Wang Yuhuan: Little steps to a great career

Editor's note

Tsinghua University plays an active role in promoting the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by nurturing innovative talents and enhancing research, among many other important ways.

Wang Yuhuan is a graduate student in the School of Journalism and Communication. She has finished her one-year volunteer work in the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in China. This piece will feature how Wang Yuhuan enhanced her understanding of the SDGs by making down-to-earth steps.

Wang Yuhuan visited the United Nations (UN) headquarters in Geneva in her junior year. That was her first visit to a United Nations compound. She followed the tour guide and even passed the conference rooms where meetings took place.

“There is indeed such a group of people making efforts for world peace and development. What I have learned in school became a reality. And the dream of working towards a sustainable future is kindled,” said Yuhuan. At that time, she started to learn what the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were all about.

Four years later, she joined the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in China and started her first UN career. Again, she saw the various national flags waving as symbols of members of the United Nations. But this time, she became one of the participants instead of a visitor.

“International organization sounds like a very grand word, but when it comes to individuals working here, it is very trivial work,” said Yuhuan after being a one-year volunteer in the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in China. “SDGs used to be plain words to me. But after I came here, my daily work was actually all related to the SDGs.”

Yuhuan’s first day of her volunteer work

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Yuhuan’s first steps to the UN

“The passion came from my inherent feelings,” said Yuhuan about her initial motivations. Although she had little knowledge about the job, Yuhuan found working for the UN appealing.

Yuhuan expressed that she only started to learn about the UN when she became an undergraduate student. As a freshman, she participated in a knowledge competition about the UN. “I don’t know why I signed up,” she laughed to herself when recalling about this contest.

She failed the contest in the first stage. However, this experience helped her to know more about the UN’s contributions to world development. Since then, she had kept an eye on job opportunities at the UN and hoped to work there one day.

Yuhuan is now a junior graduate student in the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua. She gained a dual bachelor’s degree in journalism and international politics from Renmin University of China. During her undergraduate studies, Yuhuan was selected as a trainee in an international organization personnel training program.

As part of the program, she attended a number of lectures on international organizations, such as those given by scholars and officials of international organizations, and then visited France and Germany where her schoolmates and she communicated with local students.

“Looking back now, the knowledge we have learned was quite brief. But at that time, I was deeply inspired by the idealistic ideas,” said Yuhuan. These experiences also allowed her to witness the inclusiveness of the environment and led her way to work in a multicultural place.

Yuhuan’s post after visiting the UN headquarters

in Geneva in 2018

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“Always challenging, always fresh”

As a volunteer at the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in China, Yuhuan’s duties include translation and interpretation, sorting conference materials, docking with external organizations, and helping the Resident Coordinator arrange schedules. “The Resident Coordinator has a secretary. My position is like a secretary of his secretary,” said Yuhuan.

The office is in contact with all UN agencies in China and also needs to maintain relations with Chinese universities, government departments, and enterprises. Yuhuan, together with the Resident Coordinator’s secretary, needed to communicate with staff from various organizations to help the Resident Coordinator align SDGs with what China is doing.

Majoring in journalism and communication for over six years, Yuhuan has been trained at desk jobs like writing press releases. However, when she joined this position, she found that the job of communication required her to contact a dozen people at the same time, prioritize events, and keep the schedule straight and untangled. It was not only about deskwork but more about people-to-people exchange.

The nature of this job meant she needed to change the pace of work at any time. For example, on the subway in the morning, the Resident Coordinator might make a call all of a sudden. In the event of such emergency cases, she would need to start speaking English in public which might attract many people’s attention.

New circumstances emerged almost every day -- writing different files, meeting different people, and going to different places. The tasks at work could be random and bombarding, yet challenging and fruitful. During the process, she also felt her progress and a sense of accomplishment. “Always challenging, always fresh,” said Yuhuan when describing working in this office.

The 77th United Nations Day activity held by Yuhuan’s office

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Little steps pave the way for shared sustainability

As a participant witnessing China’s cooperation with the UN, Yuhuan also gained a better understanding of the significance of SDGs. When working here, a thought kept occurring. That is, “Everything is about the SDGs.”

SDGs are ubiquitous at the UN. There is a group of SDGs in the Office. The Resident Coordinator mentioned SDG in every speech he gave. The Office also summarizes and writes a report on the progress of SDGs in China every year. Yuhuan learned that SDGs are not only goals waiting to be reached, but also an emblem to unite different countries, organizations, and ordinary people.

She also gained a more in-depth understanding of China’s contributions to the world when summarizing the annual progress of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for China (2021-2025).

“The UN will now put more emphasis on China’s model role and aid to other countries under the UN framework, rather than simply focusing on the UN’s unilateral aid to China or bilateral cooperation,” said Yuhuan. “I think this reflects the change of China’s role in the international arena.”

After the one-year volunteering experience, Yuhuan found herself even more inspired by the SDGs and considered working for international organizations again.

“I have no regrets at all in working here,” said Yuhuan. “My experience with the UN might end in a year but my passion for sustainable development doesn’t stop here.”

Yuhuan’s last day of volunteer work

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TsinghuaRen | Little steps to a great career: Wang Yuhuan’s journey as a UN volunteer

Writer: Peng Xinyi

Editors: Huang Fei, Gillian Tang

Designer: Peng Xinyi

Reviewers: Xu Liang, Lin Yuan