UN Moldova welcomes six interns from marginalized groups within the 6-th edition of the Diversity Internship Program

Through these internships, interns will gain practical experience and acquire professional skills, useful for future employment in the labour market, including at the UN. At the same time the UN will benefit from the diverse knowledge and experience of the participants and will learn how to make UN programmes more inclusive for persons belonging to vulnerable groups. 

“56 young adults from marginalized groups have already passed through this programme, and 6 more are joining today. This experience has changed their lives and boosted their careers. Some of them joined the UN Moldova family as employees or consultants, being our ambassadors of diversity and inclusion in our work with various stakeholders, others have joined civil society organisations or state authorities. At the same time, we – the UN – can testify to the benefits we have had from the contributions made by the interns to our work. Our programmes became more inclusive and more sensitive to the needs of most marginalized groups.  We started to think deeper about the tools we should use to ensure inclusivity and diversity”, said Yesim Oruc, the UN Resident Coordinator in Moldova. 

The UN Diversity Internship program is an initiative, successfully conducted by the UN in Moldova since 2016. It aims to support the inclusion of people belonging to marginalized groups, who often face discrimination in social, economic, public and political life, who have less opportunities of equal participation in decision making processes, good quality education, employment, and professional development. At the same time, the initiative is also meant to be a learning opportunity for the UN. Many national and international studies and practices show that direct contact with persons from underrepresented groups reduces considerably social distance and increases social tolerance and acceptance.