JPO Stories
Inyang Ebong-Harstrup:
From UNDP JPO in Tanzania to UNDGO Associate Director
Inyang Ebong-Harstrup was a Canadian JPO with UNDP in Tanzania (1990-1992). She is now the Associate Director of the United Nations Development Group Office in New York.
Published in UNDP Bulletin, February 2007.
Vitals:
I am Nigerian and Canadian. My father began his career in the Foreign Service, which is why I was born in Canada. He moved back to Nigeria to work for the Government in 1965, and after that I lived and grew up in London and Lagos. Here in New York, I live with my two boys, Haakon, 14 and Magnus-Aleksander, 10.
Current post:
Associate director of the United Nations Development Group Office in New York.
Previous post:
Resident coordinator and resident representative in Trinidad and Tobago. Also covered Suriname, Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
Her story:
I'm a historian by training. I received my B.A. from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and Ph.D. from Edinburgh University in Scotland. My career is a testament to staying the course. I started out as a Canadian JPO in Tanzania in 1988. Then I worked in Ethiopia for three years and in New York for five years as policy advisor before returning to Tanzania where I was the Deputy and Acting Resident Representative for 11 months. Then I went to Trinidad and Tobago. My early years in UNDP were tough, because I was trying to find my place, but I stuck it out.
People tend to think that jobs like these are handed to you - they could not be more mistaken. Staying with UNDP and the UN system is about your character, courage, determination and strong belief in the organization. I also believed that as someone from the South, I ought to have the space and the right to make a contribution to the organization's development mission, particularly in Africa.
For me, the most rewarding experiences have come from my time in the Country Offices. If you are creative and committed, you can make a lot of difference in the field. At the same time, I am very happy to be here in my current assignment in New York because it is the centre of the whole UN reform debate on the relevance of this institution in the years to come. I love UNDP because of its broad mandate. And over the years, it has transformed itself from a fund manager to a thoughtful and creative development organization. The publication of Human Development Reports, its positions on poverty reduction and governance are laudable, and now we have the MDGs to hold us all accountable.
Crowning glory:
We helped bring in more than 100 UNV doctors to Trinidad to support the national public health service. The program expanded, and later, we were able to bring in engineers, architects and educational planners to work for the people in both islands. That initiative, institutional strengthening of the health sector started in 2003 and is ongoing. It has changed the way in which Trinidadians looked at UNDP and the UN system in their country and what it could do for a middle-income country like Trinidad, where they thought the UN was no longer relevant. We showed them how we could make a difference in terms of equity and service delivery.
On a more personal note, raising my children as a single parent has been a great achievement. Balancing work and family life is always a challenge, and I am proud that I am managing it.
Last great book read:
"The Other Side" by Silvia Brown. The book is about life that takes place after death. It has helped me cope with losses and the notion of my own mortality.
Behind the suit:
I spend most of my free time with my children. But I also love going to the movies and being with my friends. I have made friends in the system early in my career and we have walked the journey together.
Role model:
I have always had supportive supervisors. I was very lucky. I also grew more confident with age. I see a lot of changes in the organization. There are a lot of younger people, which is nice, and the senior management is much more open than they used to be. I try to take a mentoring approach. The most important thing is hard work. Being politically savvy or being lucky plays a role, sometimes, but it is only through hard work that you will be able to establish the foundation of success.
Why it's all worth it:
I fundamentally believe that if there was no UN, we would have to invent one. The United Nations is one of the greatest inventions of the 20th Century and it has made a big difference. I serve with the UN because I like being part of the global effort to make life better for the human race, regardless of gender, race or religion.
