Natalie Wu on the importance of clean and affordable energy

Through the International Youth Internship Program (IYIP), a joint program with the Government of Canada and the United Nations Association in Canada, young Canadians are given the opportunity to gain professional experience in international development work. Natalie Wu, a Bioresource Masters student, was selected as part of the 2021 cohort. She was a Junior Professional Consultant (JPC) and was remotely placed for six months at the World Food Programme’s (WFP) headquarters in Rome.

Within WFP, Natalie was part of the Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction Programme Units’ Energy for Food Security Team. This team aims to integrate climate and energy solutions across a range of programmatic areas including school feeding, smallholder farmer support and nutrition. As a JPC, Wu supported the Energy for Food Security Team with research communication, knowledge sharing and project implementation. She worked on a range of projects including designing nutrition research methodology, reporting on 2020 energy results, creating country energy profiles, as well as, writing brochures about current WFP projects and their impacts on Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7). Through this experience, she learned the importance of sharing knowledge of SDG 7.

Read her article, 'The Importance of Clean and Affordable Energy', in the McGill Reporter.