Stories from the Field 07

Voices of Japanese Personnel Working in International Organizations
—Supporting Socially Vulnerable People in Viet Nam—

The author holding a baby at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic supported by UNFPA in an ethnic minority area

Public announcement of the opening of a domestic violence victim hotline supported by the Government of Japan set up in front of the UN building in Viet Nam

“I want to work across different countries” and “I want to study abroad.” Those were my vague thoughts when I was a junior high school student who was raised being told that “women do not need to go to university,” in a rural Japanese town where traditional ideas persisted.

With the understanding and support of my parents for advancing to higher education, I entered Yokohama City University and majored in International Relations. While there was opposition to my plan, with people saying “What will you do after studying abroad?” I was determined to go, and graduated from the Department of Political Science at Indiana University in the United States. Afterwards, I received a scholarship from the Institute of Developing Economies Advanced School (IDEAS) in Japan and obtained an MSc in Demography from the London School of Economics. Later, I also obtained an MBA from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom to further improve my skills.

My career at the UN started as the Junior Professional Officer (JPO) Note 1 at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Zambia. At that time, I was still young at 26 years old. During the JPO interview, I was asked, “What can you offer to the UN without work experience?” I remember that I responded, “Inexperience and freshness are my value.” I now regret that I was young enough to have a smart mouth. After that, I was employed as a regular staff member of UNFPA and worked at the Headquarters in New York. After serving as the Deputy Representative in South Africa, and as the Representative in Mongolia, I am currently the UNFPA Representative in Viet Nam. My career and experience include secondment to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Mozambique and UNDP Malawi as Deputy Resident Representative, and being in charge of peacebuilding and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at JICA.

Working in Viet Nam is nothing but happiness for me. Under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN and with the slogan “Leave No One Behind” as our motto, my job is to protect socially vulnerable people who tend to be left behind in the process of national growth. For example, there are many cases in Viet Nam where pregnant women who live in minority ethnic areas end up dying from childbirth at home without having pre-natal checkups and appropriate medical care due to a lack of access to hospitals. Furthermore, domestic violence against women is a serious issue in Viet Nam, where the male-dominated society is deeply rooted. Elderly people are also vulnerable and often live in poverty because of weak social protection systems. We listen to the views of such vulnerable people and provide financial and technical support, while receiving funding from the Government of Japan in recent years. Furthermore, utilizing the neutral position of the UN, we propose policy recommendations based on international perspectives and evidence, and are closely involved in national decision-making processes to assist the Government of Viet Nam in adopting the appropriate policies.

The UN has many highly qualified and experienced professionals. I am who I am today thanks to the support of my seniors and other colleagues. In addition, the UN offers a good welfare program and understands and promotes pursuing one’s career while parenting, so that the staff can achieve a good work-life balance.

Under the recent unstable state of the world, I feel that the expectations from international society for Japan as a developed country in Asia are increasing day by day. Now that we have an easy access to the world, I sincerely hope that the younger generation of Japan will take an interest in foreign countries and venture out into the world.

KITAHARA Naomi
UNFPA Representative, Viet Nam

Note 1: See “Enhancing Human Resources and Intellectual Foundations for Development Cooperation” for details on JPOs.