UNESCO APCAD Interns joined the Team

The recruitment process of the UNESCO Asia Pacific Coalition of Cities Against Discrimination (UNESCO APCAD, below APCAD) interns, which has been going on throughout the month of May, was finalized last week. The recruitment drew attention of some 200 applicants interested in various fields such as social inclusion, human rights, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), urban development, etc.

The interns, chosen to start work at different times, both in the first and the latter half of the year, were given the opportunity to work for a maximum of 6 months, and could opt to complete their internship period either virtually or on-site in Gwangju at World Human Rights Cities Forum Secretariat or UNESCO Bangkok Office. The internship will provide the opportunity to gain real-world work experience in a United Nations setting, mentored by UN and Gwangju International Center staff.

Specific projects that interns have been called to participate in are the main projects of the year 2022 APCAD work plan, and include APCAD Inclusive City Marker System Pilot, UNESCO Master Class Series on Racism and Discrimination – Gwangju Series, UNESCO City Art-Lab, Youth Boot Camp for Inclusive and Sustainable Cities, meetings, and events for reinvigorating APCAD members, including the annual APCAD meeting and related events held as part of the World Human Rights Cities Forum - the venue for international exchanges surrounding human rights, where human rights cities present and interchange their efforts to protect and institutionalize human rights of citizens.

Founded in 2006, APCAD acts as the region’s chapter of the city network platform known as UNESCO International Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Cities (UNESCO ICCAR). Gwangju Metropolitan City has been the lead city of the coalition since the year 2019, and despite of difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic over the previous 2 years, the teams leading APCAD projects both in Gwangju and Bangkok have been continuously working on preparing the projects focusing on providing opportunities for good practices sharing and active development of new inclusive initiatives amongst the network of like-minded cities that aim to deliver against the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda through the APCAD’s “Ten Point Action Plan”.