Ilaria Rocchi, MPhil in Education at Cambridge, describes her time interning for UN Women – the United Nations entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
I’ve been interested in the work of the United Nations for a long time.
Since I was fifteen years old, I have been actively involved in the organisation of the Model United Nations projects, which every year gather brilliant students from all over the world to a three-day simulation of the work of the UN.
I felt a responsibility as a young woman to work for girls and women who don’t have access to health and culture, while I was studying at one of the most prestigious universities in the world
During my time at Cambridge, where I carried out my MPhil in Education, I did not give up this interest.
I chaired the UN Women committee at the Cambridge University Model United Nations. This was the first time I got to know about this agency, which fights for gender equality and women’s rights. I was immediately attracted by its powerful mandate, and wanted to explore it further. I felt a responsibility as a young woman to work for girls and women who don’t have access to health and culture, while I was studying at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Through the exceptional service offered by the Careers Service, I got in touch with the UN Women Executive Board team, who work at the UN Headquarters in New York.
I decided to apply for an internship starting in the summer, and this is how I ended up here. The only concern I had when I got the internship offer was that at the time most internships within the UN were unpaid. It goes without saying that living in New York is not the cheapest thing on earth, so this could have been a real barrier between me and my goal. Through Homerton College, my home during my time at Cambridge, I found out about the Homerton Victoria Brahm Schild scholarship. I applied straight away to this source of funding, explaining the reasons I wanted to achieve my goal to work at the UN. I was awarded a scholarship and, a few months later, straight after submitting my MPhil thesis, I arrived at the UN in New York. Having my flight ticket reimbursed by the scholarship at a very early stage of my time in New York, was a good help to start off. It’s great news that UN Women are now offering stipends to interns to help with the costs.
It has been great to work with exceptional people and women who fight for equality
I started to work at UN Women Executive Board secretariat in July.
Within the Secretariat, I cooperated in all aspects of the work of the Executive Board. I worked on negotiation procedures; developed and managed projects at national- and international-level; drafted and edited official UN documentation; and engaged in external relations with member states.
From the very beginning, my job was very exciting and inspiring.
It was great to work with exceptional people and women who fight for equality. Every day at work I could feel I was working for something incredibly relevant. I don’t think this is to be taken for granted. I believe one of the greatest achievements of my internship though, is that UN Women and the University of Cambridge have now established a good and trustful relationship for which I hope it will be possible and easier for future Cambridge students to work for the UN.
I am really enthusiastic about my experience at the United Nations, and that I realised a dream.
This dream has now become my job and I had the opportunity to understand what I want my future to look like.