MA candidate Jeehyo Leem shares her experience as an intern at the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality. 

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Internship Report

Name: Jeehyo Leem

Internship Period: 1 February 2023 to 31 July 2023

Organization: United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

It was a great honor for me to begin my career at UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality (the Centre) and to become one of their very first recruited interns. I am deeply grateful to the colleagues at the Centre and every connection I met over the past six months for their genuine inspiration and enthusiasm. Also, I would like to thank Professor Yang of HUFS GSIAS, my supervisor, for supporting and guiding me in balancing my academic duty and internship. Last but not least, I would like to thank my sincere colleague Hyun-ji Lee for sharing the recruitment advertisement so that I could eventually take part in the Centre’s operations.

The UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality was established in Seoul in 2022, as a ‘knowledge hub’ to facilitate research, education and training, sharing of innovations and lessons learned, networking, and development of multi-stakeholder partnerships. The Centre aims to contribute to operationalizing normative frameworks on gender equality and the empowerment of women, informing innovative approaches to achieving Sustainable Development Goals, transforming harmful social norms in the fast-changing and unique social landscape of Asia and the Pacific, and forging partnerships across sectors.

My internship title was administrative intern, which is to contribute to the operations team of the Centre. The tasks and assignments mainly focused on planning and following up with the procurement process for the Centre’s activities. I learned about the UN’s procurement system, budget allocation, and its coordination between the Centre’s annual business plan and its several stakeholders such as the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family of the Republic of Korea and the UN Women Regional Office of Asia and Pacific. In addition, I assisted the training program team with a couple of projects, by providing administrative paperwork and technical support for RSVP and stakeholder involvement, distributing the concept notes and logistic notes with its translation, meeting preparation, and organizing the event.

In particular, I contributed to eight significant events concerning International Women’s Day, Ring the Bell for Gender Equality, Women’s Empowerment Principals, Gender-responsive Climate Action, etc. Also, I supported two upcoming technical workshops which are held after the termination of my internship contract.

Since it was the first year that the Centre commenced its operation, an overwhelming amount of tasks were provided to all staff and interns to achieve its planned projects. This was challenging but at the same time turned out to be a great opportunity to experience a wide array of tasks and take responsibility accordingly. In this regard, I had chances to assist the external relations team with providing proofreading to their outputs for media distribution.

Centre of Excellence Group Photo taken on International Women’s Day

Prep Team Group Photo for Ring the Bell for Gender Equality

I have been contemplating how to connect the theoretical insights to practice, as a master’s candidate in international development. By working at the UN Women Centre as an intern, I had chances to meet preeminent specialists in various fields who already paved the way and supported a better future for all. After all, I reached a conclusion that; it is a prerequisite to broaden my academic knowledge during my master’s program; and it is important to always seek and be prepared for opportunities to start an on-the-ground career. I am certain that this experience will be a motivation for my further life-long study in the sector of international development and gender equality.

Group Photo taken at Gender-Responsive Rights-Based Climate Action

Again, I am glad to share that I successfully finished my first internship at the UN Women Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality. I am immensely grateful to the Centre for providing me with this transformative internship experience. This internship has significantly contributed to my career aspirations in international development and gender equality. The supportive and empowering work environment, combined with the meaningful projects I was involved in, has shaped me both personally and professionally. I look forward to carrying the lessons and insights gained during my internship as I pursue my career, and I am excited to continue contributing to the mission of gender equality.