from an assignment in the Middle East in Yemen not too long ago, just a few weeks ago. And now I work in the Department of Peace Operations — Division of Policy Evaluation and Training.

I work in a team that covers knowledge management guidance…basically trying to support organizational learning and UN peace operations…trying to understand what has worked, what challenges missions have faced, and trying to capture that knowledge and feed it back into the way the Organization operates on the ground. I feel really lucky to have a chance right now to take some of the experience that I’ve had in Headquarters, away from Headquarters, working on the ground and now just trying to think a bit more about…yeah, the direction that peace operations are going and again, maybe just trying to put myself at the mercy of everyone who has so much experience….so much expertise in what they do and maybe try to find a way to support them in learning from the challenges they’ve seen….learning from the good things they’ve done because everyone is really trying hard to do good work.

How do you deal with the stress that comes with your job?

That’s a good question.

They’re different sources of stress in a job like this. And they look different when you’re working in different places. I think they look different when you’re working on different subjects. So even the stresses I had in Yemen, for example, were quite different than the stresses I had in Central African Republic. The stresses I have here are different than the stresses I had when I worked with UNHCR. I think, really for me some of the stresses come from, “Am I doing everything I can be doing with the really privileged position I’ve been given to be able to work for an organization like the UN? “Am I really living out what I could be every day?”

So, sometimes you’re working in environments where you’re quite confined. Maybe you face security threats as well. And I think the things that have helped me deal with both of those types of stress is first to sort of, remember the motivation I came to it with. I think that is a really important thing that I’ve tried to do is just recenter myself around, “Why did I get here? It hasn’t been an accident. I’ve worked towards this and I’ve believed in it and I really try to recover that sense of: no matter how difficult things are…even if I feel like things aren’t moving in the right direction sometimes in the work I’m doing, I really try to remember: “OK, I came to this with a reason, with a motivation, and I’m going to try to let that guide me.” That’s the first thing.

And then just trying to do the things that I that I love in the places that I go to playing sports, cooking with people.

Now I won’t let this one go. You said you play sports. What sports do you play?

Well, just a couple of weeks ago…I mean, my big sport is, is soccer football.

As it should be.

Yes, thank you. Thank you.

Who’s your team, though? Now this is where we separate!

Oh uh. This is going to be controversial. OK so the team that I grew up supporting that my grandfather put me on was Juventus of Torino.

OK.

That’s an extremely polarizing choice.

Nice.

But then actually, I really love all sports coming from Toronto and Canada. I support all of my local teams in New York. They play here quite often and so I’m always going to check them out when I’m around the city.

It sounds like you have a great way of balancing the stress and of course, you know, quality of life as well.

Yeah, I think again, just trying to make the most of any place that I’m in, trying to make the most of having supportive and fun people around me. And yeah, usually in the UN there are a lot of people who have a similar mindset. And so, it’s also a great place to work.

It’s apparent that you take pride in what you do….what makes you proud of working for the United Nations.

I think I’m most proud about the fact that this is the one truly global institution that has weathered some really serious challenges and still provides a forum for people to come together to talk, to listen and to negotiate over some really difficult issues. It’s also the only organization that really brings together every country in the world to put forth tools like peacekeeping, for example, like other peace operations where you have a really unique mix of people from different regions, different countries, different backgrounds, all under the same mandate. And that’s one of the things that makes me really proud is that I’ve been able to be a part of that.

And then I think I’m proud to work alongside people who are really, really committed to some of the same ideals, some of the same principles that I have. My colleagues have really inspired me along the way and many of them have been models for me for what I try to do…and that makes me proud that they’re that that I have a chance to work alongside such amazing people.

How inspiring. How do you feel you’re making a difference through your work?

You know I have a lot of younger people than I am from, you know, for example, my university program that I that I studied in…friends of friends who are interested in a career in the UN. And I think what draws them is this idea of making a difference in the world. And I think what I’ve learned is that I do feel like I’m making a difference, but that I’m making a difference maybe through some very slow-moving processes — on processes where from my background, from my experience I might have something to contribute to.

But sometimes in various positions, including when I worked with UNHCR, you’d have a very tangible impact where you helped, you know, a couple of times…there were families in the duty station I was working in with UNHCR that that we helped get protection…that we helped their refugee status that recognized which made a big difference in their lives, directly.

Sometimes in Central African Republic, there were really tangible instances where I think we helped to prevent some violence for example or offer some protection to certain communities or individuals. And those are moments that happen…but I think that even those moments you’re still coming up against really big systems that require years and political change to address. But still, it’s been a really incredible experience to be a part of some of those smaller moments as well.

I think you, Salvator and the colleagues that we work with, you certainly make a difference to me. So, I want to thank you for that.

Thank you so much and thanks for giving those of us who are just kind of working every day a chance to talk and reflect on where we’ve come from and our hopes for the Organization and the future, that’s really special.

Funny for me, when I run into people who find out that I work at the UN, they often ask me how many languages I speak.

I’ll spare you the details, but I’ve learned the hard way not to stretch the truth about speaking French fluently. So how many languages do you speak?

I will say that I speak four languages.

Don’t brag.

Yeah, I speak four languages. That’s the English and Italian I grew up with and the French and Spanish that I’ve been able to learn along the way. And right now, I’m trying to study Arabic and doing that through the UN. But also, when I was working in Yemen, that was a really great opportunity to learn and practice and keep growing. I really like trying to learn new languages.

God, it’s hard for some of us. But you mentioned being Italian…with a name like Salvator… so speaking of being from an Italian family, I know that food played an important role in your culture and in your life. Tell me how food has played an important role in your work.

Yeah, that’s a really good question. Thanks for asking it, because food and an appreciation of food is definitely one of the things that that cuts across cultures and that I think people are really glad when across cultural lines or across different cultures. When people can appreciate each other’s food, I think that I’ve seen that that can be a transformative moment. I’ve seen that it can kind of bring people together and yeah, that’s been something really cool to get to do, working in so many different countries and trying to learn what I can about the way people live and eat. And I think food for my family is such a big part of how we converse. It’s such a big part of how we kind of work through issues sometimes — sitting at the table, having a long meal. Yes, so in that sense it’s not that surprising to me. But yeah, so many times in Yemen, in Central African Republic, in other places that I’ve just visited even that’s been a kind of a way that people have come together, and I always enjoy being at the center of that if I can because I know I’m going to go home satisfied.

In my culture as a Nigerian, you know when they invite you to a table, you instantly go from friend to family. And now that you’ve come to our podcast table, you are now family. Thank you so much for being interviewed, for being honest, and for sharing your stories.

Thank you so much. It was really a pleasure to be here.