Fulfilling dreams - career in international organizations

Name: Martina Savio

Country: Italy

MPCT class: 2008-2010

Topic of Master’s thesis: Dynamics of oppression and state failure. Cases of child labour in artisanal and small-scale mines. Democratic Republic of Congo.

After completing the MPCT program and departuring from Tromsø, I immediately started to apply for several posts. At the beginning it was quite challenging as the 2008 global recession was well underway. I was worried because the MPCT was a highly sectorial degree and finding a suitable post was proving to be a very difficult and arduous task. Nevertheless, after many applications and as many interviews, I was called for a post as a United Nations Volunteers (UNV) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the International Labour Organization (ILO) for one year (02/2011-02/2012).  

UNV is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. As the UNV website states, “UNV contributes to peace and development”[1] benefiting the individual volunteer as well as the society as a whole. The UNV values are free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity which I deem to be among the most essential ingredients for a positive long lasting peace process. I felt I had finally found my calling as well as an organization with which I shared values!