“When I first secured the position, I was worried I might be in a little in over my head due to the reputation of a group such as UN-Habitat Kenya.”
Said, Masters Political Science, United Nations Association of Canada, Kenya, UN-Habitat
I was fearful that my work would not be up to standard or I might let my supervisor down. This was my first time working with an official development organization with such a reputation and prestige. When the internship started around June and we had our first meetings, my worry did increase a bit. My first major assignment was to help create a PowerPoint on global homelessness that my supervisor will present at a U.N conference. Having my work presented at such a high stake event made me feel somewhat anxious but also motivated to work even harder than I had before to not let UN-Habitat down.
During our first meeting, my worry did die down with further information. There was excellent coordination and division of tasks within the teams. As well, I felt I was able to trust the judgment of my supervisors due to their experience. Before I began work on my assignment, I was given smaller tasks to adequately prepare. I was to gather information and sources on global homelessness along with a detailed outline of what content I should research. It ranged from defining homelessness to the impacts of Covid-19 on homelessness. With this, I had a clear goal and tasks in mind to keep me busy during my internship. I also found the team professional and organized. Despite the time differences, we were able to coordinate meetings at a set time at which we all could meet.
For my assignment, I received excellent and constructive feedback. My supervisor gave me detailed explanations to help guide my work: that I should tailor my language toward a more global audience when discussing the issues homelessness; when using selected countries, I should specify that these are just selected cases. This has helped me improve my writing skills for future assignments.I found my assignments deadline manageable, I have been able to schedule my hours for work. As my internship and assignments are focusing on a more global perspective, I have not had much interaction regarding local Kenyan issues. I feel working with UN Habitat to be a rewarding experience as it has broadened my understanding of global issues such as homelessness and how it is handled by development policy makers.. In addition, I found it has helped me become more confident in my writing and presentation skills due to the feedback from my supervisors.