BIO – Carmen de los Rios
Ms. Carmen de los Rios has more than twenty years of progressively responsible professional experience in human resources management in national, private sector and international organizations.
She started her career as Human Resources professional in CRISA, a space engineering company located in Madrid. In 2001, Carmen moved to The Netherlands to work as Human Resources Advisor for the European Space Agency (ESA) European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC). After four years of working for ESA an opportunity came up to move to a multilateral international environment and she joined the UN.
From 2005 to 2011 Carmen worked in New York as the HR Specialist in the Policy and Planning Section of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the lead UN agency promoting maternal and reproductive health. In May 2011 she moved to Tanzania as Chief Human Resources for the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (UNICTR), established by the UN Security Council to prosecute those responsible for the 1994 Rwanda genocide. After two years Carmen was assigned, in 2013, as Chief Human Resources for the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) where she managed and administered the civilian staff of the Peacekeeping Mission. Her time there also coincided with the Ebola outbreak of 2014 and this meant that she had to extend her support to the UN team working to deal with the epidemic.
Since April 2015 Carmen has been back in New York and is currently working as Organizational Transition Manager for the UN Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF), the UN entity responsible for servicing the retirement of the people who served the world as UN civil servants. The Pension Fund currently has over 71,000 (UN) retirees and beneficiaries and over 120,000 participants.
1.- How is working at the UN and what is the selection process to join?
I should start by saying that the selection process itself, although very competitive and somehow bureaucratic, is much simpler than most people think. The perception that it is complex is often the result of the difficulty one encounters when trying to understand the functioning and composition of the UN as a whole. Moreover because there is no one location where one can visit to find all vacancies for the UN it makes it a bit difficult to navigate the UN system to find the different employment opportunities that might be available.
The UN system, also known unofficially as the “UN family”, is made up of the UN Secretariat, and many affiliated programmes, funds, and specialized agencies.
The UN Secretariat is organized along departments and offices with their own distinct area of action and responsibilities. It includes, inter alia, the peacekeeping operations, the coordination of humanitarian affairs, the political and disarmament affairs, as well as the different departments responsible for the general management, administration and support of the UN. Anyone interested in working with the UN Secretariat will find complete information under careers.un.org
The Funds, Programmes and Specialized Agencies,
such as UNICEF, UNHCR, WHO, UNESCO or IAEA, among many others, are subsidiary bodies or independent international organizations associated with the UN, but with distinct mandates. As independent bodies, each of them has their own career programme and therefore when someone is interested in working for them, they should visit each of their websites to look for their employment opportunities.
I strongly encourage all those interested in joining the UN to invest time and effort in navigating the system and exploring the many different profiles that the UN needs, from political, humanitarian and developmental functions, to generalist like finance and administration, or highly specialized technical, scientific or engineering fields.
Personally, working in the UN has giving me not only the most rewarding but also the most challenging experiences, both at the personal and professional levels. Overall, my commitment to the UN mandate and the impact of the programmes supersedes the many challenges and shortcomings that the organization may have.
2.- The UN recently appointed a new Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres. In general terms, what are the main changes that might be expected with this new appointment given the current challenges faced by the UN?
At this stage and since Mr. Guterres will take up his new role as Secretary General in January 2017, it is almost impossible to talk about the upcoming changes that his appointment will bring, although there is a great expectation that he will be able to guide and adapt the UN, a 70-year old institution, to the current realities of the world where we operate.
That said, a notable change has already happened and that is the selection process itself. While it has been maintained that the selected candidate is proposed by the Security Council to the General Assembly for its final confirmation by the member states, this time a more transparent and open dialogue has taken place. Member states and civil society have had the opportunity to interact directly with the candidates who have been exposed to worldwide audiences through dedicated hearings, global town-halls, UN webcasts and live broadcast with participation of all the candidates.
The process has provided an insight into member states’ expectations of the next Secretary-General, as well as an opportunity to assess the approach of each candidate to the challenges facing the UN.
Mr. Guterres has already outlined in his vision statement and most recently in his acceptance speech the need for the UN to adapt to the new realities of a world governed by globalization and the changing nature of the current conflicts. In his own words, “against this background, the UN faces new challenges in ensuring peace and security, promoting sustainable development, protecting human rights and delivering humanitarian aid”.
Given his vast experience in the humanitarian field and in light of the escalating humanitarian crises in many parts of the world the expectation is that he will probably give it a lot of his attention. Other main challenges would be changing the paradigm to the “peace continuum” – encompassing prevention, conflict resolution, peacekeeping, peace building and long-term sustainable development – while working on effective multilateralism that integrates regional actors, civil society and private sector.
Internally, the UN reform will require focus on delivery and results, with a less bureaucratic and more efficient organization where transparency, accountability and the highest ethical standards are the drivers.
3.-In which UN assignments have you participated and what have been your main lessons learned, both personal and professional?
All the assignments within the UN have given me a myriad of experiences.
Working in New York, headquarters of the organization, exposes you to the highest levels of the decision-making process. Whilst it offers the opportunity to influence the organization, even if within the narrow scope of responsibility associated with your function, it also distances you from seeing the immediate impact of decisions and actions.
At the personal level, I still remember the overwhelming feeling I had when I walked for the first time into the UN building, or the excitement of having the chance to witness the General Assembly meetings that year. And I must admit that after all the years that I have worked here, the feeling still remains the same.
As regards what is described in UN terms as “working in the field”, in my case it was a very conscious decision taken after being in New York for several years. I really wanted to see first-hand the direct impact of the UN mandate and experience for myself the challenges and opportunities of living in one of the countries where the UN has a presence.
Tanzania and Liberia, my two UN field assignments, have exposed me to both the most outstanding beauty and the most unimaginable misery that you can find in a place.
From the professional point of view, they have enriched my profile by allowing me to work with professionals from many different backgrounds and fields of expertise and by exposing me to many unforeseen situations, more than I could ever have expected, and that required actions in my professional capacity, such as managing the Ebola crisis.
At a personal level, the two countries where I lived, as well as the others that I visited during my stay in Africa, offered me the opportunity to see and value life differently. I truly admire the strength, resilience and dignity of the people that I met. It has challenged many, if not all of my preconceived ideas, and given me a very humble and extremely thankful attitude towards the many opportunities that I enjoy every day in my life just because I have been born in a particular country.
4.- How do the Spaniards at the UN live and work in such a powerful multicultural environment?
One of the most rewarding aspects of working for the UN is its multicultural environment. Respect for diversity is one of the UN main core values and it is made evident from the first moment that you join the organization.
The interaction with many different cultures exposes you to a very rich environment broadening your experiences and beliefs. The mere fact that we come from diverse backgrounds opens up new and varied approaches to dealing with a given issue. However, it also poses challenges since many attitudes that are the norm in a given culture may be perceived in a completely different manner by other cultures to the point that they could even be considered offensive.
Being aware of those differences and how our behavior and our cultural backgrounds are perceived by others is one of the main pillars of respecting the diversity of a multicultural organization such as the UN.
As a Spaniard, what really amazed me is the knowledge that people have about some aspects of our country, even in the more remote areas. It never stops to amuse me, particularly during my stay in Africa, that as soon as I identified myself as Spaniard, the locals would engage in a conversation about football and the Spanish teams. While anecdotal, these conversations helped to establish a dialogue that facilitated the engagement and relationship at different levels.
5.- What can you tell to members of USEC about how to explore business opportunities with the UN?
The United Nations represents a global market of more than USD 15 billion annually for all types of products and services. Companies and individuals interested in doing business with the UN system organizations should subscribe to the UN Global Marketplace (UNGM) where they could find business opportunities, a tender alert service, contract awards, and a knowledge centre about UN procurement. Procurement notices and contract awards from different UN entities and partners can also be found under Development Business, the official United Nations website for consulting, contracting and export opportunities worldwide.
Additionally, the United Nations Global Compact, offers a leadership platform for the development, implementation and disclosure of responsible corporate policies and practices for companies that want to voluntarily align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues.
As indicated in the UN website, “The relationship of the UN and the international business community has been transformed…. The international business community now wants to partner with the international community to help solve humanity’s problems. This is not only good global citizenship on their part. It is also good business.”