/ Fukuoka, Japan (July 2024 – January 2025)

Advancing Integrated Urban Climate Action: My UN-Habitat Internship Journey

A regional framework on climate change and urban crisis, a climate communication guide for local leaders, concept notes for resilience projects in conflict afflicted Afghanistan and Myanmar, and a working paper on urban loss and damage: these are only some of the pieces I had the privilege to work on as part of my internship with UN-Habitat ROAP’s Climate Change and Urban Environment team. After finishing my MSc in International Social and Public Policy (Migration) at the London School of Economics, I spent July-24 to January-25 here. Driven by a passion for international development and an aspiration to shift career direction, I decided to return to the classroom and to complete an internship after a few years in the workforce. I could not be happier with my choice.

Cities are both major drivers and victims of climate change: home to over half the global population and responsible for 70 per cent of greenhouse gases, while also concentrating vulnerability. Increasingly, climate change contributes to and compounds conflicts, displacement, and health crises. And increasingly relevant to the climate debate – especially for the least developed countries and small island development states – is becoming the concept of loss and damage: those impacts which are apparently unavoidable through mitigation and adaptation.

It is in this context that my internship involved researching and developing papers, briefs, regional programmes and local projects integrating climate action with responses to urban crisis, health threats, and loss and damage. Through this work, I have gained incredibly timely and important knowledge, including invaluable insights about the situations in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, and the Pacific, working directly with UN-Habitat’s Country Offices. Highly collaborative was also my work to develop a climate communication guide, which put me in touch with 18 Mayors and other local leaders from around the world – eight of whom in person at the World Urban Forum in Cairo.

Amidst the inspiration provided by my assignments, I was also deeply grateful for the warmth, openness and community offered by the ROAP office, and especially my fellow interns from across the world. Our regular izakaya nights, local outings, and bakery Fridays were highlights of the internship experience, and definitely made me friends for life.

Having dreamt of being part of the UN since starting to learn about our major global inequalities in Swedish junior high school, I’m beyond excited to have spent these six months with UN-Habitat. The internship has been precisely what I had hoped for, and more. Beyond letting me develop new subject matter knowledge and extend my skills in strategic project development, stakeholder engagement and even design, it has most definitely cemented my commitment to international development, while carving the start of a career path which I can’t wait to continue pursuing.

/ Fukuoka, Japan (June 2024 – December 2024)

From Dreams to Reality: An Internship at UN-Habitat

If I had told my younger self that life would take us to an internship at UN-Habitat, she would have called me the craziest person on earth. Sometimes, we need to see how things unfold and allow ourselves to be surprised by what life has in store for us.

During the six months of my internship at the UN-Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP), I had the privilege of meeting incredible people, both from Japan and around the world. Each of them was deeply passionate and committed to building a better future and creating better cities for everyone.

Of course, there were challenges! From securing the financial means to work in Japan for six months (or, in my case, two months remotely and four months on-site) to navigating the steep learning curve that every new opportunity brings, these hurdles were real. Yet, the reward of working in an organization where, even as interns, we were entrusted with meaningful, challenging tasks and where our ideas were valued was immeasurable.

Having amazing mentors and coworkers is a true blessing. For me, each day became an opportunity to learn from and alongside individuals who were not only dedicated to their causes and projects but also incredibly generous in sharing their knowledge and experiences with those around them.

One of the most formative aspects of my internship was working with the “Climate Change and Urban Environment” team. My focus was on two key programs: Urban Biodiversity and Loss and Damage.

For Urban Biodiversity, I conducted research on the critical connections between cities, biodiversity, and climate change, aiming to promote sustainable urban futures. This involved enhancing biodiversity protection, restoration, and conservation in urban settlements. Ecosystem services and Nature-based Solutions (NbS), including Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA), were central to this work. I was fortunate to contribute to the revision and development of materials related to EbA, which led me to co-facilitate an urban EbA Training of Trainers in Kathmandu, Nepal, which was an amazing way to conclude my internship.

Regarding Loss and Damage, my task involved monitoring the operationalization of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage and analyzing its significance for vulnerable urban communities. This included informal settlements and displaced populations across Asia and the Pacific. The research aimed to equip agencies and civil society organizations in the region with the knowledge and tools to effectively address loss and damage.

Overall, this internship provided me with invaluable personal and professional experiences that I will carry with me wherever life takes me. I am deeply grateful for my supervisors and the friends I made during this time, who not only taught me so much but also shared many wonderful moments with me.

To all young professionals and students considering similar opportunities, I wholeheartedly encourage you to pursue them. Best of luck, and I hope you let yourselves be surprised by life too!

/ Yangon, Myanmar (May 2024 – November 2024)

Navigating Climate and Social Challenges: Insights from Myanmar

In December 2024, with a heart full of gratitude and a sense of growth, I finished my 6-month internship in the office. As a programme management intern, my main responsibility is to contribute to project output in Myanmar Climate Change Alliance (Phase 2), an initiative funded by the European Union. The project objective is to enhance Myanmar’s climate resilience, with a wide range of perspectives from physical settlement improvement to knowledge and partnership building. The output includes climate change risk identification and monitor, awareness and capacity building in local communities and schools, climate alliance formation and knowledge management, etc.

As part of this effort, I started with development of online knowledge repository for the Myanmar Climate Action Network partners including publications and knowledges such as Nature-based Solutions. In this way, we wished to synthesize local climate knowledge from active partners on the ground and catalyse new inspirations on future climate actions. Throughout the process, I got hands-on in touch of web-building and knowledge management tools. With support and teamwork, I acquired knowledge in coding and web building through an exciting learning curve. I later joined Local Climate Action Plans mapping for the townships of Thanlyin and Kalaw in the second half of my journey. I prepared summaries tailored for effective communication with local communities, bridging the gap between technical plans and on-the-ground implementation.

One of the projects that left a lasting impression on me was the gender-centered survey assessing water, energy, and food access in local townships. Under the guidance of gender colleagues, I entered survey data into a dedicated database. Through this experience, I discovered that many rural households in Myanmar still depend on off-grid battery power and extract water from unprotected open sources. This insight prompted me to reflect on how climate change initiatives can meaningfully contribute to social benefits and uphold human rights in such vulnerable regions.

Assigned into the Myanmar office was a delightful coincidence. Several years ago, in Fudan University, I followed the military coup and women-led civil protests in Myanmar, deeply moved by the resilience on the ground. In my master study in LSE, I further explored the crossing topic of climate change and political fragility. Despite challenges of remote working (due to political unrest), I gained loving support from my supervisor and colleagues in Myanmar and regional office, as well as intern peer group in Asia and Pacific Region.

As a conclusion, my internship journey ends, however my exploration to the intersection of human and environmental issues is just beginning. My biggest takeaway is the idea of grounding climate change initiatives in the specific realities of local communities. By focusing on individuals and their immediate needs, we may move beyond abstract promises and address the concrete challenges they face. I look forward to applying these lessons for a just human-environment relation.