Life and career across continents (from Rio-92 to Rio+10 in 2002… and then back to Brazil in 2003!)

IN THE PREVIOUS EPISODE…

In Episode 1 of this #Linkflix series, published last week, I told you about my method of work for the final thesis of my Master of Science (MSc) in Biological Sciences at the University of Modena, Italy, which involved some poor little snails and the fast development of the Internet, that made me access rich repositories of useful data and information for my research studies on schistosomiasis. I also told you about my recurring “predictive dream” of myself in the Brazilian Amazon, since the Rio-92 Conference until the… "Modena-96" awakening. Now, in this new and long Episode, it is time to show you the results of my university studies, which will make you understand how the expected and the unexpected eventually mixed with each other and took me to the United Nations.

EPISODE 2 (...or SECTION 2): RESULTS

In this episode, as for the development of many human discoveries and inventions (such as the penicillin), you will see how the accidental or unintended results of the "career projects", as those of many scientific experiments in the laboratory, can change a life story (and a career) for good, as it happened with mine.

The unintended results of my "scientific endeavors" at the University of Modena, instead of taking me to spend most of my life in laboratories or in classrooms at the university, took me to the United Nations and to Brazil. There, shortly after we started working together in Modena on our research project with the snails, my father was working as the Science Attaché of the Embassy of Italy in Brasilia, Brazil. And there in Brasilia, sometime in August 1997, after obtaining my MSc in Biological Sciences on 15 April 1996 (one day before my birthday...), during the summer vacation to visit my parents, and motivated by my desire of knowing more about the work of the United Nations, I went to meet the coordinator of the Natural Sciences sector of the UNESCO Brasilia office, Celso Salatino Schenkel (figure 1 below - source: UNESCO archives).

First of all, meeting Celso, I was surprised to see that he was not formal at all with me, and he made me feel at ease all time. Celso listened to me with good attention, as I was telling him of my recent university studies and experimental research, as well of my career interests -- at that time, after much thinking (and after the dream I told you about in Episode 1), I decided that I would work for the UN, and, for many reasons, UNESCO seemed to me one of the best choices. Celso explained me about UNESCO's work in Brazil, which was focused on biodiversity (in 1994, UNESCO had designated the Cerrado Biosphere Reserve, an innovative model of sustainable development with direct engagement of local communities) and on water resources management -- UNESCO was already supporting many activities in Brazil within its International Hydrological Programme (IHP, now known as Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme). After giving me several UNESCO brochures, Celso encouraged me to come back to visit him upon completing my mandatory post-graduation internship and civil service in Italy, so that I could start working for UNESCO in Brazil as a sort of volunteer trainee -- and that would take more than one year.

Killing that little snail in the university laboratory in Modena, even if it was for the sake of the good science, made me feel a bit guilty, because I had to completely change the scope of my thesis after my father left me behind in my hometown, and my new research subject was not related anymore to sustainable biological control, but to some more complex issues regarding the nervous system of that snail. And I was not being very good in carrying out my experiments in the laboratory located in the dark basement, many times left alone with several snails inside the aquariums, some of whom I had to select to put some tiny slices of their brain onto a slide under the microscope. But after meeting Celso on that day in August 1997, I started realizing that my life soon would change for the better.

As mentioned above, after my graduation and during the summer vacation in Brazil, (un)fortunately, I still had to spend more than one year in Italy, for a mandatory post-graduation internship in the laboratories of the Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA, in the Italian acronym -- now known as ARPAE) and to attend the civil service, which was mandatory too, in alternative to the military service. So, I could return in Brazil only in July 1998. I had decided to leave Italy and go to live in Brazil together with my parents, who were still there – and thus I left behind my brother Duilio, who at that time was living with me in Bologna. To me, moving to Brazil was a "natural choice", not only because I could join my parents again, but especially because I would have the chance to get opportunities to study and work in a country internationally known for its Amazon rainforest and the huge biodiversity of its other ecosystems...

Therefore, shortly after moving from Italy to Brazil, I maintained the promise I made to Celso one year earlier and went to visit him again, sometime in July 1998. Luckily, he did not forgot his promise to help me get the volunteer "apprenticeship" opportunity in the UNESCO Brasilia Office, and thus he asked me to give him my CV and a cover letter, so that he would share them with the UNESCO Representative to Brazil at that time, Dr. Jorge Werthein (figure 2 above), to whom he would request to authorize me to join the Office. And here below, and in the next episodes of this Linkflix series, you will see and read the short-, medium- and long-term unintended results of such request by Celso.

In the very short-term, one of the intended results of that meeting with Celso was that on 10 August 1998, introduced by the "memo" of Dr. Werthein (figure 3 below) to the entire office team, I started my experience as a volunteer collaborator of UNESCO.

The non-remunerated collaboration for the Environment Unit of the Natural Sciences sector lasted for about 8-9 months, but I learned a lot and it helped me to develop my first professional projects (related to efficient water use in Brazil's Federal District) and to achieve, 2 years later, in 2000, my first remunerated position at UNESCO, within the Junior Professional Officers (JPO) / Associate Experts (AE) Programme of the UN (I will tell you more about this further ahead). So, based on my own experience, if you really want to work with the UN (and especially if you are young, dynamic and motivated) I strongly recommend that you look for any available opportunity, including volunteer/non-remunerated ones… sooner or later, eventually, they will pay off!

Now, let’s go back to the accidental or unintended results of my "UN career project". As I have briefly explained above, one of the unintended results of those laboratory experiments with the little snails was to make me open my eyes and my mind to much larger horizons and bigger goals, going with my thoughts much beyond the laboratory walls, and the key for that was my growing passion for the concept of sustainable development, since the Rio-92 conference, when I dreamed about exploring the Brazilian Amazon during a sunny day. But in 1992 I could not even imagine that such day would come a few years later, as you will see very soon.

While I was doing non-remunerated work as a volunteer collaborator of the UNESCO Brasilia Office, Dr. Werthein granted me with his very valuable support to my request to the Government of Italy to work as an Associate Expert for the UNESCO Brasilia Office (see Dr. Werthein's support letter in figure 4, here to the left). But Dr. Werthein, without planning for it (another unintended result of my personal trajectory!), changed my destiny for good with another initiative: hosting an informal end-of-the-year party at his beautiful residence by the Lago Sul (South Lake), and inviting the whole UNESCO Brasilia Office team. There I had the chance to get into a very pleasurable conversation about Italy, Brazil and many other issues with Luciano Milhomem, a colleague of the office. The conversation started just outside the house of Dr. Werthein -- as we arrived at the party with our cars at the same time -- and continued in the open-air patio of the house, at one of the tables overlooking the pool, where we shared many interesting stories. He liked so much to talk with me that he decided to introduce me to his sister, calling her to join us in a "spin-off" conversation with other UNESCO colleagues who were at that party, but moved away from Dr. Werthein's house to a trendy bar-restaurant of the central residential area of Brasília, the Asa Sul. And when I saw that young charming woman in front of the bar, coming out of her car and smiling to me, I had an instant breakthrough to the spell of love! This all happened in the night between 18 and 19 December 1998, and, since then, Adriana and I developed another conversation, that became the beginning of our loving relationship, which eventually made us decide to marry in 2000... and, since then, we have been living together, sharing many other interesting stories and developing our own story of life. This was certainly an unintended result of the "team-building / get-together meeting" wisely planned by Dr. Werthein to make the UNESCO Brasilia Office team build stronger and more informal internal working relationships. But this is a quick "flash forward" to the scenes at the end of this episode, because, in between, there are some other important scenes of this real-life story of myself with UNESCO and the wider family of the UN-System.

In July 2000, some months after the conclusion of my post-graduate specialization in Environmental Management and Land-Use Planning at the University of Brasilia, I had my first remunerated work experience in Brazil… and guess where exactly? In the middle of the Brazilian Amazon, in the town of Alta Floresta, state of Mato Grosso! So, I had eventually realized the dream I dreamed with my eyes shut during the Rio-92, and with my eyes open in Modena, in 1996 (to know more about this, and if you didn’t do it before, please read Episode 1). There in Alta Floresta (“Deep Forest”, freely translated to English) I worked for a Forest Fire Management project of the Italian Development Cooperation (Projeto Fogo: Emergência Cr?nica), which was carried out by two well-known Brazilian NGOs: Amigos da Terra – Amaz?nia Brasileira and Instituto Centro de Vida – ICV. This Project was very successful in Brazil, as it promoted a participatory and regulated approach to fire management and wildfires prevention in several municipalities across the Brazilian Amazon, engaging local communities with their municipal governments to take important decisions for their well-being and their economy. Prescribed fires (managed burns of vegetation made by rural producers) and accidental wildfires (such as the one I witnessed during my field work – see figure 5 below) were very common before the Project and were drastically reduced after it.

The Projeto Fogo was also replicated in Bolivia, and I consider it as one of the best environmental projects I ever came across in my work experience – I assure you that I am not saying this just because my father, Ferdinando Lombardo, conceived it (during his experience as Science Attaché at the Italian Embassy in Brasilia). The Projeto Fogo made me learn that, to achieve transformational outcomes from environmental conservation projects, it is necessary to develop together with all relevant stakeholders an integrated social and environmental management approach, which, through appropriate planning and implementation, leads to sustainable development and economic growth. Furthermore, the Project also made me know some very interesting and important persons for environmental conservation in Brazil, such as Roberto Smeraldi, Sergio Henrique Guimar?es, Marília Carnhelutti, Adalberto (Beto) Veríssimo and Vitória Da Riva (except for Roberto, all of them were with me during a breakfast at the Cristalino Jungle Lodge, where we spent a beautiful weekend – see figure 6 below).

While I was working in Alta Floresta, in the middle of the Amazon Forest, sometime in August 2000, my parents, calling me on the phone from Brasilia, gave me the breaking news: I had received a letter from the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) office in Rome, which coordinates the JPO/AE Program for Italian nationals. That letter informed me that I had been selected by the Government of Italy and by UNESCO for a position within the Program, which I had to take up before the end of November 2000! The title of that position was "Associate Expert in Hydrological Science": to my surprise, I was assigned to the UNESCO Jakarta Office, in Indonesia -- which was also the Regional Office for Science and Technology for Southeast Asia (currently is the Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Sciences). And my girlfriend Adriana was following the conversation with my parents at their home in Brasilia, when they suddenly left her speaking with me only... and we kept speaking for more than one hour (!). That long phone call resulted in three immediate decisions for the short, medium and long-term: 1) I had to stop my consulting experience with the Projeto Fogo to go back to Brasilia; 2) we were going to marry in Brasilia and spend some time in Italy together for our honey-moon [ahead of my pre-assignment training at the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO), from 16 October to 04 November 2000, in Turin, and ahead of my "briefing visit" at UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris, France]; 3) we would move together from Brasilia, Brazil, to live in Jakarta, Indonesia. And we had to prepare for this all in less than 2 months! Eventually, despite several challenges, everything worked out well -- we even ended up staying more than expected in France and traveled to London together before we finally reached Jakarta on 25 November 2000.

Here to the right (figure 7) is my first ever UNESCO business card. I was then able to change my title to "Associate Expert in Water Sciences", as I did not, and I do not consider myself an expert in hydrological sciences! But the title was given to the position because UNESCO requested to recruit an AE to support the implementation of IHP in Southeast Asia, which is a very big region. I was selected for that position mainly because of my previous work experiences in Brasilia on efficient urban water resources management, as a volunteer for UNESCO and for a Brazilian NGO (Voluntários Candangos), which were the basis for my post-graduate research studies at the University of Brasília (see below the cover page of my final project thesis – figure 8), under the supervision of Dr. Oscar de Moraes Cordeiro Netto.

My experience with UNESCO could not resume better! It was great to start working as an Associate Expert (AE) / Junior Professional Officer (JPO) for the Organization that believed in my professional capacities since I was a recently graduated university student, accepting my request to work as a volunteer collaborator (trainee). I worked at the UNESCO Jakarta Office from November 2000 to July 2003, and still keep many good memories… including some “historical pictures” and “souvenirs” of that period, as you can see below.

Here to the left (figure 9) is my first UN Identity Card, released by the UN coordination office in Indonesia.

The picture to the right (figure 10) was taken during my first field visit to a local kampung (village) in Jakarta, where I met with community members engaged in an urban greening project - who wanted me to taste a powerful herbal tonic which made me sweat even more than I was! :-))

Between 27 May and 7 June 2002, in the beautiful island of Bali, Indonesia, I participated in my first UN multilateral (and intergovernmental) meeting ever! I was designated by the Director of the UNESCO Jakarta Office as the Focal Point for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), a continuation of the Rio-92 Conference (which for this reason was also dubbed as "Rio+10"), that was going to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. Therefore, I was also designated as the Office's Focal Point for the IV Meeting Session of the Preparatory Committee for the WSSD -- also known as PrepCOM- IV. It is then my matter of proud to show you the picture here above (figure 11), where you can see my name as an official member of the UNESCO's Delegation to the PrepCOM-IV, within the official list that the then Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsura, submitted to the Secretary-General of the UN. And there at PrepCOM IV I even gave my first speech in a UN conference, in a side event where I presented an initiative of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), talking on behalf of UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Natural Sciences, Dr. Walter Erdelen.

During those days in Bali, I was totally blown away by the huge number of interesting meetings and discussions between high-level representatives of more than 190 UN Member States, whose delegations were attending PrepCOM-IV. I was well prepared, not only with the right attire, as of the picture at the right (figure 12), but also with the technical knowledge and diplomatic "materials and methods" to deal with all the diverse stakeholders who gathered there in Bali, and thus I tried to participate as much as possible in all discussions related to what the UNESCO Jakarta Office was doing across the five thematic sectors of UNESCO (Education - ED, Natural Sciences - SC, Social and Human Sciences - SHS, Culture - CLT and Communication and Information - CI). And so, using my badge as official delegate, I had the interesting experience of participating in a side session of a group of UN Member States, who discussed for more than one hour (!) about how to call the outcome document of the Rio+10: "Action Plan", "Plan of Action" or "Plan of Implementation"? My preference was for the first option, but as I was representing the UN Secretariat and not a Member State, unfortunately I could not vote... and the third (and worst!) option eventually won - the Rio+10 outcome document was entitled "Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development". With such premises, the Summit actually was not successful at all!

Regrettably, I was not included in UNESCO's delegation for the WSSD in Johannesburg (there were already too many colleagues from the Headquarters and some from the field offices…), but that incredible experience at the PrepCOM-IV motivated me even more to become a “science diplomat” and look for a "permanent" job as an internationally-recruited Staff Member of the UN, after the conclusion of my assignment as UNESCO's Associate Expert in Jakarta, which eventually ended in July 2003. Unfortunately, although is a unique opportunity for young professionals to learn how to work with and for a UN agency, the AEs/JPOs Program does not allow more than 2-4 years of international assignment (depending on the participating donor country) and the same UN agencies that receive the AEs/JPOs do not have funds to retain many of the "alumni" of such a rewarding experience. But, as a proof of the quality of the AEs/JPOs Program, it is important to highlight that many former AEs and JPOs are able to return to the UN, in some cases after a short "break", and in some others, as it was mine (not because of lack of attempts or capacity!), after many years... but, in any case, many former JPOs and AEs reach senior leadership positions within the same UN agency that formed them as junior professionals or in other agencies.

Before the end of my experience as an AE/JPO for the UNESCO Jakarta Office I even had my first chance to meet in person a president of a state – Mr. Xanana Gusm?o, who had been recently elected as the President of the newly created state of Timor Leste (East Timor), after many years of civil war with Indonesia. I was in Dili, the capital of Timor Leste, representing UNESCO at the first Lusophone Book Fair, and liaising with some government officials to develop cooperation in the field of Natural Sciences. Look at my face in the picture (figure 13 above – I am between Xanana Gusm?o, at the left, and Mr. Mari Alkatiri, who was the Prime Minister of Timor Leste) and you will understand how excited I was!

When I returned from Indonesia and went back to Brazil, in August 2003, I still did not have many good professional connections, and I needed to find a job. My strongest professional connections were at the UNESCO Brasilia Office, where I had worked previously as a volunteer. Celso Schenkel was still working there, but, unfortunately, there was no professional position open in the Natural Sciences Sector. I thought that my experience as AE/JPO would soon land me a job with the UN in Brazil, but, despite several efforts, I was not able to find any job, neither with the UN nor in any other UN agency I contacted… So, I had to “stop dreaming” for a while and postpone the fulfilment of my “UN career project”. Eventually, after many attempts to find a new job, at the end of March 2004 I was recruited by the Italian Development Cooperation (again, after the experience with the Projeto Fogo!) to work as one of the coordinators of the Brazil-Italy Biodiversity Program (Programa Biodiversidade Brasil-Itália - PBBI). The years went by, and after the end of my experience with the PBBI, in 2009, I also worked for the United States Agency for International Development - USAID (from 2009 to 2012, meeting the second state president of my life, Mr. Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States of America) and for the UK Department for International Development - DFID (from 2012 to 2016), until I was finally able to come back to the UN... guess where? At the UNESCO Brasilia Office! But I will tell you about this next week, in the next Episode (Section 3) of this #Linkflix series! Keep yourself tuned in!

Stay tuned on this #Linkflix series – next week I will publish Episode 3 (Section 3: Discussion)! And if you missed the previous episodes, please check them out from the following links: Episode 0 | Episode 1