Recently, I sat down with IEDP second year student, Joy Kim to learn more about her internship experience as the Technical Intern for the Early Childhood Education and Care team with the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) in Istanbul, Turkey this past summer. This was a particularly special interview, as Joy was one of the first students I had the opportunity to speak to when I received my IEDP admissions offer… What a full circle moment!

---

Internship Match Process

Several months prior to starting her internship, Joy began the internship match process by sharing her strong interests in early childhood education and education in emergencies with the IEDP faculty team. In March, she was thrilled when Dr. Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher asked if she would be interested in pursuing an internship with UNICEF ECARO’s Early Childhood Education and Care team in Istanbul. Joy remembers feeling so much excitement in that moment!

I was really excited when she told me about this opportunity!

---

Moving to Istanbul & Joining the UNICEF Office 

Upon landing in Istanbul at 3am, Joy remembers feeling a mix of nerves and so much excitement. As she recalls, “I ended up seeing the sunset that morning while on the phone with Angie [fellow IEDP second year student]… It was beautiful. I think that first morning, especially, was very surreal.”

Soon after settling in, Joy officially joined the UNICEF ECARO team, delving straight into the work. Working closely with the Early Childhood Development team in the Istanbul office, in addition to colleagues from other teams in the Regional Office and even UNICEF HQ, her tasks on a day-to-day basis were quite diverse — ranging from designing program briefs to contributing to innovative finance mechanisms to sitting in and taking notes on bilateral meetings. When I asked Joy about her favorite project that she worked on, she immediately lit up, excitedly sharing about her work drafting a 25–page program brief on UNICEF ECARO’s approach to early childhood education and care reforms. Joy admitted that this was a project that required many hours of reading and research, and yet, she found it most rewarding because of how much she was able to learn about the team’s guiding approaches and strategies for accelerating early childhood education and care reforms in the region. 

As an IEDP first year student who has just finished my first full month in the program, I was also curious about how Joy’s IEDP experience helped her during the internship. She explained, “the IEDP experience is really good at helping students become comfortable with the constant journey of not knowing, learning, and unlearning.” For Joy, having this growth mentality was really helpful, allowing her to be more open to new opportunities for learning and be honest about areas she didn’t feel super confident in but was eager to grow in, like innovative financing for early childhood education and care. 

This experience provided my first exposure to how a larger international organization functions…There were so many interesting learnings.

While work was a big part of Joy’s experience in Istanbul, she also made sure to find time for exploration and building connections. As she recalls, “I really did maximize my time there as much as I could, which was really my goal going in. I worked hard and played hard.” After leaving the office, Joy explored Istanbul as much as possible (at least 10k steps per day!), soaking in the delicious food, meeting so many hospitable folks, and documenting as much of her time as possible.

---

Returning back to Philly & Reflections
At the time that I spoke with Joy, it had been a few weeks since she returned from Istanbul back to Philly to finish up her time in the IEDP. With nostalgia thick in her voice, she told me, “I miss it [life in Istanbul] alot. I still think about it almost everyday.” Fortunately, due to all her great contributions, Joy will be able to continue working with UNICEF ECARO remotely from Philly as a junior consultant for the rest of the semester. As we closed up the conversation, she gave me (and other IEDP students hoping to pursue internships) some great advice: “Building relationships is so important. Connect with people as people, not just as colleagues. Many of them were also in your same shoes years ago and will be generous with their time and advice. Also, I approached the internship with the mentality that no task is too ‘beneath me’ and that everything is a learning opportunity – and I think that will get you far.” 

How would Joy describe her UNICEF internship experience in Istanbul? “Stretching, relationship-building, and adventure!