Working Towards Gender Equality

By Rebecca Zuk, IDDIP intern Me and the SDGs: The Sustainable Development Goals underpin all of our work here at UNDP. As Gender Consultant, I have a special affinity for SDG 5: Gender Equality. My name is Rebecca Zuk and for the last four months I’ve been working as an IDDIP intern on the Gender Team at UNDP in Ukraine. Our work is currently aimed at preparing our Country Office to meet the standards of the UNDP Gender Equality Seal. This means integrating gender equality into all aspects of the work happening here, divided into seven areas: management systems, in-house capacities, enabling environment, communications and knowledge management, programs, partnerships, and gender equality impact/results.

My work varies from day to day, which has helped me to develop a number of skills. I have developed various guidelines and trainings aimed at facilitating gender mainstreaming internally, I’ve translated speeches from Ukrainian to English (with a lot of help from Google Translate), and I’ve met with a number of partners to collaborate on what is being done and what needs to be done next. One of the meetings that stand out in my mind was with Global Affairs Canada to discuss a project that is being implemented in Eastern Ukraine by UNDP and funded by Canada. We were discussing the measures that are being taken by the project to ensure that implementation is gender-responsive. Canada is a leader in implementing gender responsive measures in foreign policy – our international assistance policy is explicitly feminist. To be professionally representing UNDP’s organizational commitment to gender equality with diplomats of my native country was definitely a moment of pride for me.

My time here is quickly running out, and the closer I get to the end of my stay, the more aware I become that everything I am able to give to this office, this organization, and this community is thanks to those who first invested in me. Thank you!