Impactpool Career Podcast

Listen to the career story of an Italian who grew up in the UK, and has gone from being a EU lobbyist via jobs in different NGOs all over the world, to where he is today as the Head of Operations for NRC in Amman, Jordan. Carlo Gherardi will share how he has grown both professionally and personally during his assignments and you will get excellent insider tips about the skills he is looking for when recruiting talents.

“Every winter in Jordan is extremely difficult. You often have snowfall, you have temperatures at zero. One of our functions in the camps is to coordinate the distribution on behalf of all humanitarian agencies for what we call non-food items. So organizing distributions for 20,000 families and making sure that those are coordinated in a way where the most vulnerable are prioritized, where those people who can’t come and collect their items are supported by an alternative carer, making sure that people don’t have to queue for too long, and just logistically managing that kind of operation is extremely challenging because people are tired and cold and often frustrated” - Carlo Gherardi, Head of Operations, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Amman, Jordan.

Carlo Gherardi works as Head of Operations in Jordan, where NRC has one of the largest programmes supporting 150,000 displaced people in refugee camps such as Zaatari and Azraq.

In this episode of UNjobfinder Career Podcast you will gain insights about:

The realities and challenges of implementing and coordinating projects in complex settings caused by conflict and natural disasters, such as responding to the flooding in Southern Pakistan in 2010 and the current humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.

The rewards you get from working with displaced people in Jordan.

The different dynamics of the organizations working as a lobbyist compared to the development sector and how Carlos made his career transition.

The most important skills that are needed for an international career in the humanitarian or development sector

What profiles NRC is recruiting for in Jordan

Carlo’s recommendations to people who are interested in working for NRC

About Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is recognized as one the world’s most credible humanitarian, non-governmental organisation. NRC promotes and protects the rights of refugees and people who have been displaced within their own country. The organization has a very strong operation side, which means that the aid they are actually delivering is going through their different programmes: on education, shelter, ICLA (information, legal assistance and counseling), or WASH-programmes (water, hygiene and sanitation). NRC has an also a very strong local presence in over 25 countries worldwide and have over 9,000 staff members working to provide people in displacement with these different services.

Listen to the career story of an Italian who grew up in the UK, and has gone from being a EU lobbyist via jobs in different NGOs all over the world, to where he is today as the Head of Operations for NRC in Amman, Jordan. Carlo Gherardi will share how he has grown both professionally and personally during his assignments and you will get excellent insider tips about the skills he is looking for when recruiting talents.

“Every winter in Jordan is extremely difficult. You often have snowfall, you have temperatures at zero. One of our functions in the camps is to coordinate the distribution on behalf of all humanitarian agencies for what we call non-food items. So organizing distributions for 20,000 families and making sure that those are coordinated in a way where the most vulnerable are prioritized, where those people who can’t come and collect their items are supported by an alternative carer, making sure that people don’t have to queue for too long, and just logistically managing that kind of operation is extremely challenging because people are tired and cold and often frustrated” - Carlo Gherardi, Head of Operations, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Amman, Jordan.

Carlo Gherardi works as Head of Operations in Jordan, where NRC has one of the largest programmes supporting 150,000 displaced people in refugee camps such as Zaatari and Azraq.

In this episode of UNjobfinder Career Podcast you will gain insights about:

The realities and challenges of implementing and coordinating projects in complex settings caused by conflict and natural disasters, such as responding to the flooding in Southern Pakistan in 2010 and the current humanitarian crisis in the Middle East.

The rewards you get from working with displaced people in Jordan.

The different dynamics of the organizations working as a lobbyist compared to the development sector and how Carlos made his career transition.

The most important skills that are needed for an international career in the humanitarian or development sector

What profiles NRC is recruiting for in Jordan

Carlo’s recommendations to people who are interested in working for NRC

About Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is recognized as one the world’s most credible humanitarian, non-governmental organisation. NRC promotes and protects the rights of refugees and people who have been displaced within their own country. The organization has a very strong operation side, which means that the aid they are actually delivering is going through their different programmes: on education, shelter, ICLA (information, legal assistance and counseling), or WASH-programmes (water, hygiene and sanitation). NRC has an also a very strong local presence in over 25 countries worldwide and have over 9,000 staff members working to provide people in displacement with these different services.

In this episode you will meet Becky Bakr Abdulla, Media Coordinator in Iraq at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Listening to this episode will really give you an understanding of the importance of communications and what it means to be working in a conflict situation for an international organization such as the NRC.

Becky Bakr Abdulla, a 27-year old from Oslo, Norway, is in the beginning of her career with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the NRC. In a short while she has gone from graduating university, via an internship, to being sent right into a field role as a Media Coordinator, where she’s dealing directly with the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Becky is also a child of refugee parents from Kurdistan, which is located in the northern part of Iraq, where she is currently based.

– Obviously that sort of background has always given me an interest in more than just in a region border. I’ve always had an interest in travelling, in learning more about other cultures and other nationalities. So when it was time for me to study and decide on something to study, I started off in Rome, in Italy, and I did some courses there in philosophy. And then, I did some courses in sociology before I decided that media communication sounded very interesting. So that’s my background. It’s within media and communication, and it’s given me a nice platform for the work I’m doing now with NRC, where I’m the Media Coordinator. And I’m also based abroad. So I find myself in a very satisfying position, Becky says.

Working with the humanitarian crisis in Iraq

Becky is stationed in Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan region in the northern part of Iraq where the majority of the population are Kurds. With 3.4 million people currently displaced inside their own country and, in addition, the Kurdistan region of Iraq have taken in approximately 250,000 Syrians. This means that Iraq is in an ongoing crisis currently now, escalating into becoming a humanitarian crisis on a very big level.

– We see that there’s a lot of attention on Syria, rightly so, but Iraq is definitely forgotten when it comes to the human stories, the human testimonies, the human suffering that we so desperately need more to focus on. And that’s also been extremely rewarding and something I’m very proud of myself and my team down here is that we’ve now managed with Fallujah to show the rest of the world through BBC, through Al Jazeera, through CNN, through New York Times, through dozens of different media outlets, that these are the people of Iraq, these are the civilian and innocent women, children, elderly that are taking the biggest fall for what’s going on here. And that’s been extremely rewarding, Becky says.

With her job also comes a lot of traveling. So for the last month, she has been based in Baghdad, covering the Fallujah crisis and response. But she also travel to other parts of the country, to a city called Kirkuk and also to Dohuk, which is a city in the northern part of Kurdistan where most of the Syrian refugees are currently located. According to Becky the Iraq crisis is a forgotten crisis in the sense that Iraq is all over the news almost on a daily basis, but the focus tends to be with the military and the political narrative.

Read the whole article about Becky here: https://unjobfinder.org/podcasts/making-the-world-know-what-is-going-on---becky-bakr-abdulla-at-the-nrc

In this episode you will meet Becky Bakr Abdulla, Media Coordinator in Iraq at the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Listening to this episode will really give you an understanding of the importance of communications and what it means to be working in a conflict situation for an international organization such as the NRC.

Becky Bakr Abdulla, a 27-year old from Oslo, Norway, is in the beginning of her career with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the NRC. In a short while she has gone from graduating university, via an internship, to being sent right into a field role as a Media Coordinator, where she’s dealing directly with the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Becky is also a child of refugee parents from Kurdistan, which is located in the northern part of Iraq, where she is currently based.

– Obviously that sort of background has always given me an interest in more than just in a region border. I’ve always had an interest in travelling, in learning more about other cultures and other nationalities. So when it was time for me to study and decide on something to study, I started off in Rome, in Italy, and I did some courses there in philosophy. And then, I did some courses in sociology before I decided that media communication sounded very interesting. So that’s my background. It’s within media and communication, and it’s given me a nice platform for the work I’m doing now with NRC, where I’m the Media Coordinator. And I’m also based abroad. So I find myself in a very satisfying position, Becky says.

Working with the humanitarian crisis in Iraq

Becky is stationed in Erbil, the capital city of the Kurdistan region in the northern part of Iraq where the majority of the population are Kurds. With 3.4 million people currently displaced inside their own country and, in addition, the Kurdistan region of Iraq have taken in approximately 250,000 Syrians. This means that Iraq is in an ongoing crisis currently now, escalating into becoming a humanitarian crisis on a very big level.

– We see that there’s a lot of attention on Syria, rightly so, but Iraq is definitely forgotten when it comes to the human stories, the human testimonies, the human suffering that we so desperately need more to focus on. And that’s also been extremely rewarding and something I’m very proud of myself and my team down here is that we’ve now managed with Fallujah to show the rest of the world through BBC, through Al Jazeera, through CNN, through New York Times, through dozens of different media outlets, that these are the people of Iraq, these are the civilian and innocent women, children, elderly that are taking the biggest fall for what’s going on here. And that’s been extremely rewarding, Becky says.

With her job also comes a lot of traveling. So for the last month, she has been based in Baghdad, covering the Fallujah crisis and response. But she also travel to other parts of the country, to a city called Kirkuk and also to Dohuk, which is a city in the northern part of Kurdistan where most of the Syrian refugees are currently located. According to Becky the Iraq crisis is a forgotten crisis in the sense that Iraq is all over the news almost on a daily basis, but the focus tends to be with the military and the political narrative.

Read the whole article about Becky here: https://unjobfinder.org/podcasts/making-the-world-know-what-is-going-on---becky-bakr-abdulla-at-the-nrc

In this episode we interview an interesting person with enormous experience from different UN organizations. Currently, she is the Human Resources Director for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Don’t miss out on a great learning opportunity!

In this podcast Cornelia Moussa, HR Director from WIPO, talks about the very specific work environment in the development sector, like how the different UN Agencies’ mandates has a huge influence on the organization’s culture:

“The UN is not a static body, it’s always subject to a great deal of change, partly driven internally by mandates changing and partly also driven externally by member states, by the environments that we have to respond to, deal with”, she says.

Cornelia Moussa has been in the UN system since the late 1970’s. She has held management positions for agencies such as UNFPA and UNRWA, both at headquarters but also in field offices in the Middle East.

Listen and you will be rewarded with many important career tips, irrespective if you already are on the inside of the development sector or if you are a prospective job applicant.

Some of the topics discussed in this episode:

About WIPO

Why WIPO is an excellent organization and why IT skills and Intellectual Property (IP) are extremely important in the age of digitalization.

Why Geneva is a great duty station.

Important lessons for an international career, e.g.

Personal traits critical for success:

Continuous professional development:

”The UN is a fast-moving environment. Things change, technology changes, jobs change, processes change, and also one has to keep in touch with professional development”

Additional language skills

On the Application process and the job Interview - what to think about to leave a good impression?

“It is very important that the application is tailored to the job and very clear”

How to prepare for competency based interviewing

The research you need to do beforehand

On Patience: “I think many people apply for many UN jobs and this is quite normal. It usually doesn’t happen the first time that they succeed, but interviewing is also about practice. So I think people have to be patient and they get better and better, and eventually they will succeed”

The Challenges of development careers, e.g.

To work in an extremely resource constrained environment.

operating in sudden crises (like 9/11) and armed conflicts

Managing a dual career family

In this episode we interview an interesting person with enormous experience from different UN organizations. Currently, she is the Human Resources Director for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Don’t miss out on a great learning opportunity!

In this podcast Cornelia Moussa, HR Director from WIPO, talks about the very specific work environment in the development sector, like how the different UN Agencies’ mandates has a huge influence on the organization’s culture:

“The UN is not a static body, it’s always subject to a great deal of change, partly driven internally by mandates changing and partly also driven externally by member states, by the environments that we have to respond to, deal with”, she says.

Cornelia Moussa has been in the UN system since the late 1970’s. She has held management positions for agencies such as UNFPA and UNRWA, both at headquarters but also in field offices in the Middle East.

Listen and you will be rewarded with many important career tips, irrespective if you already are on the inside of the development sector or if you are a prospective job applicant.

Some of the topics discussed in this episode:

About WIPO

Why WIPO is an excellent organization and why IT skills and Intellectual Property (IP) are extremely important in the age of digitalization.

Why Geneva is a great duty station.

Important lessons for an international career, e.g.

Personal traits critical for success:

Continuous professional development:

”The UN is a fast-moving environment. Things change, technology changes, jobs change, processes change, and also one has to keep in touch with professional development”

Additional language skills

On the Application process and the job Interview - what to think about to leave a good impression?

“It is very important that the application is tailored to the job and very clear”

How to prepare for competency based interviewing

The research you need to do beforehand

On Patience: “I think many people apply for many UN jobs and this is quite normal. It usually doesn’t happen the first time that they succeed, but interviewing is also about practice. So I think people have to be patient and they get better and better, and eventually they will succeed”

The Challenges of development careers, e.g.

To work in an extremely resource constrained environment.

operating in sudden crises (like 9/11) and armed conflicts

Managing a dual career family

She has moved up the career ladder from intern to senior policy officer. Now Sonia Peña at IUCN is crafting the important messages to influence governments all over the world to take action to conserve our precious planet.

”We are realizing that we are losing much more species than we anticipated in the past. The rate of biodiversity loss is accelerating really enormously. We need to do something and we need to do it quickly, if not we are going to loose it all”, Sonia says.

Listen and learn how working in international development really can influence and change global agendas. In this episode of the Impactpool Career Podcast we are focusing on the role and the skill set needed to be a good policy officer. Our guest is Sonia Pena from IUCN – International Union For Conservation of Nature – the largest and oldest global environment organization.

Sonia will share her career story and talk about the biggest challenges and rewards working for an organization like IUCN.

“If I haven’t work in this field I wouldn’t have gone to all the places I have gone so far and known the wonderful things that are out there”, Sonia says.

You will also receive useful tips how to improve your career chances working for global organizations, like applying for internships and trainee positions.

“Don’t be afraid to start in a learning position. It really is an enriching experience”, Sonia says.

She has moved up the career ladder from intern to senior policy officer. Now Sonia Peña at IUCN is crafting the important messages to influence governments all over the world to take action to conserve our precious planet.

”We are realizing that we are losing much more species than we anticipated in the past. The rate of biodiversity loss is accelerating really enormously. We need to do something and we need to do it quickly, if not we are going to loose it all”, Sonia says.

Listen and learn how working in international development really can influence and change global agendas. In this episode of the UNjobfinder Career Podcast we are focusing on the role and the skill set needed to be a good policy officer. Our guest is Sonia Pena from IUCN – International Union For Conservation of Nature – the largest and oldest global environment organization.

Sonia will share her career story and talk about the biggest challenges and rewards working for an organization like IUCN.

“If I haven’t work in this field I wouldn’t have gone to all the places I have gone so far and known the wonderful things that are out there”, Sonia says.

You will also receive useful tips how to improve your career chances working for global organizations, like applying for internships and trainee positions.

“Don’t be afraid to start in a learning position. It really is an enriching experience”, Sonia says.

Meet Jens Behrendt, the Deputy HR Director at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. In this episode he shares excellent career advice and personal stories from working in various organizations and places around the world, such as being taken hostage in Ghana.

“Sometimes you’re walking a thin line. But it did not change my commitment or determination to work for international organizations”, Jens says.

Listen to an interview packed with food for thought for your career and get personal insight on what international organizations do and deliver.

What’s it like to work for OSCE – the largest regional security organization in the world?

On risks and security aspects working in areas that are high risk and hostile

How you establish your brand as a professional

The need to find a balance between work and personal life

The most common mistakes people make during interview (Tip: be prepared to give a two minute selling pitch of what you are as a professional!)

Entry points for a successful career, like UN’s JPO and Volunteer Program

Meet Jens Behrendt, the Deputy HR Director at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE. In this episode he shares excellent career advice and personal stories from working in various organizations and places around the world, such as being taken hostage in Ghana.

“Sometimes you’re walking a thin line. But it did not change my commitment or determination to work for international organizations”, Jens says.

Listen to an interview packed with food for thought for your career and get personal insight on what international organizations do and deliver.

What’s it like to work for OSCE – the largest regional security organization in the world?

On risks and security aspects working in areas that are high risk and hostile

How you establish your brand as a professional

The need to find a balance between work and personal life

The most common mistakes people make during interview (Tip: be prepared to give a two minute selling pitch of what you are as a professional!)

Entry points for a successful career, like UN’s JPO and Volunteer Program