JPO Story - Yuta Kono

February 14, 2023
UNDP staff picture with recipients

Yuta Kono in a field mission in the village of Badabil, in the state of Odisha, India, visiting an UNDP project on building climate resilient infrastructure, July 2022.

©UNDP

What is your educational background?

I have a M.A. in Conflict Resolution.

What made you apply to the JPO programme/what is your motivation to work with your UN agency?

After working for a public foundation, an international NGO and UNDP at the Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA) as a UN Volunteer, I wanted to advance in my career and handle more challenging tasks. I also wanted to know how UNDP offices in Africa and Asia are different. In addition, P-2 overall conditions and benefits were also very attractive for me and my family.  

What are the main activities/tasks you are working on? What is a day at the office/in the field like?

Under the supervision of Resident Representative and attached to SDG Acceleration Unit, my key responsibilities have been

  1. Provide M&E supports to more than 10 projects under the unit, in close collaboration with Project Managers. I have led, supervised, and guided Project Managers to prepare project Annual Work Plans for three consecutive years. I have also taken the lead to ensure that project periodic reports (such as Quarterly project reports and Annual project reports) are prepared and presented in timely manner. I also took lead in completing terminal project evaluation.
  2. Maintain a strong partnership with the Government of Japan and mobilize resources to formulate projects in order to further advance the implementation of the SDGs in India . During my two years’ service as JPO, I have successfully mobilized more than 10 million USD from Japan in collaboration with my colleagues. As a proof of the strong partnership with the Japanese government, UNDP India CO  had an honour to have the Ambassador of Japan to India to speak in key videos in which he have spoken about various collaborations made between Japan and UNDP.

In addition, I worked on translating into Japanese many communication materials from our office to assure that they were widely disseminated.

I’ve trained myself on video editing by watching video tutorials on YouTube. So far I have put Japanese subtitles to four UNDP videos. This is a new skillset I gained after becoming a JPO, and I enjoying doing so, although it is time and energy consuming.

  1. Establish private sector partnership with Japanese private sector in India, in order to mobilize funds from non-traditional partners. I have successfully developed partnership with Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India (JCCII), which has more than 490 Japanese companies operational in India. JCCII and UNDP signed an MoU to jointly promote private sector partnership so that UNDP and private companies are well connected.

My duty station is UNDP Country Office which is located in Delhi, and I have not had many opportunities to go for field missions. However, during the past two years, I visited fields several times to monitor project implementation. I love going on field missions as you can directly see what kind of support UNDP is providing, which is more difficult to understand when only reading about it from a document.

In your day-to-day work, what SDG(s) are you helping to implement?

Since my unit works on SDGs localization at state level, I have had the opportunity to work with different projects that promote different sustainable development goals. On the other hand, I would say that I have been more involved in a climate action project as it is funded by the Government of Japan (SDG 13).

What is the most challenging project that you have worked on/are working on?

I would say it is the climate change project that I mentioned above. We have a project budget of USD 5 million that needs to be spent in one year. It needs realistic and reliable planning as well as speedy procurement and implementation. Having said that, it is a very rewarding project as I can see linkage between digital innovation and climate change mitigation/adaptation.

UNDP staff picture

Listening to a UNDP colleague in the village of Badabil, India visiting an UNDP project on building climate resilience.

©UNDP

What has been the most rewarding experience to date for you at your duty station? (work and/or non-work related)

The area of Private Sector Partnership is something I find it very interesting. It is challenging but exciting to think of a win-win relationship that can benefit public actors, private companies and UNDP in their shared goal of building a more prosperous world.

What set of skills have you developed most throughout your assignment?

Private sector partnership is something I have never done before taking up my JPO assignment. I have also learnt how to do video editing, which has helped expanding my professional horizon. I am also very privileged as I can often witness how communications/negotiations/interactions at Resident Representative level work. She is my direct supervisor and I work closely with her on many partnership initiatives that involve Japan as a main partner.   

What piece of advice would you give to those who are considering applying to the JPO Programme?

The JPO programme is an excellent career entry move into to the UN system. As JPO allows you to get a lot of exposure and you gain experience for higher-level positions.

If you had to summarize your JPO experience, what you would say?

The JPO opportunity has allowed me to deeply understand how UNDP works, something often difficult if you are an outsider. My two years as a JPO made me gain a great deal of professional experience that can increase my career opportunities in the future, not only within the UN system but in a broader sense. Working in UNDP also made me think deeply about what are the SDGs, and why they are so important. It has also enabled me to directly contribute to the sustainable development of our planet as we all share a common responsibility to future generations. 

"Working in UNDP also made me think deeply about what are the SDGs, and why they are so important. It has also enabled me to directly contribute to the sustainable development of our planet as we all share a common responsibility to future generations."
Yuta Kono