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|  | Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON Vol. 3, No. 4, July 1999 - Articles
Meet some of the 1998-99 Interns JULIE BERGERON Julie Bergeron from Laval, Quebec, has a solid background in Law Studies. Her 8 month experience at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi, India has, both culturally and professionally, far surpassed her expectations. She was extremely pleased with her placement. UNHCR provided Julie with two weeks of training, which fully prepared her to undertake her numerous duties including, inter alia, researching and writing on topics of refugee and human rights law (Somalia, Sudan, Iran, Iraq and Myanmar); assisting in the preparation and applications for refugee status determination; analysing and proposing solutions for legal or protection problems faced by refugees; and conducting status determination interviews. Julie completed her 8 month internship at UNHCR, India and was offered a position a three month position as Legal Consultant at UNHCR, Bangkok. Julie is very pleased with the YIIP, "Due to your continuous support, I was able to successfully undertake all these new challenges," she said. "For all that, I would like to thank all of you for your precious confidence in my abilities and skills and above all, for having given me an unforgettable opportunity to work in Asia." FRASER KING Fraser King, originally from British Columbia, has a background in International Relations, with a strong focus on international organizations and strategic studies. He was placed with the UN Youth Unit in New York, USA where he was able to draw on his research and writing strengths, as well as his capacity to utilize modern technology in educating young people from around the world about the role of the United Nations. Fraser is a fantastic case in point of an intern truly making the best of an experience. With an initial lack of supervision and clarity of duties, Fraser nonetheless, thanks in part to his initiative and creativity, ensured that this internship was both interesting and successful. Highlights of his work include organizing a seminar for International Youth NGOs in which 50 NGOS were in attendance; building a web site for the Youth Unit, stemming from his own initiative; and conducting research and writing for both the Youth NGO Handbook and the Youth Information Bulletin. In fact, the Youth NGO Handbook that Fraser wrote is very informative and provides a very good overview of the UN system. NADINE APOLLON-CABANA Nadine’s duties at the Technical Cooperation Coordination Division of the International Trade Centre in Geneva fell within the range of the Technical Cooperation Coordination Division of the Bureau for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. She was first instructed to complete a list of documents to be sent to various bibliographic centres. She was also responsible for translating job descriptions into French. She was not given a description of her own duties, but was asked to write a description of her desired role and objectives. She took that opportunity to request that she be seconded to the Research and Analysis Unit, so that she should conduct market analyses. Ultimately, her responsibilities included researching and analysing information pertaining to francophone African countries, and preparing strategy notes and other documents essential to the coordination of the division’s efforts with subject countries. Although she initially expressed concerns regarding the lack of clarity of her duties, Nadine was able to define her position according to her own goals, and gained valuable experience relevant to her field of interest.
JODI CRANSTON Jodi’s experience was a positive one. She was working with the Sustainable Development Advisor. Her duties included providing project maintenance in support of the Global Environmental Facility projects; assisting with the management aspects of the Poverty Strategy initiatives projects; providing support to the Environmental and Natural Resources Unit; preparing content for environmental pages for the UNDP Fiji website; assisting with Global Environmental Facility Biodiversity strategy action plans; and contributing to a Biotechnology and Poverty Report and establishing its website. Jodi has also excercised her own initiative by assuming many other roles, including designing and composing a brochure on sustainable development in the Pacific and the role of the UNDP; preparing content for the UNDP Pacific website; helping to prepare a proposal for funding for a microenterprise initiative to assist locals to learn beekeeping techniques; and codifying criteria by which to determine best practice projects in sustainable development. |
