Geneva is a very welcoming city, arriving at the airport you are offered a free train ticket to reach the main Station: Cornavin. From there, you can discover all the exciting Geneva districts.

 

The WHO Headquarters is a prestigious building, administered by a rather complex system set up to make daily life easier for staff and offering modern conveniences.

 

Something that surprised me

Geneva is a modern city offering a comfortable and stress-free lifestyle. It’s designed in harmony and respect for nature.  I was strongly impacted by the Genevois’ respect for their cultural and national sovereignty.

 

What I have learned in my first month

During this month I was made aware of the WHO organisational structure, and the of the Service Delivery and Safety (SDS) Department specificities. In fact, I am assigned to the Quality Systems and Resilience (QSR) Unit Belonging to SDS. I also discovered the scope of activity of each colleague in order to set up a work plan. I got a clear understanding of the healthcare services and health system Resilience.

 

 

On November 5^th 2018, I attended the WHO HQ Intern Induction Day. It gave me a whole vision of the functions and objectives of the WHO. The topics discussed were:

• WHO and Youth Engagement
• Using Social Media as a WHO Intern
• The WHO Governing Bodies
• The Global Programme Of Work– GPW 13 (2019-2023)
• The services of The Office of the Ombudsman(OMB) and Internal Oversight Services (IOS)
• WCOs and WHO’s role and responsibilities within the larger UN System
• WHO History & Health Diplomacy

 

Within the QSR unit, I developed the Term of Reference (TOR) related to an international project as well as the conception notice of the project inception day. I gave a presentation about the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool. Currently, I am involved in preparing, elaborating and holding a taskforce dealing with WHO guidance approach to implementing quality of care. I am also participating in the organization of a workshop hosted by QSR unit entitled: The lifeblood of leadership.

 

As a volunteer with the Office of Deputy Directors-General for Programmes & Corporate Operations (DDG), I supported the team in preparing the 3 _level review of the 2020-2021 Global Public Health Goods submissions and actively participated in the restitution held on the 15^th and 16^th of November 2018.

 

Open seminars are held almost daily by various WHO departments. Here are some I attended:

• Methodological challenges to developing public health guidelines.
• Improving knowledge about who dies of what, and why it matters: The Bloomberg Data for Health Initiative.
• Project ECHO: An approach for democratizing Knowledge, improving healthcare, and reducing disparities.
• Healthy Life Course, Linking Global, Regional and Country Efforts.

 

My favourite moment

I had a great first day -Monday 29^th October 2018 - at WHO Headquarters, because every Monday QSR Unit holds the weekly huddle, and it was an opportunity to meet this strong and welcoming team. After this, I had a formal meeting with my supervisor Dr Shams Syed, an exceptional Leader. I will never forget what he said. “Go straight to your goals and take advantage of every minute of your internship, the lost time cannot be caught.”

 

I was lucky, because five days after starting my internship, I attended the HQ interns meeting with the WHO DG, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. When greeting him, he thanked me in my mother tongue language and I was deeply touched.