United Nations

The United Nations is an intergovernmental agency that establishes global policies and launches initiatives to promote peace, human rights, and sustainable development. There are numerous entities within the UN with specific focus areas on different sustainability topics, such as Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), UN Women, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

No day may look the same depending on the UN entity you are interested in and no day may look the same. Tasks vary from collaborating with various countries (locally or nationally) to develop and launch workshops with the aim of educating, or conducting research and reporting findings.

What are the key skill sets most important to succeeding in this role? As we did not get too many respondents working at the UN in our survey, the top skills for this role have been desktop research: communication, data analysis, multicultural teamwork, leadership, project management, and problem solving.

In terms of landing a role at the UN, it is common to do so via an internship and then secondarily via a contract role. It is rare that people enter the UN system through a permanent role.

Career Case Study

Policy Specialist - Youth and Agrifood Systems at the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)

What’s your day to day like?

My day-day activities consist of a range of tasks including but not limited to:

Finding the resources and reading the reports, documents, paper or scientific articles related to the policy coherence and categorising or summarising them in the form of a literature review.
Communication and coordination work with the country offices for activities such as launching a country brief, podcast release, and more.
Supporting concept note formulations and consultation in preparation for key events being held at the FAO.
Meetings with supervisors and colleagues (both one-one and team meetings).
Participating in training and meetings (whenever required).

(Sector-specific question): What useful resources do you recommend for young people to look at if they are interested in learning more?

Job vacancy portals for the FAO.
Going through the recent resources in FAO divisional websites.
Joining relevant LinkedIn groups.
Get updated about good practices through the FAO podcast.

Advice for young people looking to enter this field:

Understand the concepts, practices, and challenges relating to agrifood systems across different contexts (both globally and locally). This job is something you will enjoy if you are interested in agriculture and food systems, and like normative work in policy and governance issues in a very international environment.
Network with colleagues working in the agriculture and food systems sector (UN/ NGOs/ INGOs) through LinkedIn or at conferences. Reach out with some interesting questions and try to secure coffee chats!
Vacancies open up at varying times across the year, try to apply for relevant jobs whenever possible (you learn a lot even from a simple application and/or interview process).
Tailor your CV and application based on the vacancy.
Brush up on your written and verbal communication skills.