The Journey of Jo Scheuer:
From JPO in Niger to UNDP Country Director in Cambodia

Jo Scheuer was a JPO with UNDP in Niger and Papua New Guinea (1994-1998). He is now UNDP Country Director in Cambodia.

Published in UNDP Bulletin, September 2007.

Vitals:
I was born and raised in Luxembourg with two brothers. I am the youngest of the family. I went to university in Germany and Switzerland. My wife, Melinda, and I have a five-year-old daughter, Elija (sounds like "Aleja").

Current post:
Country Director, UNDP Cambodia

Previous post:
Deputy Country Director (programme), UNDP India

His story:
I have always been interested in the environment. As a child, I loved watching the TV shows and documentaries on nature. After I got my master's degree in applied physical geography, I worked for a private consulting company on environmental programmes.

I joined UNDP in 1994. It was two years after the Earth Summit in Rio had taken place and UNDP was recruiting Junior Professional Officers (JPO) with background in environment. It seemed like the right course of action. I was first stationed as a JPO in Niger where I met my wife - she was working with the Peace Corps and teaching mathematics. Then I worked in Papua New Guinea for almost three years before moving to New York to join the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. And then I worked for the Bureau of Development Policy on setting up the SURF - sub-regional resource facility - system and country office support.

We moved to Kathmandu in 2001. Nepal was fantastic. It had beautiful mountains and wonderful people, and I loved the mix of Hinduism and Buddhism culture. Most of all, it is where we adopted Elija. I established the Kathmandu SURF from scratch and it supported nine country offices in South and West Asia. Start-ups are great because you can incorporate your vision into the work more directly.

In 2004, I felt it was time to go back to a country office, and I was fortunate to become the Deputy Resident Representative with UNDP India. India is such a diverse and complex place, and as a donor organisation, it was more challenging to define UNDP'ss value-added in the country. We spent three years there before coming to Cambodia.

Driving from Kathmandu to Lhasa, Tibet.

Crowning glory:
I think you should ask me again in 10 or 15 years! The best thing I ever did was adopting Elija, of course. And, professionally, there might a few things I can be proud of, but I don't have my crowning glory - not yet.

Last great book read:
I loved Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist. It is a story about a Pakistani guy in New York who returns to his native country after 9/11. The whole book is a dialogue with an American visitor that takes place as he is sitting in a market in Lahore. Another of my favourite book is White Teeth by Zadie Smith. It is about two London immigrant families and their intertwined lives. If you haven't read them, go to a bookstore after work today and buy them.

Behind the suit:
I love football and rock climbing, and recently I started taking my daughter with me to rock climbing! I also love motorcycling. A few years ago, I drove from Kathmandu to Lhasa, Tibet with a few friends. It took us two weeks. The 5,000 metre mountain passes and the Everest base camp were breathtaking. People say driving a motorbike or a car in this part of the world can be very dangerous, but that's not true. You just need to learn to drive like the locals do. Just do what they do, and you'll be fine.

Indulgence:
I have more paintings and drawings than I have wall space. When we lived in New York, we went to Chelsea all the time to check out the galleries. It is an indulgence that can be very expensive, too - and the more paintings and drawings I have, the harder it gets every time I move. The collections I have are mostly works of young artists from the United States, Europe and India.

Inspiration:
One of my early supervisors once told me that I would need to learn how to "bullshit." And there is some truth to that, but it is also important to be straightforward and cut through all the nonsense, so to speak, so you can maintain your focus and not lose sight of the things you came here to do.

Why it's all worth it:
I landed with UNDP accidentally, but the reason I stayed with it is anything but accidental. UNDP has a great mandate and I truly believe that it has the potential to achieve many things globally. We are making a difference. At the same time, I feel fortunate as this job gives me the opportunity to see and learn about the world and that's been very fulfilling on a personal level.