Life after MADM was determined long before graduation. In spring 2013, some specially selected students were invited to apply for the DAAD's Carlo Schmid Programme (CSP) Fellowship. Surprisingly, by the summer of 2013, I was informed of the award and was directed to Geneva, Switzerland, for an internship at the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (UNJIU) starting in April 2014.
The MADM course, as every graduate knows, is a blur. It felt as if we graduated almost as soon as we had started. From the summer school in Cape Town to my internship in Hamburg, various DAAD meetings and our course work in Bochum, it was a whirlwind process quickly leading up to the moment of having to defend our thesis in March 2014. And in next to no time we had become "masters". But during all those months I also prepared for the CSP – visa, housing, and various UN forms which needed completing and sending off. Although I was only in touch with them by e-mail, both the Swiss Consulate in Frankfurt and my supervisors at the UNJIU were very helpful so that by the time I left Bochum, my only problem was how to pack up my life and move to Geneva. (I think by then I had moved 11 times - the thought still exhausts me.)
This year's mild winter was fading when I took that Deutsche Bahn train from Bochum to Duisburg, then to Frankfurt, to Basel and finally to Geneva.
![AlumnIEE photo 2](/images/stories/newsletter/Newsletter_20/AlumnIEE_photo_2.jpg)
But with this work-life balance vibe, I thought my fellowship would be a bit of a rest - the first time since 2012 that I was able to stay put anywhere for six months. And I was used to doing research and writing anyway. But I was wrong. I was assigned to the team that conducts a UN system-wide review of mainstreaming the Decent Work Agenda, which has four pillars: 1) employment creation, 2) social protection, 3) standards at work, and 4) social dialogue. It is the biggest core team of the unit with two inspectors (a retired UN Permanent Representative of the Hungarian Government and a Gambian evaluation expert formerly employed with the UNDP and the World Bank), who both balanced the diplomatic and technical perspectives, two career evaluation and inspection officers (from Japan, the US/Bangladesh), and another co-intern (Canadian and Thai). The first few days were taken up by the typical introduction, but as the days, weeks and months progressed, there was so much to be done during the day that I felt I was completely immersed in the review.
It felt like thesis-writing all over again: discussing methodologies and data collection, assignments to read countless country-specific United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (later I learned they were called UNDAFs), turning them into tables and charts, assisting in the creation of an online survey for UN Resident Coordinators and Country Teams, preparing presentations, joining meetings with other organisations by Skype or in person, and simply making myself useful for the benefit of our team. Seeing my drafts as excerpts in documents meant a lot to my nerdy/development-crazy self, too.
![AlunIEE photo 1 neu](/images/stories/newsletter/Newsletter_20/AlunIEE_photo_1_neu.jpg)
As I had told my co-interns before, how often do you get the chance to help make sure the UN does what it promised to do and also have the opportunity to take leisurely walks after lunch around the Palais des Nations with peacocks roaming around the garden facing Lake Geneva? The chance to do noble work (hey, the UN doesn't pay its interns!) in an international environment in a picturesque location does not come very often. Between April and September, I had the chance to mix with my co-interns from North America, Europe and Asia. I was convinced Geneva was full of intellectual talent coupled with that dangerous idealism to make a difference and at the same time quench the thirst for adventure. Every young professional I met was a high-calibre and inspiring person. And the personal success stories of my two officers show that there is success at the end of the struggle somehow.
![AlumnIEE photo 3](/images/stories/newsletter/Newsletter_20/AlumnIEE_photo_3.jpg)
Although I extended my student life for an extra six months thanks to the DAAD, the CSP fellowship was a win-win experience. On the one hand, I learned about the UN which I did not have the chance to while at university and was able to contribute to the work of a team which hopefully will make it to the post-2015 development agenda. On the other, I could catch a glimpse of a young development professional's life abroad. Certainly, a dream come true! What happened after the CSP? E-mail me at
![Gregorio-MaCristinaCarmina](/images/stories/alumni/Gregorio-MaCristinaCarmina.jpg)
by Cristina Gregorio