TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 56
#NextGenUNDP
Walid Badawi
Coun tr y o f O r igin :
UNDP Co u n t r y O f f ic e :
Date o f Ap po in tm e n t :
E GY P T
K E N YA
J UN E 2 019
“WE ARE ALWAYS KEEPING THE YOUTH
AT THE CENTER OF WHAT WE DO.”
M
y story is threaded around a career in the UN
that I believe I was predestined to pursue
before I was even born. As a third generation
UN-er, I was born into a family with an influential track record of international service. My grandfather
Abdelhamid Badawi, among several senior government
positions he held, he was the Foreign Minister of Egypt
who led the Egyptian delegation to the San Francisco
conference where he negotiated and eventually signed the
UN Charter on 26th June 1945. He later became a judge at
the International Court of Justice and served for 16 years,
with many of his rulings being taught in international law
schools to this day.
My father was a prominent Egyptian diplomat who
served three postings at the UN in New York, including a
stint as Egypt’s Permanent Representative to the UN with
several major accomplishments to his credit. He successfully led the Egyptian negotiations with Israel in the
mid-80s that culminated in the return of Taba in the Sinai
Peninsula to Egypt. Although I never actually met my
grandfather, his legacy, passed down through my father,
and indeed my father’s legacy had set the bar too high.
In many respects, this has been a constant reminder for
someone who carries that family name, that “good” is just
not “good enough” when it comes to international service.
PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY
Therefore, my privileged upbringing, coupled with an
innate desire to serve, put me on track for an international
career in development. My journey, however, has not been
an easy one, as the standards had been set rather high.
I have had many setbacks along the way making my UN
story a truly humbling one. I have always considered this
privilege to be a responsibility and an obligation to give
back to society, more than I was fortunate enough to have
received and to never take anything for granted. Growing
up as a third culture child with one older brother, shaped
my life choices and experiences in education, friendships,
sports, marriage, and indeed professional aspirations. I
graduated from Fordham University in New York at the
very young age of 19 with a BA in both Economics and
Business Administration. I thought that this dual major
would set me up well for a potential career in the UN that
I had assumed was preordained.
It is worth noting that through university and the many
years that followed, I had always been the youngest within
my groupings. This imposed a great deal of pressure
on me to over-perform if I wished to fit in with my peer
groups. This drove me to excel, both academically and
athletically. I did well at school and managed to become
a professional squash player as well. In the process, I
learned and developed many skills that served me well
later in life. Resilience, endurance, and delivering under
pressure, were among them.
FROM TOUR GUIDE TO RR
My first job was as a UN tour guide in New York. This
was a perfect entry point for someone who always wanted
to join the UN. This job provided me with a bird’s eye
view of this great and complex organization. After 18
months as a tour guide, I applied for a Master of International Management (MIM) with a specialization in International Development at the
Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona.
My choice to attend Thunderbird was again deliberate.
Like the UN, Thunderbird was founded from the ashes of
World War II by US Air Force pilots, who established the
school on the same principles as the UN Charter. It was
therefore a natural home for me to continue my higher
learning. After graduating, I applied and was fortunate
enough to have been sponsored by the Dutch government
to serve with UNDP Indonesia as a Junior Professional ›
I have become a true
believer in the power and magic of
UNDP, and have realized what
Nelson Mandela meant when he
said , “It always seems impossible
until it’s done.”
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