Embracing Malawi’s youthful talents to achieve more under the UNDP Graduate Programme

As one of the key areas of its work, UNDP is working to support the youth in Malawi to have greater access to mentorship, entrepreneurship, and job opportunities; all of which are key to unlocking national growth and eradicating poverty.

The launch of the UNDP Global Graduate Programme, therefore, provided a unique opportunity for young graduates and the Malawi Country Office set out to encourage the young professionals within the office to apply to the exciting 2-years assignment.

Shirrah Kagwamminga Phiri, a UNDP Malawi Young Professional has been selected to be in the first cohort of the programme.

“My name is Shirrah Kagwamminga Phiri. I am 24 years old and come from Lilongwe, Malawi.   I am the first-born child in a family of two.

I hold a master’s degree in Economics and have been working as a Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst for the country office, deployed under the UNDP Malawi’s Young Professionals Programme.

My interest to work for the UN system started when I was in my first year in university. Since then, whenever I saw an opportunity attached to any UN agency I would apply, and in May 2021, I landed myself this opportunity with UNDP Malawi.

In June 2021, there was a call for application to the Graduate Programme for young graduates from developing nations and I decided to apply. A total of 38,709 candidates applied globally and I am glad to be among the 33 successful candidates.  I passed through different stages to be among the selected few.

I have been posted to the Bangkok Regional Hub for UNDP in Thailand as the Regional (Asia-Pacific) Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst. What excites me most is that this is the first cohort of the UNDP Graduate Programme, and I am a part of it.

Through Graduate Programme, I hope to play a key role in achieving UNDP’s global mission which is to lead the United Nations in its fight for a world without poverty, in which women and young people are empowered, inequality is addressed, and the planet is protected.

To my fellow young people, never give up on your dreams. I know sometimes being confident is difficult, so reflect on your life and think about your strengths. What are you good at? Who do you want to become? Think about those things when you are struggling to believe in yourself. I believe having a positive outlook really helps.”