My UNDP Internship Experience

"Time is going quickly" - Gerald, ICT advisor at UNDP/ITM

I would like to start this article with that sentence of the Chief of our Unit. And of course, time flew quicly and here I am at the end of my six months of internship with the Smart Facility Network Operations Center (SFNOC) part of the Information Technology Management (ITM) at United Nations Development Programme.

The journey started here on LinkedIn when I saw a post on EMMANUELLA ABLE 's profile about the internship positions at UNDP. I didn't hesitate to like that post and keep the link handy because I was not ready to apply on that day. During that time, I was undertaking the Global Mentorship Initiative program, so I shared the opportunity with my mentor Kerstin Bode and asked her if we could talk about it during one of our one-on-one sessions, which she definitely accepted. So, we discussed about it during our mentorship session where she asked me some questions regarding my motivation, the benefit of that opportunity for me, etc., all those questions in order to prepare me for the application form.

So, I applied to that opportunity and fortunately, I was shorlisted and got an email few weeks after for arranging the interview. And at this stage again, I reached out to my mentor and Emmanuella for any tips they would like to share with me to succeed my interview. Emmanuella encouraged me to focus on the Competencies based interview (CBI) resources the interviewer shared with me. My mentor also said the same thing and other tips regarding my strenght and weakness. They had done so much and it was up to me now to put all together and get ready for the interview. So, I went through the resource UNDP shared with me and took some additional YouTube videos on CBI.

Wow, the good news!!! After two weeks, I got the selection email and of course I shared the good news with my mentor and Emmanuella who congratulated me a lot, yeah a lot! - Because as you can see, the number of applicants was huge and I made it.

The selection process has been completed that way, so we were onboarded and had training sessions within our respective teams.

To cut the long story short, let me move quickly to the important things like my achievements and accomplishments during my internship.

Indeed, professionally, I worked with about 47+ UNDP Country Offices (CO) by assisting in providing effective digital platform services, monitoring Connectivity, working with cloud-based solutions like Cisco Meraki dashboard and Network Management System among others. I also worked with IT incident ticketing system and helped to resolve some IT incidents. I worked on various projects from Internet Protocol Adresses Management to Network Management System monitoring dashboards and graphs improvement passing by Global Helpdesk and Project management. I worked with a team of brilliant, great and supportive professionals and colleagues.

Personally, I made new connections and my LinkedIn profile followers grew from 1,5K to 4K. I also enjoyed working in a diverse and intercultural environment. I even had learned some few words in Swahili, a well-known and spoken language in East Africa. All those settings allowed me to improve my communication skills in such a large organization like UNDP, improve my interpersonal skills and earn other skills that will help me in my career and help me to inspire the youngest generation coming after me as I am growing in my career. - I hope! :)

To sum up this article, I will say this internship has been a good opportunity for me to learn, to put into test my skills and improve them and contribute to a global work for a better world. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this opportunity and to the entire UNDP team who made it possible.

Special thanks to EMMANUELLA ABLE , Kerstin Bode , Koupam Malick ALASSANE , Wilfrid AHOUANSOU, Ph.D , Global Mentorship Initiative , Rafis Saifulin , Gerald Demeules , Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at the University of Abomey-Calavi , Olaoumi Mathias EYE , Enoch Gbenato Achigan-Dako , Esaie TCHAGNONSI , Kpèdétin Léonie TANKPINOU , Madeleine HODOMIHOU , Faustin Tohouede , Grace OGAH ??? and all those who contributed to my journey until now and who don't stop in supporting me as I grow professionally and personally. THANK YOU EVERYONE.

And above all, everlasting thanksgivings to Almighty God who always gives us grace, health and energy to keep on moving.

I will stop by wishing you all HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON to you and your loved ones. May 2023 be another year of great achievements! God bless you! - Gbééré Achille