UNESCO Reviews

Then the new Director arrived. She is not a well person. UNESCO HQ has been told many many times of the culture of bullying and abuse. Her governing board has been told. No one cares. A large proportion of the staff (most) have taken stress leaves. People have left in droves. New hires are arriving to find out that the place is a mess, the data is now of poor quality, and you are expected to keep your mouth shut about it. It is a shame that such an illustrous Institute was allowed to fall to ruin with everyone simply watching it happen. Where were you UNESCO?

The issue with every UN office is that although they boast of being "inclusive" and "global," there is zero sense of team spirit! Each person is either trying to outdo or outsmart the other. The constant leg-pulling is extremely demoralizing and toxic. With outdated policies and systems, unlike other donor agencies, the work culture feels rigid and unaccepting of new concepts or ideas. They want to stick to the old-school ideas of running an office. Another major red flag of the work culture here is the general lack of acceptance of new staff, particularly someone not from a UN background; the organization is extremely biased towards volunteers (UNVs), not because of the quality of their work but because they work for practically no pay! Anyone with a different concept is made a mockery of. So all those who are thinking of joining the UN to "change the world", join the long line of nepotism and red-tapism, which will literally drain you of any enthusiasm you have by the time you get in, if you do that is!