Tiffany talks UNICEF Peru

My arrival as a Junior Professional Consultant in Peru came at a particularly interesting time for the UNICEF office in Lima. Like many other development agencies and not-for-profits that are presently operating in this uncertain and austere economic atmosphere, UNICEF Peru was beginning to explore new and more efficient channels for fundraising.

“Beginning” is the key word in this context – up until this point the country office had never utilized an official fundraising strategy when engaging with their international donors (i.e., governments, international financial institutions and UNICEF national committees). As a JPC my role was divided into three main tasks: firstly, to research past behaviours of UNICEF Peru’s fundraising partners, as well as patterns and trends amongst potential and current donor’s international cooperation and development policies; secondly, to compile this information into a working strategic document for the office representative to reference when engaging with donors; and thirdly, to gather and document all the information relevant to this strategy into the country office’s database, allowing the UNICEF staff to reference it when they so required.

My work at UNICEF Peru not only built the foundation for a fundraising action plan for the country office but also allowed me to develop the skills which allowed me to transition into my new role as a Resource Development Officer at the United Way Centraide Canada office.

Much like my role in fundraising at UNICEF Peru, the Resource Development Officer position was a newly created role intended to determine and set into motion best practices in resource development amongst the United Way movement in Canada.

The experience I developed in project management (researching and constructing a strategy), in managing and classifying large quantities of information (building the country office international fundraising database) and in communications (drafting a working document) allowed me to stand out in the pool of candidates. The specific challenges I was faced with, and the responsibilities I undertook as a JPC at UNICEF, enabled me to take charge on a new and innovative project that gave me the opportunity to tackle very tangible challenges and issues in the field of fundraising in the not-for-profit sector.

With the added bonus of working in a beautifully diverse country such as Peru, and tackling meaningful and substantive development issues under the banner of the United Nations, my work as a junior professional consultant not only provided me with wealth of amazing memories that I will cherish for years to come, but also allowed me to undergo immense professional growth. The skills and experience gathered from the IDDIP allowed me to transition smoothly and quickly into the workforce, to pursue the career I had always strived for.