Bronco Spotlight: Lissette Reyes
Master of Arts in international development administration, 2018
Project Officer, Dominican Republic at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Currently, I’m the project officer for a regional UN Initiative that covers my home country, the Dominican Republic. I also work coordinating project activities in Aruba, Curacao and Trinidad and Tobago. The project has a focus on migration, human rights and human trafficking, specifically working with country authorities to enhance the criminal justice response to this crime while safeguarding human rights of migrants in the Caribbean region. Within my responsibilities, I liaise with local authorities like Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Security and others to identify paths of collaboration and develop action plan to tackle this crime while increasing awareness on migration and human rights. It is a very busy position but I’m glad to learn a lot every day and face lots of daily challenges to solve with the skills I earned with the MIDA program at WMU.
What is the most rewarding and the most challenging part of your job?
The most rewarding thing is working for the people. Ultimately, that’s what also drove me to the MIDA Program at WMU, dedicating myself to one way or another benefit or improve the lives of others, even more so the ones who are struggling the most. As far as the most challenging has been adapting to all the things the pandemic has brought to the topic of massive migration and human rights. This crisis has deeply affected millions across the world and that comes to light every day with different circumstances.
What activities, resources, or people helped you prepare for your career?
WMU’s Career guide was ALWAYS an amazing tool to help me highlight my profile, experience and skills. LinkedIn is a fantastic tool as well to ensure others know what you’re up to and what you’re looking for. Also, my capstone project was the guiding structure of my proposal to apply for my current role and of course, my professors. Seeing their professional path and the type of work they did, guided a lot of my drive into defining specifically what to seek or to be on the lookout for in the field of international development. In addition, networking was always great and constantly being professionally visible online
What advice would you offer students wanting a career similar to yours?
Be persistent, write your goals so they’re always clear for you to pursue and NEVER be afraid to ask for help, guidance, orientation or expertise.