A warm welcome to Geneva

Hello everyone! As I started my internship about a month back, I will venture on to being the first one to post in the blog this year. 

I arrived on February 26th to start my 12 week internship period in Geneva, Switzerland, to work with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Trade Facilitation Section. I am working on different projects but mainly focused on a project developing traceability systems and standards for the textile and leather sector. The work here is very interesting and the environment as well, having the opportunity to attend to multiple conferences and calls with different international organizations and industry associations. Tasks vary a lot as well so it keeps it really interesting, learning many new things about such a huge international organization and how it relates to the textile industry. Below, I am leaving you with some pictures from a conference during my first week here. If you look closely, on stage, people are dressed by the initiative "Forests for Fashion", bringing awareness to the use of PEFC-certified-forest-based products to encourage the use of sustainable materials, ensuring sustainable forest management (www.pefc.org). 

During the next weeks I will be helping in the preparation of a Conference on Traceability for Sustainable Value Chains, for the Textile and Leather Sector which will be held at the end of the month here in Geneva. So hopefully in a few weeks I can tell you more about the preparation and outcomes of the Conference.

Look forward to reading about your field studies! Natalia.