Women’s Stories: WMO Junior Professional Officers 10 years later
The Bulletin invited former WMO Junior Professional Officers to tell their stories on how their careers have evolved and the changes they have observed in the workplace.
Exactly 10 years ago, Bulletin 63-1 (2014) invited several young Junior Professional Officers (JPOs), social and scientific professionals in the early careers, to write about their experiences at WMO and their hopes for the future. None expected to remain at WMO following their two-year JPO experience. The Bulletin has now invited the women in the group to tell their stories on how their careers have evolved and the changes they have observed in the workplace. Three have responded with stories so different that the common thread from 10 years ago has all but disappeared.
Juggling work and family
By Lina Sjaavik, Norway
Just over 10 years ago, I packed my suitcase and prepared for my WMO adventure. I was excited by the opportunity, my expectations were high: I would have an experience at the United Nations on my resumé, I would be a holder of the famous United Nations blue “laissez-passer” (UN “Passport”) and I would learn more about the role of meteorological services in climate change adaptation. I would be staying in Geneva for two years and after that the world would be wide open to me. Building a life in Switzerland was most definitely not on the cards.
Ten years later, I am still in WMO – and it is by no means an accident. Over the last decade, my professional and personal life have taken huge steps forward. In an Organization that has a very skewed gender balance, I am proud to have simultaneously grown my career and my family. It has taken effort and dedication – and mentorship, encouragement and support from colleagues, friends and family – to grow into my current leadership position at WMO. You cannot imagine how much juggling of meeting schedules, deadlines, sleepless nights and feeding schedules were, and still are, required.
I arrived at WMO as a JPO, then became a project officer, developing numerous projects for Members mostly in the Pacific, Caribbean and Latin America and with various donors. Then, just days before my youngest son was born, I was nominated to the position I now hold: Head of the Project Development and Unit. The evolution in my career required a lot of learning by doing, being thrown in at the deep end (and learning how to swim), making mistakes and getting back on my feet, hard work and good fun surrounded by great people!
As is the case for many other women in their thirties, I am juggling my career with growing my family. When I arrived at WMO, I was young and single with lots of free time. Now, I am a mother of two very energetic boys. It has been a wild ride. The most important lesson I have learned is to be open about the challenges I am facing while trying to fit it all into a day. Most people are supportive and accommodating. Rather than delay, I have presented our team vision with a baby strapped to my chest and been applauded for it. And when it comes to time management: there is nothing as motivating to get things off my desk as the thought that I never know who is going to get sick next.
A colleague once told me that a UN Career is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It was frustrating to hear that in 2017 when I felt like it had all stagnated, but it has turned out to be true. But if it is a marathon, it is the mountain version. Sometimes it feels like the hills are long and hard ahead of me, while other times, the downhill is just the perfect gradient to lean into and let gravity do its work, I just need to keep my legs pumping at the right speed. It is 2024 and I am still running – and, quite honestly, I am enjoying the views and the process.
In my early days at WMO, our portfolio counted as handful of projects. Today, thanks to collective efforts and the increased focus on the role of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in disaster risk management, WMO has a project portfolio of over CHF 120 million, which is expected to grow further in the coming years. WMO projects support Members in meeting national, regional and global goals that serve the common good. I am excited to be at the steering wheel, playing a key role in implementing projects that strengthen NMHSs capacities and capabilities. It is now my turn to support and empower younger colleagues in a work environment that is much more conducive to career development – especially or young women. It is invigorating to work with a dream team that believes in the purpose of what we are doing and feels supported by WMO leadership.
I will forever be grateful for the doors that the JPO opportunity opened for me, for the technical experts and engaged colleagues that I have worked with and whom have taught me so much. I think I will still be in the UN system 10 years from now in 2034 and I know I will continue to grow and learn. I will keep strengthening my core competence as strategic leader to better serve WMO Members and I will keep juggling, while running and taking in the view – imagine that?
The Flores Creek, 10 years later
By Tamara Avellan, Uruguay
In my JPO account 10 years ago, I told the story of two children in my neighbourhood, Christian and Letitia. They are now adults and still part of their family’s woodcutting business. The other day Christian told me that his best forest experience was trimming trees with me but that those trees had long been chopped down by others. It is dispiriting, so I may not be the same optimistic person I was 10 years ago, but I have not given up.
I left Uruguay more than a decade ago to work at the United Nations. Initially, I worked as a JPO at WMO in Switzerland then I got a position at the United Nations University in Germany – so I spent a total of eight years at the UN. I left the UN to become a docent in Sustainable Water Management at the University of Oulu in Finland. Over my working life, I have done what I learned to do as a scientist: bring people together, talk about the issues and work collectively towards solutions. In the Water-Energy-Food Nexus research, we call this process knowledge co-generation: system (the now), target (the future we want) and transformation (how to get there).
Our research has shown that solutions may be “greener”, in that they have more circularity, bring more biodiversity and sequester carbon, and may also be more socially beneficial, in that they implemented. Economic barriers are too high: greener, more socially beneficial solutions are considered too expensive, do not yield high costbenefit ratios or do not bring returns on investment fast enough. One European Union Horizon projects also revealed disparities in regulations that complicated implementation: though a farmer complied with the Nitrate Directive concerning the amount of fertilizer used in fields, the surface runoff from the fields flowed into a rather small stream, violating the Water Framework Directive on the stream’s nitrogen level. Harmonizing legislation to fit all local, national, supra-national and global frameworks and goals is quite a challenge.
My research in sustainable water management in Europe, Latin America and other parts of the world has shown that there is a wealth of expertise with nature-based water management solutions. Though we know that circular economy principles are more sustainable than end-of-pipe ones, technological advancements are often still prioritized over social innovations.
Last year, Uruguay experienced one of its most severe droughts in years, leaving the capital, Montevideo, almost without drinking water. I was still in Europe when I heard that the Government had declared a state of emergency and announced plans to dam the river in front of my family’s farmland to deviate the waters to feed rivers that supply drinking water pumps. I too have had to adapt.
After a decade of shaping global agendas and participating in top-notch scientific research, I have headed back to my roots in Uruguay and I am writing this article on the family farm while listening to the birds. During the COVID pandemic, I developed a deep sense of urgency to safeguard the few unspoiled places of “nature” that are left and to preserve their beauty to inspire the next generation. Some Uruguayans are unaware of the worthiness of their surroundings while others live intrinsically with nature. As you can only protect something if you know and appreciate its value, my goal is to use my property, which sits in one of the few protected areas of Uruguay, to show people what it is that they are looking at: a precious gem. For example, by observing a “gato montés” (Leopardus geoffroyi) in the wildlife cameras I have set up. I have not given up.
Since my time as a JPO, I have obtained a PhD and further economic titles, watched my son become a young man, led research groups and project teams, and graduated several MSc and PhD students from universities in Europe and the United States. It has been, and still is, an amazing journey of discovery for solutions to our most pressing global problems: climate change, biodiversity loss and demographic changes. I am grateful for what I have learned over the past decade of knowledge co-creation with so many wonderful people all over the world. It is the dedication of grassroots organizations and of government officials who work tirelessly towards sustainable solutions that have given me hope. I look forward to continuing to work with them.
Behind the river’s floodplain there are endless fields of soy – for fodder in places far away. Beyond them I see windmills that remind me that Uruguay is 98% renewable. There is hope.
To the Antarctic, Arctic and Back Again
Karolin Eichler, Germany
I still remember my time as a JPO at the WMO and I would say that it influenced my life enormously and determined my future path. I spent nearly four years in the international community in Geneva – meeting and working with so many people from all of the world, opened me up. When I left WMO, I was in search of job. I wanted to pursue the life’s passion: Glaciers and Earth’s polar regions. I would get there and be whisked away again to do exciting things. Ten years the polar regions still call out to me.
I soon found a position in Munich, working as a Scientific Officer at the German Aerospace Centre. I was responsible for the automatization of the delivery of satellite information to ships in the vicinity of the Antarctic Peninsula and I hoped the job would permit me to travel there. The circumstances were not right and I did not stay, but I did learn that many vessels operate in Antarctic waters and I could apply to work aboard of one.
I was lucky and got that chance. After some training courses, I went to Antarctica in January 2016 and worked as lecturer and expedition guide. I had the time of my life, learning many new things, meeting great people and making my dreams of discovering Antarctica come true. The following summer, I went with the same company to Svalbard, Franz-Josef-Land and the North Pole.
After that, I was offered a position at the German Weather Service (DWD) in the International Affairs Office, taking care of and coordinating WMO matters for Germany. This brought me back to the familiar WMO environment. It seemed like a perfect combination and it was. For the first time in my life, I had a permanent contract which made my life easier. I integrated well with the very cohesive team and could work internationally while being based in Germany.
Two years later, I supported the campaign of German Permanent Representative to the WMO, Gerhard Adrian, to become the WMO President. Following his election, he was the first German elected to the role, he chose me to be his personal adviser. I was very happy to accept. We had four exciting years ahead of us, when COVID restricted travel and opportunities to meet people face-to-face. Adjustments were needed to set up to work remotely from Germany. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the job. It was a great experience to have so many responsibilities and to coordinate with so many different people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. I organized meetings, prepared speeches and presentations, liaised with people around the world and made sure that the WMO President was always well-prepared and had everything he needed. It was the two of us, so I enjoyed the freedom of not having a long reporting line and took on the responsibility for working everything out myself. The four years were stressful but enriching. Again, I learned many things and enlarged my international network enormously.
When four-year Presidency term ended in June 2023, I felt it was time to move on. At the moment, I am still with DWD, involved in WMO matters and as the strategic adviser to the DWD board of directors. I still working as an expedition guide and lecturer in the polar regions when time permits. I don’t have a job in mind, and no certainty about what I want to do next. I am looking into the possibilities.
I feel ready to take on managerial responsibility. However, the core content of the job is more important to me than a promotion. I know that I want to continue working internationally, I love working with people from all over the world. I am willing to stay in Germany or to move to another country to fulfil my passion for international work. I remain very grateful for the experiences gathered at WMO in my early career and for my scientific background, which helps me to understand many things a bit better.
I was never sure about my professional path but my passion for the cryosphere and polar regions has never wavered and is now complemented by my desire to do international work. Looking back, I can see that my decisions followed me heart and yielded something good that permitted me to grow.