For Every Child

By Aiden Jewelle Gonzales

The focus and passion for the child rights mandate is key,” says Arun Nair, the Regional Partnerships Manager at UNICEF, as we speak between his meetings. “Growing up in India, I witnessed significant child poverty, which deeply impacted me. I saw children without access to necessities— education, healthcare, housing, and food security. These disparities left a lasting impression on me, which is why UNICEF’s mission resonates so profoundly.”

Eloquent and passionate, Arun embodies the values of an international development professional dedicated to making a difference. His life journey has been shaped by rich and diverse cultural experiences, having grown up in India, then Oman, and later spending more than two decades in New York. “Each place shaped my perspective,” he reflects. “India’s diversity exposed me to varied cultures, languages, and viewpoints. Kerala, where I am from in India, is one of the most socially progressive states in India, which informed my worldview from an early stage. In Oman, I was at a critical stage of the teenage years, where I was provided the safety and validation, surrounded by a circle of amazing people, who I still consider my closest friends, in addition to being in a wonderful academic institution.

And then there is New York, the city that I connect with the most and I consider the place I know best – it taught me to appreciate different approaches, ideas, mindsets constantly challenging me and exposing me to more, and was in all accounts transformative.”

“While I consider myself very lucky for the opportunities I have been accorded, I am very grateful for the work ethic and mindset that were instilled in me, which I credit to my experiences and to my close circle around me who has consistently championed me, supported me and pushed me to excel and achieve my goals,” he continues. “Reflecting on my life, I understand the value of opportunity and how life-changing it can be. This perspective fuels my commitment to ensuring every child has access to basic opportunities. A child on the street might not have the same privileges as one in a private school, but with access to education, they have the opportunity to change their circumstances —and perhaps their story entirely.”

While social impact was always an aspiration, Arun’s professional journey began not in the international development sector but in the private sector.

After graduating with a degree in Management and Economics, in Massachusetts, he moved to New York, where he spent a decade in banking, structured finance and venture debt at entities like JP Morgan and Citigroup. Eventually, Arun made the drastic shift from the private sector into the international development sector seeking work that made more meaningful social impact.

A PATH TO UNICEF

“UNICEF has always been an entity I had known, given its strong footprint and impactful work in India which had left a strong impression” Arun shares. So, when UNICEF offered me a role to join their Treasury & Structured Investments team in New York, I opted to take the chance to work for them over other banking opportunities that I had at the time. UNICEF’s mandate is very aligned with my values, and that feeling has only grown with the time I have served as part of the organization.”

In 2019, Arun was provided the opportunity to move to China to establish partnerships with the China-based financial institutions and multilateral development banks and explore innovative finance in China. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Arun started to support UNICEF’s Headquarter in New York and Geneva in addition to the Regional Office in Bangkok in innovative finance and partnership building with international financial institutions. This led to his current role, which involves leading on public partnerships and innovative finance across East Asia and the Pacific region, while also serving as the lead in China for innovative finance and China- based financial institutions. “It’s been a long, winding professional road, which has resulted in doing partnerships for UNICEF, which at this time is an incredibly fulfilling role” he says.

PARTNERSHIPS AT UNICEF

When asked what his role entails, Arun explains his work simply: “UNICEF always seeks to serve the needs of its ultimate stakeholder – the child. Our role involves addressing the range of areas impacting a child’s well-being, areas such as but not restricted to – Education, Climate, Water & Sanitation, Nutrition, Health, Social Policy, Gender, Child Protection, and many more. My role is to serve as the bridge between the programmatic needs into opportunities for resource mobilisation, advocacy and mandate progression.”

A recent example is the Today & Tomorrow initiative that was launched at COP28, piloted in the Pacific Islands to address climate events. “We convened partners like the World Bank, private insurance companies and governments with technical expertise from UNICEF to create sustainable, system-strengthening measures. This reduced the impacts of the climate event and reduced risks for insurers and provided critical protection for vulnerable populations.”

THE UNICEF DIFFERENCE

What sets UNICEF apart? “Reputation, Scale and Expertise,” Arun emphasises. “We are the organization for children, with a global footprint and convening power, a strong brand recognition and reputation, with the track record and ability to mobilize resources based on results. We focus on systemic and sustainable impact, ensuring that every effort aligns with our ultimate goal — improving children’s lives.”

Looking ahead, Arun acknowledges the challenges of a changing world. “With Overseas Development Assistance shrinking and geopolitical shifts, and donors looking for more defined impacts, we must stay adaptable. Embracing change and new approaches and areas of work are crucial, while building on existing partnerships as well as while seeking new opportunities to collaborate. The aspiration is to continue to engage, stay current in the global conversations to remain relevant while creating the maximum impact for our stakeholder – the child.”

STAYING GROUNDED

Working in development can be emotionally taxing, but Arun stays focused on the end stakeholder and the cost of inaction. “While it is easy to feel overwhelmed by systemic shortcomings, the geopolitical restrictions of the system, it is important to stay focused on the cost of UNICEF not being part of the conversation. For example, during the Gaza crisis, despite the many frustrations of the interventions we attempted being restricted, we were able to secure a brief pause in hostilities to vaccinate children against polio. It is tough to quantify in the current context of hostilities, but in retrospect it would have hopefully helped.”

Arun also finds value in realistic optimism. “If you believe you can change the world without resistance and a lot of noise telling you otherwise, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. So instead, I try to focus on what I can do, even within a sometimes- restrictive system, which involves a lot more than UNICEF, and I hold onto that hope for change.”

ADVICE FOR ASPIRANTS WANTING TO JOIN THE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT SECTOR

“If you are driven by a cause and committed to making a positive impact towards said cause, consider a career in development, the mandate has to drive you” Arun advises. “Understand the organisation you aspire to be a part of, findW where you can make the most impact within it, and pursue it wholeheartedly.”