Bienvenue á OECD. An eight part blog about my internship.

My digital train ticket in the one hand, a Butterbreze (a simple German pretzel with butter, delicious) in the other hand, I board a train. I’m on my way to Paris, where I’ll live for the next two months.

The OECD (or “Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development“) hired me as an intern to work in their Social Policy Division. Those who know me, will know what an honor that is for me. In my last post, I reflected about how much energy it gives to work on the topics close to your heart. Social policy and the work on equality is such an energy boost for me. I’m especially excited to build some new expertise in social policy: LGBTI+ rights.

I’ll be working on the OECD’s new report on LGBTI+ inclusion, that will be forthcoming next year. The 2020 report “Over the Rainbow? The Road to LGBTI Inclusion” analyses the legal rights of the LGBTI community in OECD countries, and makes the ethical and economic case why we need 100% equality, liberty and protection now. (If you think your home country is liberal, check out the report. Not a single OECD country guarantees LGBTI+ persons all the rights non-LGBTI+ persons enjoy. The good news is that substantial improvements were made over the last decade.) More about my work in the next posts.

This internship is made possible by the generous support of The Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) at Harvard Kennedy School and supporters of the WAPPP Summer Internship Grant. They fund internships like mine to foster gender-related projects or work that bridges different cultures. In return, I agreed to blog about my experience.

What to expect

In this blog, I will share my experience at the Social Policy Division of the OECD. I hope to

• Give an insight into the OECD’s work on social policy, and especially LGBTI+ policies
• Talk about the OECD‘s mission “Better policies for better lives”
• Inspire other students or professionals to work at international organisations
• Share my experience of living in Paris

You’re welcome to join me on my journey, read my thoughts and ideas, and ask me any questions privately or through the comment function.