Steve Talks about his Three years working with UNRCPD

Written by Steve

Steve Talks about his Three years working with UNRCPD

Written by Steve

"Being a UNA-Canada's JPC was the perfect stepping-stone from my private sector work in Toronto to the work of the United Nations."

From July 2015 – January 2016 I was a Junior Professional Consultant (JPC) with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Asia and the Pacific (UNRCPD), located at the time in Bangkok due to the major earthquakes that struck Nepal in 2015 (We have since relocated back to Kathmandu in February 2017).

During my internship with UNRCPD, I was able to contribute substantively to all areas of the Centre’s disarmament mandate (Weapons of Mass Destruction, Conventional Weapons, as well as Peace and Disarmament Education). I assisted in the organization of national workshops to promote the disarmament of Small Arms and Light Weapons in the Maldives, Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar. In addition, I also worked extensively on the organization of two large-scale international WMD disarmament conferences, the “United Nations Conference on Disarmament Issues” in Hiroshima, Japan, and the “14^th UN – Republic of Korea Joint Conference on Disarmament and Non-proliferation Issues” in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The latter event I was also able to attend alongside the director of UNRCPD and the Under-Secretary General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

A combination of hard work, building good professional relationships and a bit of serendipity, resulted in UNRCPD offer me a long-term consultancy contract at the end of my internship placement. I would continue to work in all areas of the Centre’s mandate in a paid role, but my primary responsibilities were implementing a joint UN – Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) project designed to assist Central Asian States and Mongolia to develop National Actions Plans for the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1540, to prevent the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials and their means of delivery.

Coming up on 3 years with UNRCPD, I have been very privileged to be engaged in a myriad of workshops, trainings, seminars and conferences all over Asia and the Pacific. I have also been fortunate to have gotten to attend and take a leading role in training events related to Conventional Weapons in Samoa, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Cambodia and Thailand, where I contributed substantively by setting the agenda, identifying experts, and in some cases, led workshops/ training sessions to help build the capacity of participants on reporting to various UN disarmament instruments. From a WMD perspective, I have been able to continue to attend our yearly international disarmament conferences in Japan and Korea, as well as a high-level meeting on UNSCR-1540 in Kathmandu.

None has this would have been possible for me had it not been for the excellent opportunity afforded by the International Development and Diplomacy Internship Programme (IDDIP) and the incredible support and mentorship from the staff at UNA-Canada. Being a JPC was the perfect stepping-stone from my private sector work in Toronto to the work of the United Nations. The experience, skills and relationships I was able to form during my time as a JPC have been indispensable to my personal and professional development. I would strongly urge all young Canadians interested in breaking into the field of International Relations to consider the IDDIP with UNA-Canada!