Year : 2010

Name of Student : Slawa Abdel Wahed

As a fresh graduate from Nutrition department- Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was always a dream for me, and LoYAC brought this dream to reality. I had the chance this fall to be an intern at FAO- Nutrition and Consumer protection division.
My main task was focused on the Nutrition Country Profile for Jordan. I started by reviewing the old profile, collecting data from national and international surveys, doing statistical analysis, turning numbers into graphs and comments, and finally write interpretations of these results. This task helped me to understand the nutrition situation in Jordan, and all health programs which were adopted and implemented to meet nutritional needs. It also introduced me to a new interesting topic which is food security in Jordan. The document is expected to be published in January, 2011.

During my internship at FAO, I had the permission to attend all the seminars and conferences there. The most remarkable event for me was 36th Committee on world Food Security, which included a seminar about food security and nutrition situation in Jordan.
Being a part of such international organization brought me into contact with interns and colleagues from all over the world. It was a great chance for us to represent our countries, cultures and religions.

Living alone was another challenge; I learned how to be independent and more responsible. I also had the chance to explore different cities of Italy, beside Italian culture, art and cuisine.
 At the beginning I saw this internship as a chance to put what I learnt at university for four years into practice, but in each day I spent at Rome and FAO I was learning something new. Now I have a new perspective for my career life, thanks to LoYAC and King Abdullah Fund for such life changing opportunity.

Year : 2009

Name of Student : Nadia Ahmad

Getting the chance to work at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has been one of the best experiences I have ever had. The most important thing I came to understand from my tasks, though they were a bit irrelevant to my field of studies, that people from various nations and majors have to sit together to solve problems; it doesn’t only depend on specialists and technicians, and that these issues cannot be confided to any specific geographic areas or political boundaries. I have never realized the importance of international legislations, guides and codes of conduct before, now I understand they are all essential to come out with the best results when working on solutions to problems.
Having worked at the Obsolete Pesticide division, I saw that more attention should be given to what are considered to be less important problems in Jordan. People here focus mainly on water, energy and desertification issues, but sometimes less attention is paid to the inter-connection of environmental and agricultural problems. We still suffer from excessive use of pesticides and from frightening amount of obsolete pesticide stocks we have in Jordan, and it will be very hard to solve other problems if we don’t deal with this one.

My tasks included translating some documents into Arabic, managing FAO’s contacts and some other office-related jobs. I saw how time-management, practicality and taking responsibility are very important and cannot be ignored. Also, having to live away from my family, I learnt how to be self-dependant and to take care of myself. I am sure all these personal and work skills will prove to be very useful for me in the future.

I have become even more excited about my major, and I am really looking forward to starting my career, and to put all my experience and knowledge into use. I thank King Abdullah Fund for Development, Arab Fund and LoYAC for giving me this rare opportunity of learning and experience, it has been great.