As a part of our people inside the UN mission to share the tales of yankee residents who work for the United Nations, we related with Valerie Guarnieri, the Assistant authorities Director of the UN World meals Programme (WFP).
on this function, she leads slicing-edge program and coverage enchancment aimed in direction of ending hunger and heading WFP efforts to make sure safety and inclusion, develop faculty meals and vitamin functions, empower women, construct resilient meals methods, and assist money transfers and social safety.
initially from Vienna, Virginia, she earned a bachelor’s diploma at George Mason college and her grasp’s on the American college.
the place are you from initially and the place did you go to highschool?
Valerie Guarnieri: I grew up principally in South/Southeast Asia — the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Indonesia for grades 4-9, and Kodaikanal, a small hill station in southern India the place I graduated from boarding faculty. residence is at risk of be the residence in Vienna, Virginia, that my household lived in for two years earlier than shifting to Indonesia and the place my mom and father retired to and lived till they died. simply a few of my mom’s ashes are buried underneath the cherry tree inside the entrance yard and the relaxation are with my dad at Arlington nationwide Cemetery. He served inside the U.S. navy and additionally they met in France, the place mom is from. We saved our residency in Virginia whereas we have been overseas and that i did my undergraduate research at George Mason college in Fairfax, Virginia, and bought my grasp’s on the American college in Washington.
How do you describe your job to your cherished ones and mates at residence?
VG:I inform all people i’ve the biggest job on the planet: feeding hungry people and reaching these furthest behind. meals is such a primary want that all people can relate to the significance of developing optimistic people have ample meals to eat. My household and mates are obsessive about cooking and consuming, and so lots of my blissful recollections contain talking and laughing over a meal. i actually like that WFP helps deliver the connection that comes from a household meal to people world extensive, collectively with these caught up in battle and fully different crises.
How did you first be taught with regard to the UN?
VG: My first direct expertise with the UN bought here after i used to be working with USAID [the United States Agency for International Development], managing an airlift into Somalia. i used to be simply 24, and our small crew was coordinating deliveries of meals and gives by the U.S. navy for WFP, the worldwide Committee of the purple Cross, and a few NGOs [nongovernmental organizations]. It was a determined state of affairs, with dozens of people dying every day in southern Somalia. whereas U.S. navy was flying out and in, the brave UN and NGO workers stayed behind to confirm important meals, medicine, clear water, and sanitation providers reached these who needed it most. I knew then and there that I needed to be a part of an group like WFP and was thrilled after I bought the prospect eight years later.
what’s your message to people with regard to the significance of the UN?
VG: as we communicate’s world is extra related than ever, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has proven us, and we’d like a spot to sort out our frequent factors and discover shared options. That’s the UN. Its function is irreplaceable, and so, too, is the U.S. management function all by means of the UN.
the place world extensive have you ever labored for WFP?
VG: I joined WFP at our headquarters in Rome in 2000 and preserve coming again — that is my third time primarily based in Rome. Zimbabwe was my first WFP subject project. I spent two years there at a time when drought and a botched land reform effort had transformed the nation from “bread basket” to “basket case,” and we scaled as a lot as ship meals to over 5 million people. As nation Director, I additionally started up a mannequin new operation for WFP inside the Philippines, addressing hunger and supporting peace inside the troubled Mindanao area. extra just these days, i used to be Regional Director in East and Central Africa, primarily based in Kenya and overseeing simply a few of WFP’s most superior operations in Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, and extra.
What motivates you to work for the UN?
VG: the prospect to join with people and make a distinction of their lives! at any time when I journey to the sector i am impressed by the resilience of the people we serve, notably the women. they’re so sturdy and beautiful and decided to make a elevated future for his or her kids and themselves, regardless of recurring shocks. It makes me want to do extra and do elevated to assist them.
out of your expertise, what’s an event of how the UN has made a distinction in somebody’s life?
VG: making sure faculty feeding for youngsters is one in every of my favourite functions. With solely 25 cents per day, WFP gives a nutritious meal at faculty, growing enrollment, attendance, and studying outcomes. By concentrating on ladies and linking nutritious meals with reproductive well being and psychosocial assist, we will additionally minimize again dropouts, early marriages, and teenage being pregnant, as I noticed in Malawi just these days, visiting a woman’s training program that WFP, UNICEF [the United Nations Children’s Fund], and UNFPA [the United Nations Population Fund] collectively handle. And as quickly as we supply meals from native farmers, we will elevated work together the group, current latest, nutritious meals, and put money into native economies.
what’s your favourite a part of the job?
VG: The people I work with, who’re like household, and the people we serve. Their power and resilience encourage me to work extra sturdy.
What has been your proudest second?
VG: It’s onerous to beat the Nobel Peace Prize. It was such an superb tribute to our humanitarian heroes, previous and current. COVID-19 hasn’t actually allowed us to have a good time the biggest method we ought to, however hopefully we’re going to nonetheless have that likelihood. in the meantime, there may even be so a lot work to do.
Featured picture: WFP