From satellite setup to school rehabilitation: Insights from two decades of championing change
Meet Zubair Ezzat, a Management Specialist for UNDP in Syria, who shares his experience of the career growth he has had in the organization and what it’s like to be part of a life-changing mission.
From walking through the president’s palace in Afghanistan to help set up satellite Internet for him (there weren’t fibre optic cables available in the country at the time and I had ICT and computer science expertise), to seeing the voter ink on the thumbs of women who went to vote for the first time, there have been snapshot moments of purpose throughout my career with UNDP. Knowing that the projects we are working on in countries all around the world are impacting the way governments and societies are run, and enabling women to go and cast their ballots, is what has kept me working here for almost two decades.
I recall one of the early projects I was involved in was as the Senior Finance Officer for one of our Country Office projects in Afghanistan. I was supporting the government in drafting the country’s new constitution, which was adopted in 2004 and then supporting the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2004–2005 by developing and managing a budget of over $150 million.
I preserve my personal copy of the constitution, a reminder to me of the impact we made in a country that had been dealing with conflict for several years. In fact, when I see the Afghanistan flag flying proudly at an event like the Cricket World Cup, I still get emotional.
Affecting real change at all levels of society
Something UNDP is really good at is adapting to the different contexts of various countries and knowing which projects should take priority in those communities, to support the Sustainable Development Goals.
I’m privileged that the different hats I’ve worn during my career journey with UNDP have enabled me to experience a range of interesting situations and made me improvize to respond around the globe in ways that are helping to improve the lives of people and the health of the planet.
For example, in Afghanistan, setting core government functions was the most important work for us. But, then, during my three-year stint in Somalia, as Deputy and later on as Portfolio Manager for Economic Recovery and Development, the focus centred around the implementation of joint programmes on youth, reintegration of internally displaced peoples and projects promoting investment through innovation, New Ways of Working (NWOW) and funding to financing (F2F).
Now, I work as a Management Specialist in Syria and our priorities here are to enhance the resilience and socio-economic stabilization of individuals and communities. This is achieved through restoring the disrupted livelihoods of affected communities; rehabilitating and maintaining sustainable basic services and infrastructure in damaged areas, and promoting social cohesion in communities.
And although my role now is to support our frontline managers in the field rather than being on the frontlines myself, my biggest motivator is still seeing the outcomes of these projects: children in a school that was rehabilitated by UNDP or beneficiaries using piped water from water systems we have helped develop.
The longer I serve in this organization, the more I see the multitude of ways we are empowered to affect real change at all levels in society.
An environment built to help you flourish
The one thing I know for sure about working at UNDP is that it’s never boring. In my role as Management Specialist, I have a number of responsibilities that keep me energized and motivated: from meeting with area managers regularly to see how I can best support them in achieving their objectives, to discussing how to best allocate funds for projects with the programme portfolio teams, to dreaming up plans for the future and of course working with senior management to address any support or oversight needed on our programmes.
UNDP is an environment designed to help you flourish, learn, innovate and grow in your capabilities, not only from all the situations you’re faced with but also through the diverse teams and counterparts you come into contact with at an international scale. So for anyone who believes in championing change and delivering tangible values to the world, while learning from, and imparting knowledge to, others in your sphere, this organization is a very exciting place to work. It’s filled with those snapshot moments of impact that will keep you both grounded in the knowledge that your work holds a deep sense of purpose, and motivated to keep working towards that purpose.
