TheJourneyVolume1 - Book - Page 64
#NextGenUNDP
Natasha van Rijn
Coun tr y o f O r igin : AU ST R A L I A
UNDP Co u n t r y O f f ic e : M A DAGAS CA R
Date o f Ap po in tm e n t : O C TO BE R 2 02 0
“I HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY MANY
EVERYDAY HEROES, BUT
INCREASINGLY THE SO-CALLED
‘ORDINARY’ PEOPLE.”
F
ollowing the divorce from my father, my Brazilian
mother raised me and my younger sister as a single
parent in Canberra, Australia. My father was an
Australian diplomat who had served in Nigeria and
Germany. My mother, who was a French teacher, left us
little choice but to study French at school, even if it was of
little use in Australia. And then we would learn to speak
broken Portuguese at home.
As a single migrant mother raising two girls in Australia,
life was not always easy. But it was certainly much easier
than it would have been had we been raised in Brazil. She,
however, took us home to be with our extended family in
Sao Paulo every few years. These trips had a huge influence
on me growing up, as I would notice both the small and
enormous differences between these two countries. It took
me reaching adulthood to understand that despite the
strong connections with her family in Brazil, our mother
stayed in Australia for me and my sister.
This has certainly shaped a lot of my personal and
professional decisions. The social and economic inequalities between “my two countries” fueled a lot of my decisions
in university and my love for Sociology only grew stronger
when it helped me to understand, and put in words, the
“whys” behind most of what I was witnessing.
EDUCATION AND CAREER BACKGROUND
Sociology and the study of society and culture are my
true interests. I continue to learn every day about the
world that humans have built for themselves and why.
My first job after university was as a temporary worker
where I helped out as a part time receptionist or administrative assistant. I knew that when I landed a short-term
assignment with CARE Australia that I would have to
find a way to stay there. This job soon gave me an opportunity to apply for a UNV position with the UN peacekeeping mission in East Timor in 2000. This was just
after the small island nation voted for its independence
from Indonesia in 1999. I got the job, and this became
the turning point that would shape the rest of my professional and personal life. I left Australia in 2001 to join the
UN system, and I have never been back.
As a Junior Training Officer in East Timor, I was able to
learn about the UN system, peacekeeping, state-building,
and the real struggles of the Timorese themselves. After
watching the birth of East Timor as a new nation in 2003,
I knew that this was the career that I wanted to pursue.
And to help me do that, I went to the School of Oriental
and African Studies (SOAS) in London to study for an
MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development.
After that, I went on to serve as DDR/SSR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration/ Security Sector
Reform) officer in Burundi before going into political
affairs with the Secretariat in New York. I joined UNDP in
2009 with a governance and political affairs background
that helped me in my role as DRR (Deputy Resident
Representative) in the Central African Republic. I then
worked as Team Leader for Peace Support Operations
in Yemen. And now I am the Resident Representative
in Madagascar, where finally, my mother’s insistence on
French is paying off!
INSPIRATIONS AND CHALLENGES
In my time, I have been inspired by many everyday
heroes who prove repeatedly how resilient human beings
can be. I am constantly overwhelmed by stories of those
who continue to persist and overcome social, economic, ›
This new emerging world
and its challenges, combined with
getting to know Madagascar, its
government, and its people, is an
extremely rewarding experience.”
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