New Horizon

E-magazine produced by Joint UN Traineeship Programme 2011-12. (www.un.org.np)

New Horizon

Message from Robert Piper

I am very happy to congratulate all of the trainees who have completed their 11 month UN Traineeship. This has been a remarkable group of young people and we hope that prospective employers will benefit from the professional and personal growth we have seen in them over the past year. Indeed, we have also benefitted greatly from their presence and inputs. This scheme has been a pilot and based on its success, we have decided to continue to give members of traditionally excluded communities an opportunity to gain experience from working at the United Nations in Nepal. Our decision to continue, is not least, based on the Pg. 1 | 2012 | all results we have seen from this first cohort of extraordinary individuals. I wish themwww.un.org.np success in their future endeavours.
Photo@Rajendra, UNIC

New Horizon

Overview of Traineeship Program

Pratik Bickram Rana
Program Specialist. Foundation for Development Management (FDM) Many of the trainees under the Joint UN Traineeship Programme came to know about this program through colleges and some got the information from local NGOs. Foundation for Development Management (FDM) went to colleges and many NGOs to advertise the Traineeship Programme and as a result, over 700 youths applied for this Program. Some of the trainees were fresh graduates whereas some were teachers, social mobilisers, housewives or pursuing different jobs. There was an extensive screening procedure to select only 31 individuals. All of them joined with the hope that it will provide a platform for their future career. Being associated with many UN agencies, it was only natural to think that the 11 months spend will give them a much needed impetus for their career. Many of the trainees come from a modest background and worked hard for their studies and this Traineeship program came as an opportunity for a better future. It is not easy for the individuals from historically and culturally excluded communities to compete freely in the modern work environment. To fit in the international organization is quite farfetched. However, with the learning from this program and many professional acquaintances they have developed; there is a hope for a better career. We had to bear in mind that the quality of education was not of the same grade for all trainees. Some were quite privileged to be educated in good schools and colleges in Kathmandu whereas some of them studied from government schools and colleges with poor standard of education. Since UN is an international organization, it required English as means of communication-written or spoken. This was also a learning experience in terms of written and spoken ability. Similarly, this program also built confidence in trainees to articulate and present themselves well. I believe the 11 months structured full time training imparted to trainees helped develop expertise in their area of work, communication skills, building team work, drive for result etc. Instilling in trainees such virtues would be pivotal for their growth in their professional and personal life. I hope, with learning from this Program there is no looking back and the trainees will be employed and excel in their respective work; which is precisely the purpose behind this program.

How we learned on the trainee programme

Mr. Brian Harding, Co-Mentor, Climate Change Specialist, EECC Unit
Time can often pass fast in the UNDP Nepal country office. Sometimes the pace of work can make it seem like you never get time to think, as we deal and follow up with government, push on policy, engage in project management activities, speak to development partners or simply get caught in traffic between meetings. However, there are times when we must stop in our tracks and think about how we interact and who are our key clients. I think, the UN joint trainee programme is one such initiative that has made me think long and hard about Nepal. The environment unit has been one of the lucky groups to receive a trainee. I have co-mentored Kul Nepali over the past number of months along with other colleagues in the environment and especially Anupa Lamichane who is his Mentor. It has been a pleasure and I have learned a lot I initially thought, we will need to work closely with our new trainee to help him understand the technical areas of climate change and environment. After sitting with our new arrival, my first impression was incorrect. He held a depth of
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knowledge on the topics. I soon realized that it was not that Kul or all the other trainees that turned up at his desk lacked technical knowledge, it was sometimes simply the confidence to be able to articulate that knowledge and put it into understandable language was not always there. Speaking with confidence on a topic takes skill that takes practice. By the time, June came around, Kul was articulating his impressions of UNDP at a unit level strategic day retreat. Vijay Singh, our unit head honorably wrote a day later dear Kul, it was really good to hear reflections from you about the office, your traineeship, and about us. Thanks for frankly expressing your feelings. However, there were many days when Kul was not seen as a trainee, but simply as part of the team, going about his duties and striving to do his work as efficiently as possible Im sure many others have had similar experiences across UN House. I am sure we will be hearing more from the trainees I know Ill certainly be staying in touch with Kul.

New Horizon

Physical Labour, Status and peoples Perspective

Sita Bishwokarma
Trainee, UNICEF/NCO, WASH Section as low caste and deprived of dignity; whereas, sluggish people are respected. As the Executive Director was carrying the vessel, I remembered my childhood days; we would go about an hour distance to fetch water. Our past hardship has eased a bit now days; however, large numbers of people still have no access to drinking water. As a consequence, children and women are highly affected in terms of education, health, and so on. However, the very contrasting aspect is some people are suffering from health problems because of over working, whereas, some are facing such problems due to lack of proper exercise and understanding towards labour. Thus, as I saw the filled vessel carried by Mr. Lakes, it symbolized the suffering of children and women who are confined to such works. At the same time, it strikes me as how labour has been assessed in term of status. However, I wonder when will such discriminations and discrepancies in terms of gender, caste and status, will meet its end.

I was carrying a water-filled vessel in a programme organised to welcome the Executive Director, Anthony Lakes by UNICEF Nepal at Lalitpur. I was really excited; for this was the first time I was in ethnic attire. All the people were dressed in Nepals different culture due to which the UN House premise seemed painted in different colours. On 12th January 2012, UNICEF organized the programme in honour of Mr. Lakes visit. Like other sections of UNICEF, the WASH section presented its progress and achievements of last four decades including future plans, with a situation of WASH in Nepal through performances. The presentation was to portray the situation of children and women in Nepal. I played the role of a mother in that short play. As Andreas Knapp presented the

progress report, we were playing the role of different characters. In the meantime, he asked the Executive Director if he wanted to carry the vessel. He accepted and carried it. He was happy, because of first such experience in his life. The audiences were amazed by his simplicity. The following day, some people were wondering whether he was offended by such manner, because in Nepali culture asking a senior person to do any menial job is taken as disrespect. However, it reflects Nepali perspective towards physical labour. Despite modernization, there seems no change in peoples attitudes towards labour. It is enmeshed with gender and caste in a large extent. The household works like fetching water and cooking dishes are taken as the work of housewives. Moreover, hard working people, with skill, are ironically tagged

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New Horizon

Representation of UN Trainees
Mohan Masarangi Magar
Trainee, UNICEF (PME)

Map: Representation of UN Trainees

The UN Traineeship is an affirmative action from UN to make the socially excluded groups more competent in the professional sphere. This initiation of UN is very appreciable, which has provided a genuine opportunity to develop professionalism and increase the marketability of the trainees. The UN Traineeship Program is driven by the agenda of inclusion and equity. Nonetheless, there are rooms for
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improvements to make it more inclusive in coming phases of the program. Some of the points worth considering in coming phases of the program highlighted by the map are: Highest number of trainees from Western region Low representation from Mid-and Far-Western regions No representation from Karnali zone

Some interesting achievements are: Higher representation of female (57%) than male (43%) All of the trainees from central region are female Note: The address and sex of the trainees is as per the list of Finally selected candidates for UN Traineeship Program 2011-12 by FDM.

New Horizon

Save good culture and remove bad culture

Kul Nepali
Trainee, Environment, Energy and Climate Change (EECC) Unit UNDP

Photo: Tharu people showing their culture at Sauraha, Chitwan district.

Every society and country is modernizing day by day. No one can break the process of change. New things are being discovered all the time. Change is the need of the society. But in the name of change; will the society forget their culture? I got chance to know that some societies are saving their culture and profession when I participated into the workshop of WTLCP project in Sauraha as a UN trainee. Sauraha attracts many tourists. It is the central and the main entrance of the Chitwan National Park. Many hotels and resorts use the word jungle to their name to give essence of forest.

Another best thing of Sauraha is that there are scheduled dances of Tharu culture in each hotel and resorts which is the main entertainment for the national and international tourists. Tharu culture has amazing dances involving Tharu males and females taking sticks or fire logs. This exemplify that some society is saving their culture. We all have to salute them and encourage them to save their tradition. We keep hearing from everyone that people are going to leave their culture but it is evident from Tharu cultural programme at Sauraha that not all Nepali and communities are leaving their culture. In the context of Dalit Community, few castes are involved in

metallurgical operation and some castes play Sarangi, Madal and other musical instruments as their profession and culture. These types of professions are related with the so-called untouchable. People from different community have different cultures and professions, then why the untouchablity factor is connected to Dalit community. According to Mendalism there are only two types of species i. e. male and female in which monohybrid and dihybrid cross can take place. According to theory of human genetics, all homosapines species have 23 pairs of chromosomes which are more valuable and important to the scientific field. I just want to emphasize that there is no untouchability in the world scientifically. So people belonging to Dalit community dont have to hesitate to do their profession and maintain their culture. They have to save their profession and culture which is good but bad culture like untouchability need to be removed from the society. Dalit communities have to do their profession but they need to be part of modernization as it is the need of the society. Government of Nepal /UN / NGOs /INGOs need to support to modernize their professions and in saving their culture.

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New Horizon

Shaping up happy life

Sanjay Pariyar
Trainee, Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness Unit (SPDEU) UNDP her to manage food, clothing, and education of her children and to celebrate festivals from her earnings. Her elder children were not educated and they have not been to school at all. In February 2009, she joined the Janapragatishil Micro-Enterprise tailoring group and attended a 7 day long skill training in June 2009. Her group received three sewing machines and one iron from Micro Enterprise Development Program (MEDEP), a UNDP funded project and started their business. Now the situation is changing and because of MEDEP support she is now able to earn a profit of Rs. 200 per day. Now her household condition has changed for better and she does not have to worry for hand to mouth problem. She manages her daily family expenses smoothly and she is thankful to MEDEP for the support. Her five children are now studying at a government school and the rest of her three illiterate children have got married and settled. She is also running her business commercially in a modern way using sewing machines that are operated by leg peddles with over-lock machine. She stitches mostly womens clothing and limited mens clothes. She loaned Rs. 30,000 to one of the villager and earned 2% interest annually. She took loan from the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) for goat farming and sells 2-3 goats annually which are additional good source of income. She has now refunded the loan from PAF and is living happily with her family. Nilis hard work will give her better future and business in the days to come. From the field observation, I have come to know how UNDP has supported at the grass-root level and how the beneficiaries have benefitted.

It was on 26 April 2011, when I first entered in the UN House with many queries on United Nations and its functions. I had no idea about the United Nations except in the text books during my schooldays. I always had a dream to know about the UN System closely. My dream became true after joining as a UN trainee at the Strategic Planning and Development Effectiveness Unit (SPDEU) in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The frequent field visits and report writing was the main task assigned to me. During the period of my field visits, I got many opportunities to meet with the beneficiaries of the UNDP supported projects.

Photo: Nili Pariya37 , Raralihi VDC-9, Jumla. During my recent visit to Jumla, I met a 37 years old woman beneficiary named NIli Pariyar, a resident of Raralihi VDC9. She got married when she was 12 years old. She had her first baby girl at the age of 15 and now she has eight children. She and her husband used to run a small tailoring business in their hut by operating a hand operated sewing machine in traditional way. She used to follow a Lagi Pratha (traditional practice where the service providers are paid by grains on harvesting season or during festivals instead of cash wages) earlier which was humiliating and was very difficult for

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New Horizon

Getting light through darkness

Sushmita Diyali
Trainee, HR Unit, UNDP

As a trainee, I got to work in the Human Resources unit in UNDP Nepal. This was a very good opportunity for me to prove myself, and to play a part in changing the way lower caste people are treated in our society. I belong to a so-called lower caste. This was reason enough for my friends, and even my teachers, to discriminate against me and to disrespect me. All people are equal regardless of their caste, and we must respect one another, and treat everyone equally. But this does not always happen. Everyone does not realize that if only given the right opportunities, people from lower castes

can fare well too. And because the people around me lacked this realization, I was disrespected. At times, I even felt inferior myself. But ever since I got this opportunity to work in a prestigious and exemplary organization, the attitude of my friends and teachers towards me has changed. Now they respect me for my versatility and for being recognized. The respect I now get from them is also probably just human nature to respect people that hold higher positions! My association with UNDP has made them see me as someone with a high position! This traineeship has also brought a

vast difference in me. It has given me a chance to know and cherish my own talents. It has given me my identity, a big reason to smile. It is said that it is always a dark night that brings a bright morning; and hopefully tomorrow, my ambitions and dreams will come true. Tomorrow, people will understand that no one is untouchable, no caste is small, and no one with the right opportunities will fail just because of his caste. I encourage all my fellow-beings who are fighting caste-based discrimination to keep the hope. Good fate is created by hard work. So, learn and live there is light coming your way.

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New Horizon

Gender Equality in the context of Women Participation

Lakpa Tsiring Tamang
Trainee, Disaster Risk Management Unit, UNDP and women and positions it as an indivisible and integral part of UNDPs human development goal. It actively seeks to raise women participation from local to national level. Women participation is increasing these days, but is still not adequate. In a community-based water induced disaster and soil conservation training cum workshop in June 2011 in Nawalparasi, women participation was 45%, but in a similar workshop at the national level, it was 18%. This shows that while the communities are becoming aware of gender equality and importance of women participation, there is still a lot to be done at the national, policy-making level. Equality in a male dominant society like Nepal is not achieved until there is equal opportunity for women. But giving opportunity is not enough, the women also need to be empowered to grab the opportunity that is provided. They need to be encouraged and supported to come out of the social boundary that we have created. We should help them to explore their needs, desires and issues independently. They should not be intimidated as just household workers. We require a holistic approach and intervention from both governmental and local level in development and implementation of strategies for gender equality and women participation. We must realize that the two-wheel cart of society will move smoothly only when both its wheels are equally and perfectly working. Making a Women Empowered Nation is definitely a difficult task but it is achievable we only need to keep learning and working towards it. It is not about Who and Which, it is all about We.

Photo: Presentation by Sita Gaire in community based water induced disaster and soil conservation training cum workshop, Nawalparasi. UNDP places gender equality and women empowerment as a development goal, a human rights principle and an effective means and approach to achieving development. UNDPs Gender Equality Strategy defines gender equality as equality between men

Photo: Technical Capacity and Need Assessment and Gap Identification of DHM for Sectoral EWS for CRM in Nepal
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New Horizon

Leasehold Forestry: A boon to pro-poor and socially backward people

Bambam Mandal
Trainee, LFLP, FAO resource management and increased food security. It involves plantation of short-term as well as long-term income generating species. One encouraging outcome was that within 9 months of programme implementation, the

ision without action is a dream; Action without vision is just time pass; Vision with action can change the world.
Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme (LFLP) is a programme that has both a vision and action. An extension of Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project (HLFFDP), it is being implemented in 22 mid-hill districts of Nepal. It focuses on livelihood improvement of the propoor and socially-backward people of the districts as well as on supporting environment conservation by providing leased land for 40 years. The programme helps to decrease the income gap between the haves and have-nots.

Photo: The group members working in the field for cultivation of broom-grass, one of the sources of income.

LFUGs in the VDC were awarded Mountain Development Prize-2010 of NRs 200,000 due to their active and continuous involvement. The programme also supports the people in other ways, such as by providing them goats as an income generating source, by facilitating saving and credit activities to avoid the need to borrow from land lords at very high interest rates, and also by linking the groups with other development partners which support them in infrastructure development such as solar-light installation, road construction, micro-hydro projects, drinking water facilities, etc. LFLP has been a boon to the people. I am pleased that I got an opportunity to witness this and to lend a helping hand towards making this project successful.

I visited the Jhirubas Village Development Committee (VDC), Palpa where LFLP is in action. The VDC is mostly inhabited by Magars. They were mostly poor people with less than 6 months of food security before the programme started. They practiced shifting cultivation, in which they slashed and burned the natural forests in patches, causing environmental degradation and worsened food security. The formation of leasehold forest user groups (LFUGs) under LFLP has given a ray of hope for them. The programme employs agro-forestry for natural

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New Horizon

UN Efforts for Socially Excluded and Marginalized Groups in Nepal

Bhagawati Ghale
Trainee, OHCHR-Nepal international human rights instruments, protection and monitoring mechanisms, and Nepals international obligations. A hundred day campaign slogan with "I Commit to End Caste Based Discrimination and Untouchability" to raise wider awareness on the content of Untouchbility Act 2011 aiming for the effective implementation of Law, jointly organized by the National Dalit Commission (NDC) and OHCHR-Nepal provided me a very good opportunity to participate in and contribute to different promotional activities. We were five trainees in OHCHR-Nepal who were involved in almost all events organized inside the valley. We helped to collect online commitment, thumbprint and to disseminate the Campaign materials for more than 20 programs. In addition, I had the opportunity to be involved in different discussions and consultations, especially in the area of economic, social and cultural rights. We are very thankful to the Foundation for Development Management (FDM) for its unrelenting support to us. It has played a vital role for the effective learning by organizing different meetings, workshops, etc. Finally, yet importantly, as UN Trainees, we learnt many things for our career development. As the program initiator UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal Mr. Robert Piper has said, this program will continue next year also. Thank you for this great opportunity. Hope it will bring a lot of changes especially for the prosperity and well being of the society.

In the Program of Action of the World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995, the inclusive society was defined as a society for all, in which every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play. An inclusive society is one that rises above differences of race, gender, class, generation and geography to ensure equality of opportunities for all regardless of origin of people. The studies have shown that inability to exercise political and economic power fuels armed rebellion and undermines peaceful transition under democracy. In the Nepalese context, the social order remained exclusionary because it classified all groups within the broad framework of the Hindu hierarchical system of the four varnas based on the concepts of ritual purity and pollution putting the Dalits at the bottom rung. Junga Bahadur Rana in the 1954 Civil Code, creating a vicious circle of poverty and further marginalization, first codified the exclusion. The traditional social power structure and the lack of access to political power remain key factors for continued discrimination against women and traditionally excluded groups.

Since beginning of Peoples movement in Nepal, UN has been giving priority to promote gender equality and social inclusion through integrating it into programs and policies. Human rights, gender equality and social inclusion are one of the four priority areas of UNDAF in Nepal. Among the various initiatives, the UN Joint Traineeship Program is one of the great efforts by UN to uplift this particular group in the society. This is a very new initiative launched with a view to promoting inclusion of the excluded groups in employment. Twenty-nine trainees were placed in eight different UN agencies (UNDP including RCHCO, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA, FAO, UNESCO, WHO, UNHCR) vis--vis their background and interest. The eleven-month Program started on 26 April 2011 to enhance their professional competencies in order to improve their employability in the public, private and non-governmental sectors. It has tremendously helped us to tap into available UN expertise and resources. During my stint, I learned the UN working system and substantive work of the respective unit, as well as communicating and coordinating with different stakeholders. As trainees in OHCHR-Nepal, I have gained knowledge about national and

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New Horizon

UN staff in my observation
Sangmo Yongon, Trainee, RCHCO
I have to rush for another meeting and need to complete this task by the end of the day. This is the most common phrase that we usually hear from UN staffs committed to their respective work. Dedication, patience, hard labor, sincerity and cooperation are what UN staff posses while carrying out activities in order to bring positive outcome and meet organizational goal. Respecting each others views while having discussion during meetings, letting everyone to speak, taking comments/suggestions positively for the betterment, well planning and coordination among the team members have indeed led UN people to perform better. Moreover, the culture of appreciation for the task being performed even though it is minor one is much remarkable. Most importantly, UN staff members adhere to the principle of equality and respect, which I have closely observed while working at UNRCHCO office as everyone is treated equally no matter what position do they hold. Punctuality is another thing that matters a lot for UN people. Whatever task they are committed to do, they strive to complete on time and with

much accuracy. These people are so much dedicated and committed towards their work that I have many times seen them working from early morning to late evening. In fact, they have such a hectic busy schedule that they even dont have time for lunch. Though it is said that professional workers dont much enjoy their personal life however I found UN staff equally capable in maintaining their personal life too. Besides, they do also manage to make their presence in various social occasions such as birthday celebration, farewell party and other festive celebrations taking place inside the office. This is what we should learn from UN people!

Working as a Trainee
Sapana Pariyar
Trainee, OHCHR Nepal My learning as a UN Trainee at the United Nation Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights-Nepal (OHCHR-N) was incredible and productive in terms of both capacity building and exposure to the UN system. It familiarized me with the context of Human Rights as well as the substantative work. I am swollen with pride to be a part of OHCHR, the global Human Rights Organization. Professionalism, sensitiveness, dedication, sharing culture, flexibility, coping with the pressure to meet deadline in a short time period and working in a multi-cultural environment are some of the major aspects which I learnt during the course of my training. As a trainee, I was provided with numerous training opportunities. During the course of my training I attained various seminars, workshops and interaction which enhanced my knowledge on the various aspects of Human Rights. Among them, training and interaction on Demonstration and Public Protest Monitoring, interaction on serious cases withdraw and ToT on the Caste Discrimination and Untouchability (Crime and Offence) Act -2011 were the major events I was exposed to. Report launching event of the Access to Justice for the Dalits in Nepal was also one of the significant events in which I participated. During the course of my training period I have learned the human rights situation of our country. The principle of non-Discrimination and the Right to Equality are core human rights principles that are enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, the steps to address

the issues of marginalized and disadvantaged groups are insufficient and not satisfactory. Till date, the situation of the human rights in Nepal is very much pathetic. Although Rule of Law, impunity and accountability are highly emphasized in the law, these are yet to be implemented and reflected in the practical life so that people could realize them. The human rights violators are roaming freely in the society and some of them are holding the position of public interest. In fact, it shows the extreme failure of the state. Delay on the formation of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Commission on Inquiry of Disappeared (CID) has hampered the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Lack of the legal framework on the witness protection is another element to be addressed. And the expectation of civilians are ruined. So on this pretext, the questions of protection and promotion of the human rights are considered as a day dream. Although there are lots to be done, some advancement had been carried on. The passage of the new Untouchability Act and National Human Rights Commission Nepal entitled as a Constitutional Body is one such good Pg. 11 | 2012 | www.un.org.np step.

New Horizon

UN support for socially excluded and marginalized group

Manju Sah
Trainee, UNESCO UN is an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. It is focused on helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges in the field of Democratic Governance, Poverty Reduction ,Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Environment & Energy, HIV/AIDS. It is helping the developing countries to attract and use aid effectively. In all its activities, it encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women. UNDP in Nepal concentrates its efforts for greater impact in the most remote, poor, and/or conflict-affected areas of the mid- and far-western development regions and the Terai, where its rightsbased interventions are targeted towards the disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. its rule of law activities seek to address the exclusion of the poor and marginalized, ensuring legal protection of and justice for all. This involves a bottom-up approach of legal empowerment to enable the poor and disadvantaged groups to understand and claim their entitlements and rights, and access justice, security and services for this purpose. Support for gender equality, and the inclusion of marginalized groups and groups subject to discrimination are key aspects of this work. Based on this spirit, the UN Country Team in Nepal lunched UN joint traineeship programme for socially excluded group and selected 30 trainees. The purpose of this program is to provide training to recent graduates from historically, socially and politically excluded group, by providing them with work assignment so that they can build up their capacity, to gain greater confidence for future job interviews, experience, and of course improve their English skills. Im also one such UN trainee and am feeling extreme change within me before and after joining this program, I have learnt many things during these days and have gained the experience which is fruitful to me and for my career. Im very much thankful to the UN.

UN Trainees experience working for human rights with OHCHR Nirupama Sharma,
Sapana Pariyar, who has an extreme interest to work in the field of human rights, says UN traineeship program introduced her not only to human rights protection and promotion work, but also familiarized her with the multicultural working environment and the UN system. She is one of the trainees among five others who joined OHCHR-Nepal under the United Nations Country Team (UNCT)s UN traineeship program. In OHCHR, the trainees were placed under three of its different thematic units and sections, namely, Accountability, Impunity and Rule of Law (AIR), Anti -discrimination and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ADESCR), Analysis, Reporting and Coordination (AIR) and administration section. Placing them under different section is an effort to familiarize them with the work of each thematic unit and provide them an opportunity to learn about different areas related to human rights protection and promotion. says Narendra Pande who is an agency focal point from OHCHRNepal for UN traineeship program. Besides an enriching experience of learning by doing, the trainees joining OHCHR -Nepal received different other opportunities to increase their competencies including through computer classes, career
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Mentor, Human Rights Officer, OHCHR

counseling and trainings on different thematic areas of human rights adds Mr. Pande. The trainees acquired different skills including human rights monitoring and reporting, training organization and management and administration skills while working with OHCHR-Nepal. Bhagwati Ghale, who originally hails from Syangja recollects similar experience to Sapana of working with OHCHRNepal. She describes her work as a great learning opportunity which did not only help in creating a conceptual clarity on human rights but also exposed her to the field of human rights training and capacity building. I have observed our trainees gradually increasing their performance and confidence level. They very new to the field of human rights when they joined our office and it is quite amazing to see the way they have progressed. I am sure this opportunity will reward them in the future says Satish Mainali, a mentor of one of the trainee with OHCHRNepal. He says that it can be made much more effective by reaching out to the socially and geographically excluded people, creating their access and providing them an opportunity to work and learn by being part of the UN.

New Horizon

Joint UN Traineeship Program; a Gate Way of Career Options

Dal Bahadur Sunar
Trainee, RCHCO, Dadeldhura We feel proud of saying Nepal is a common place of diverse groups of peoplebe it either in ethnicity, religion, languages or geographical structures. We are rich in cultural and historical heritages and these have become the identities to glorify our nation over the world. Simultaneously, some bad cultures and their impacts have drawn far back our nation from the pace of world development. Some of the communities; women, dalits, adibashis/ janajatis and some minorities were historically and traditionally pushed back from the mainstream of nation. The Government of Nepal has been implementing new policies addressing those groups of people. However, they are not properly utilizing those policies and opportunities due to the problems of poverty, illiteracy, haphazard settlement, and low access in communication/media. During the course of transformation from old Nepal to new Nepal, UN announced its first Joint Traineeship Program for the socially marginalized communities of Nepal. On the day of induction ceremony of the traineeship program most of the participants had laughed while Mr. Kul Nepali, one of UN Joint Traineeship Program trainees had said, "Before this time, I was a teacher. I know how water is formed and I teach students that two times hydrogen and one time oxygen constitute to form water but I don't know the UN System though I am entering in to it." Nevertheless, this was the representative expression for all the trainees then, at least for me. I had known the name of United Nations, names of development agencies/ sector but not their working systems. I had known the importance of trainings but not about the importance of internship or the traineeship programs. For me, it was difficult to say even a quick yes!' to Mr. Bhupadas Rajbhandari of Foundation for Development Management (FDM) when he had asked me to take a final decision entering in to this traineeship program. However, I was finally been placed in UN Field Coordination Office in Dadeldhura. And this traineeship opportunity became a gate way for my career growth and even more I prefer to say it 'career options'. During the period of nine months in the Joint UN Traineeship program, I was able to widen my sphere of the knowledge in various sectors; development sectors i. e. I/NGOs and government sectors. I became aware of socio-cultural aspects of the people of Far Western Rigion as well. Similarly, I also improved my personal as well as professional competencies and skills. I conducted some interviews, prepared case studies, and reports while in the training. As a result, I could be able to enhance my documentation, coordination and communication skills. In the same way, I am now able to face interviews and exams of various vacancies confidently. Consequently, I am now District Officer for Community and Youth Empowerment Program of Restless Development Nepal copartnership with Rural Environment Development Centre (REDC), a local NGO in Dadeldhura. Finally, I am indebted to United Nations Nepal family, UN RCHCO, UN FCO DDL, all the trainee colleagues and FDM for their direct and indirect support of shaping my career. My mentor 'Guru', Prem Singh Nayak deserves my great respect since he had carefully identified my weaknesses as well as strengths and encouraged and supported me for improvements. Likewise, I would like to thank Marlies Bull, Suresh Pandit and Rajaram Chaudhary, staff of UN FCO DDL, for their productive contributions to me during my training. Similarly, I would like to thank Rachana Rasaily of UN RCHCO, Giri Panthi of UNFPA DDL and Bishowraj Bhatt of UNICEF DDL for their encouragement and support. I wish for the continuation of these types of traineeship programs by UN in the days to come.

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New Horizon

Internship as a Learning Process: My Expectations and Benefits

Anchala Chaudhary
Trainee, UNFPA As an intern with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), I was working in the Gender unit under the supervision of Ms. Sudha Pant who is the senior program officer in Gender unit. I began my internship program on 28th May, 2011 with UNFPA which was to last for the next eleven months. While the works I had to carry out during this period was particularly glamorous and thrilling, I felt that this internship period exposed me to experiences which have significantly altered my perception on Gender related issues of Nepalese situation in a relation with a more global holistic approach. I had originally intended to join UNFPA as a way to participate directly in different programs to see how the program or policy are formulated and implemented at the ground level as well as at nation level and how different partner organizations work in collaboration with UN agencies. Unfortunately though, a lot of my work within the office had to do with a particular project i.e. Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) issues which I can proudly now say that I learned a lot form it. This allowed me to listen to people with ideas and opinions that I had never before considered, and helped me to develop new ways of thinking about the same problems I had previously been thinking about. Being in UNFPA, I realized that I didnt knew much about a process or a topic and then there was no reason to forsake. I didnt know much about Gender issues and Im still not a professional, but now Im able to understand the general coherences and bring them contently together. It was particularly interesting for me to see how a development process is realized, what kind of project management is necessary and the procedure of dealing with different stakeholders. In retrospective, I can say that I benefited from the internship program that I thought in a number of ways as it gave me chance not only to work with UNFPA but also a chance to learn from the best Gender experts who in turn provided me chance to working with people from different parts of the world and at the same time it enriched my Curriculum Vitae (CV). To conclude, I can state that my internship at the UNFPA was a rewarding experience and provided me with some new perspective that I did not come across during my studies. I also have to stress that my colleagues at the UNFPA contributed greatly to making my stay here a very memorable one.

Oops! Where have I landed?

Chungik L. Sherpa, Trainee, HR Unit, UNICEF
When I applied for traineeship with UN Agencies, I had wanted to be involved in Human Resources Management (HRM). I knew that HRM was about managing human resources in rural areas, and that it had something to do with rural development. That was why when the interview panel asked me about my field of interest, my quick reply was HRM. Luckily, I got selected. I was excited as I was about to do something I was interested in. But to my surprise, I was assigned to the HR unit of UNICEF and found myself doing something completely different. HRM was different from what I had thought it to be. It was
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not about rural development. I was totally wrong! I thought Oops! Where have I landed? Because of my pre-conceived wrong notion of HRM, I was now doing something different from my expectation and interest. So for the first month of the traineeship, I was not very happy with what I was doing. However, things changed. Thankfully, I got Jens Broll, the HR Specialist of UNICEF, as my mentor. He was very thoughtful about my growth and development, and it was very nice to be working under him. The entire HR team also supported me. They helped me with all my queries

and issues related to the work, and even my studies. They gave me their precious time despite being very busy with their own work. They treated me like one of them and included me in all relevant meetings and events. So, as time passed, I started to enjoy learning about HR and being part of a wonderful team. Now, I am happy that I got this opportunity of learning every single day, and of enhancing my knowledge and skills. Today I feel more confident than before. I am grateful to all the UNICEF staff members for being warm and friendly and to the HR team for mentoring and supporting me throughout my time as trainee.

New Horizon

335 days with UN

Jalauddin Mansur
Trainee, Operations Department UNICEF, Nepalgunj Wow! I am selected for UN Joint Traineeship Program! This was my expression when I received a call from Foundation for Development Management (FDM) and found out for the first time that I had been selected. I was assigned to UNICEF field office in Nepalgunj. Initially, I was sad for being sent away from Kathmandu, the city of opportunities. But the sadness soon turned into happiness when, upon arriving in the field office, I saw so many opportunities for learning and working. The field office that I worked in does not have an IT staff. So, the entire responsibility of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) support was on my shoulders. It was a challenging job for me to perform all the work without any technical support most of the time. This made me excited and happy. I had got the opportunity to implement the skills I had gained from my studies and to enhance them. I was working for the first time in a real working environment it was for me like sharpening the saw in the field of ICT. The office gave me opportunity to learn and work even in the weekends and from morning to late evening, sometimes even up to 8:00 PM. Most of the time during my assignment, I worked inside the office in the Operations department. There, I also learned a lot about administrative work. The office staffs were very professional and supportive, and they contributed a lot in enhancing my learning and skills. I got to participate in different programs, workshops, trainings, functions and meetings. These participations have boosted my confidence, and now I feel that I can work in any kind of environment and organization. It did strike me that an office with so many staffs does not have any IT staff. The staffs in the field office use IT in their everyday work. So, I think that there is a strong need of an IT staff in the office in order to support staffs in their day-to-day use of IT services.

Importance of Interview Clinic

Jhabindra Gaire
Trainee, HIV/AIDS (UNICEF) (CV). I learned about the ideal length of a CV, about what should and what should not be included in a CV, and about what kind of words are most suitable for different sections in the CV. I learned that a short and concise synopsis of the person, limited to 2 or 3 sentences, is always advantageous. Also, a CV should match our talents with the job description. So, any previous work experience, publication, and achievement that are not relevant to the job being applied for should be omitted. These types of preparatory sessions, or Interview Clinics, are very helpful to young people who are in the early stage of career development. I am glad to have got the opportunity to participate in one of these clinics and I hope that others get the opportunity too.

Interview Clinic was a program that was organized for the trainees in different UN agencies. It was jointly organized by the Foundation for Development Management (FDM) and UN focal points. As a UN trainee, I also participated in the programme, and found it to be very helpful in preparing me for facing interviews. I learned that punctuality, which is very important in daily life, is important for interviews as well. Nobody wants to select a candidate that reaches late to the interview. I also learned about important tactics, such as asking

questions to the interview panel, which can be followed during the interview for positive impact. The Interview Clinic also taught me about the activities that I should do before the interview. I learned that it is never too early to start preparation. We ought to use mediums such as websites and reports to keep ourselves updated about the organization and job we are applying to. We must regularly practice to enhance our communication and presentation skills, and to avoid getting nervous, anxious and stressed during the interview. Another important aspect that I learned about was preparing Curriculum Vitae

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New Horizon

Enter like a mouse, nurture like an elephant

Babita Yadav
Trainee, UNFPA At the very beginning of the Traineeship program, during our induction, we got to know the most eminent personalities of the United Nations in Nepal. Their welcoming and motivating nature really influenced us very much. Everything they said encouraged us to grow and enhance our potential and groom ourselves. One UN personality said Enter like a mouse and nurture yourself like an elephant. When we enter into an organization, we should start from zero and during our stay, we should grow ourselves a lot by grabbing as much knowledge and experience as we can. We received some valuable tips and indispensable thoughts for reaching our career goals and objectives. These were: Being successful is not just about making money and getting appraisals; it is about setting a career goal, planning to reach the goal and working on the plan. Knowledge is power. So, we must continuously increase our knowledge by interacting with our co-workers and other people, joining appropriate courses, doing researches and studying journals and newspapers. We must fulfill all our assigned responsibilities and present ourselves as dedicated people earnest to meet our obligations. Optimism and passion are two key ingredients for success. Optimism is at the heart of a successful human being. We must maintain a positive outlook on life and never give in to the destruction of defeat. We must be able to constantly see the cup as half full, to never be blind to that silver lining.

The traineeship was all about these traits which we need to build, develop and improvise. It was about driving and pushing ourselves forward and keeping our momentum focused to acquire the end result. It helped us to develop a road map that could make an impact on our prosperous future. It did help us to open the doors of opportunity, but it is our own responsibility to take the wheel and embrace the essential attitude that will help to open the gate

Blurred Access of Badi Community

Gopal Nepali (Badi)
Trainee, UNICEF/SPD Access is an opportunity or a right of people to use available resources or to exercise authority over something. It has been found that in the Hindu Nepalese society, the higher caste people have had more access to resources. Putting the spirit of equal access in mist, these people with higher access have held control over better positions in the decision-making process and thereby accumulated property, and then used the same property to expand their access to different sectors. Thus, those who had access continued to increase it and those who lacked access continue to be denied of it. Badi is one of those in
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the latter category. Badi is a caste that is at the bottom of the caste hierarchy. According to Muluki Ain (civil code) 1854, it is at the bottom of even the Dalits, the lowest of all castes. To enhance access of the Badi Community and to empower them, the social protection concept of giving grant or assistance such as housing or child grant was introduced. However, in practice, the Badi community has minimum access to such assistance, the reason being weak implementation mechanisms and insufficient proactiveness. As a UNICEF trainee I did an assessment of the Child Protection Grant launched by the Government of Nepal in 2009/10, and found that although this program was targeted to

poor Dalits that includes the Badi community, access of Badi children to the grant is only 45 percent. Lack of proper communication between the community and local government agencies, difficult claiming procedures and administrative hassles and complex policies to identify eligible children are among the reasons for this. It is not just enough to launch programs we need strong mechanisms and pro-active methods that take the grant or social protection to where they are needed, instead of waiting for the people to come to the grant provider. The involvement of nongovernmental sectors, especially for monitoring, is also important. The reasons for lack of access must be properly identified and addressed. Only then will access of the Badi community be ensured.

New Horizon

First Impression
Nilmaya Pun
Trainee, UNHCR When I entered into the office of UNHCR, where I was assigned for my traineeship, I witnessed something very pleasant there were many women staff, and they were actively dealing with different cases in different units. UNHCR is a humanitarian organization that looks after problems of refugees. Its main priority is to safeguard the rights and well being of refugees. The issues it deals with are very sensitive, and it is necessary that the people dealing with these issues are careful and responsible. The women staffs in the office were exactly this careful and responsible. They understood the sensitivity of the issues that they were dealing with and executed their job impressively. As I talk about the women in UNHCR, I remember my childhood. I grew up in a traditional society that was completely against educating girls. They said that it was meaningless and a waste of money to educate daughters. But my father believed that education is the greatest asset of all, and that daughters also deserve to be educated. He enrolled me in a primary school. The traditional society always criticized him for sending me to school. But he did not give in. My father encouraged me for my formal education, which has led towards the betterment of my life. Unfortunately, I lost my father when I was fourteen. But I still feel proud of him. To see so many women working in UNHCR is reinforcement of the belief my father had that daughters are worthy of an education too. UNHCR is a very good example of women participation and gender equality in the office, and the first impression I got of it made me feel proud. I had a bitter childhood experience of having to stand up against the society for education. What my father and I had faced was the result of gender inequality. Here I am going to put forward a song written for gender equality in Nepalese context.

I am not your slave

Neither I am your slave nor am I your cook A woman of the age I am, all confidence in the look. We have also eyes to see all around Legs can walk round and round Cut and see the blood all red Touch and feel my heat in your head. Neither I am your doll nor am I your cook A woman of the age I am, all confidence in the look. Sons and daughters are from the same womb Then, why is this discrimination? If sons inherit parental name, why are we for intimidation? We know you have honey in word But up the sleeve have a sword. Neither I am your subordinate nor am I your cook A woman of the Era I am, all confidence in the look.

UN Trainee Picnic
Sarita B.K.
Trainee, Office of the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator On 26th Dec 2011, we (UN Trainee) organized a picnic programme. Many of us participated while those placed outside the valley could not make it. At first we didnt realize the importance of the picnic but when we gathered at the venue at Tribhuwan Park, it turned into a kind of informal experience sharing programme. Before we did not know much detail about each other as we were placed in different agencies and we hardly

communicated. Thus, the picnic became a platform to know each other. We had our introductory session during breakfast. As we managed our pre pack breakfast/lunch set, we got more time to discuss on various matters regarding traineeship program. Meanwhile, we also had experience sharing session which became milestone to know about the learning activities. We too had fun time as all of us enjoyed dancing and singing. Another important thing that came up from the meeting is the concept of the newsletter. I would like to recommend for the next group of trainee to organize this type of picnic which will be helpful to share the learnt activities. I would like to thank Kul ji,Sanjaya ji,Sita ji for taking lead to organize the picnic program . I would also like to thank colleagues who took participation and made it successful.
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New Horizon

Traineeship with UNIRP

Sita Bishwakarma
Trainee, UNIRP When I was assigned to UNIRP as a trainee, I got opportunity to participate in a 7 days workshop training at Nagarkot right at the start of my traineeship in UNDP. I learned various aspects related to workshop arrangements, coordination and issues and programs on rehabilitation of excombatants in Nepal from that training workshop .The workshop was conducted on 22-27 May 2011. In the training, different experts presented different themes such as: 1. An overview of the IDDRS facilitated by Hans Thorgren , DDR in Nepal facilitated by Desmond Molly 2. Disarmament & Demobilization : international Experiences facilitated by Hans Thorgren 3. The Maoist Insurgency: Historical Background presented by Prem Singh Basnyat 4. About the DDR/SSR Nexus facilitated by Bengt Ljunggren 5. Rehabilitation/Integration: Nepal case- study presented by Prem Singh Basnyat/ Trilochan Malla 6. Socioeconomic profiling and the Labor market in the Context of Rehab in Nepal presented by Ina Pietschmann/ Richard Bowd 7. Post- Training Reintegration support presented by Richard Bowd 8. DDR and Transitional Justice facilitated by Isabela Leao/ Glaucia Boyer, on GIZ Experience : Vocational Training in the Cantonments facilitated by Heidi Gutsche 9. Do No Harm facilitated by Latif Bashardost / Kevin Chang/ Michael Brown , VMLRs Case- study facilitated by Prem Singh Basnyat, Gender responsive DDR facilitated by Glaucia Boyer, Gender Perspective : Nepal case- study facilated by Latif Bashardost/ Bal Krishna Sharma, health Packages : Nepal case study presented by Aruna Pant , Rehabilitation options: Sierra Leone and Int. Experiences presented by Bengt Ljunggren, Presented on DDR and Natural (NRM) by Glaucia Boyer, The political Environment for the Integration and rehab. In Nepal, Youth and DDR, Options for Rehabilitation Design in Nepal facilitated by Dr. Abdul H. Omar/ Rajendra Shrestha , UNIRP's Rehabilitation information system (RIS), DDR: Human Security vs. Vested Interest presented by Desmond Molly . Documentary on Silencing the Guns presented by Khem thapa in the mentioning Subject. I benefited tremendously from the above mentioned subjects. It gave me a broader mind to understand the integration of post conflict period like Nepal and Sudan. In the Rehabilitation process the experience shared by national and international resource persons was very much technical which emphasized that every country have to create its own need identification, conflict must be addressed according their geography, cultural and address the conflict reason. I was familiar with UN staffs, international specialized trainer, and national specialized trainers. This gave me more confidence to understand the Nepalese situation and international situation on post conflict situation, rehabilitation and reintegration process. In my observation, the training workshop was very effective and knowledgeable to my carrier development, especially in the peace building process, which was newly introduced in Nepal during the 10 years of Maoist insurgency.

Editorial Board

Ram Babu Shah

National Information Officer UN Information Centre (UNIC)

Sangita Khadka
Development Communication Officer United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Rajendra Man Banepali

Information Management Assistant UN Information Centre (UNIC)

Tapa Dipti Sitaula

Communications Analyst United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Kul Nepali
UN Trainee

Sanjay Pariyar
UN Trainee

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