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MA Int. Relations and Int. Organizations Placement Report:
Internship at the Embassy of Georgia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
The Hague
to obtain the degree of M.A. International Relations and
International Organizations at the University of Groningen
By
EREKLE KOPLATADZE
S3653900
Reporting Period: 15.07.2019-31.08.2019
Supervisor at RUG: drs. Bastiaan Aardema
Groningen, The Netherlands
1
Table of Content
1. Introduction……….………2
2. Preparation……….….………2
3. Expectations……….………4
4. From Groningen to The Hague……….………5
5. Embassy of Georgia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and my arrival………….………5
6. My Principal Responsibilities………6
7. Minor Tasks……….….………7
8. Challenges……….…8
9. Evaluation of Personal learning goals……….…………9
2 1. Introduction
As part of MA IRIO Placement Module, I did my internship at the Embassy of Georgia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in The Hague. My internship at the embassy commenced on Monday, July 15 and will last for total of 3 months, until October 15. However, for the purposes of the Placement Module, the reporting period will only cover the first 7 weeks of the Internship (15 July – 31 August).
This report will be divided into 10 sections. After the introductory note, the reflection paper will describe my preparation process for securing the internship. This will be followed by the expectations I had from the embassy/placement. This paper will also briefly review the structure of the embassy for easier comprehension of my responsibilities during these 7 weeks. After reviewing my principal and minor responsibilities, I will devote a section to reflection of my work, lessons learned and goals achieved. Finally, I will conclude by few suggestion remarks.
2. Preparation
Since the beginning of my master’s degree, I had decided to first finish my thesis before starting my internship. I made this decision for several reasons. Firstly, I was afraid that since I tend to leave submission of papers to the last minute, and if I started internship earlier than my thesis, I would not leave myself enough time to finalize my thesis before the deadline. Therefore, I wanted to ensure that I could fully concentrate on my thesis and not be distracted by travels, work or lack of resources (library). Secondly, my aim was to slowly transition to employment after the placement and did not want to have a gap in the face of thesis between internship and employment.
As MA IRIO does not have a restriction on which modules I had to enroll before completing my degree, I decided to attend those modules that covered migration and security. This decision stemmed from my background, as I already have worked for International Organization for Migration (IOM) – The UN Migration Agency and I am interested in security issues. Therefore, I was searching for a placement that would be in the area of my interest and that has offices internationally. As I would like to be working for an international organization/company that would enable me to move from country to country on a regular basis, I decided to apply for placements with such organizations. Therefore, my initial plan was to secure a placement at IOM or other UN Agencies in The Hague. I started working towards that goal quite early on by attending the Career Service workshops and contacted several people from IOM Hague office.
3 In the beginning of the year, I learned that one of the alumnus from MA IRIO is working at the IOM office and therefore inquired about the possibility of an internship. Nevertheless, unfortunately, Dutch language requirement made eliminated my application. In November, I also attended several workshop on the issues of migration and met several persons working in the sector. Through that, I was able to guarantee a meeting with NGO SPARK in Amsterdam. However, as we agreed to have an introductory meeting at their office, I did not realize I would have been interviewed for a placement. My expectation was that we would have an informal coffee meeting where I would have been introduced to the structure of the organization and I would introduce them to my interests. However, upon arrival, I was met with quite formally and interviewed by 2 people. Even though I had done some research regarding the organization, I was caught off guard by the environment and by their very formal approach to my visit. Upon returning to Groningen, I decided to create an outline of answers to standard questions that I could use irrespective of the organization. However, after November until early Spring, I was overwhelmed with other activities and assignments and I was not able to fully concentrate on the filling out the never ending application forms.
In early spring I continued my filling out the application forms again and visited the iShop for the feedback. After tuning in and adjusting some minor details, I was happy with my CV and motivation letters. I sent many applications to ICC, ICJ, other international organizations and NGOs. Realizing that my applications were not as successful as I wished for, I expanded my search area and started applying for positions outside the Netherlands. I made several applications to France, Belgium and Switzerland to different UN agencies. I received two replies from UNHCR Geneva office, inviting me for an interview, which in the was unsuccessful. Second time, the same office invited me to an online test, but I was not invited to the subsequent interview. Throughout these applications, I also discovered a call for applications in the Embassy of Georgia and decided to apply for it. Even though my first choice is to be working for an international organization, for the future, I am also considering to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia. Through MFA I can pursue my interests and move countries every 4 years. Therefore, I decided to pursue a placement in the embassy and at the same time, I continued applying for other vacancies. I received several responses but twice my application was rejected for my limited knowledge of languages (Russian and Dutch). By end of June, I was also considering doing an internship at RUG with Alumni Relations or Marketing office. At the same time, I also started to search for opportunities to network. Therefore, this summer, I attended a summer school on migration in Georgia and was able to meet professors and professionals working in migration in the Netherlands. After having informal conversations, one of the lecturers from the University of Amsterdam offered to share my CV to
4 his network. However, due to the short notice and since I already had a confirmation from the Embassy, I decided to start my internship there.
3. Expectations
Already before my internship, I knew that, unsurprisingly, the embassy does not have a large staff number. The ambassador, H.E. George Sharvashidze, is relatively newly appointed, arriving in the Netherlands around January. I had already briefly met most of the embassy staff before and my focal point for embassy related matters with whom I had most communication with, left the office a month before my internship. Therefore, even though I had met most of the embassy staff, I was not sure what working environment I would find there. However, I was sure that I could easily fit into the embassy as the staff is relatively young and easy to communicate with.
More concretely, I my expectation was to learn more about the everyday life of a diplomat, the embassy working culture and reassess my priorities. I wanted to learn if my prioritization of international organizations over the MFA was erroneous and if I could return to Tbilisi to start my MFA career. In the embassy itself, I was expecting to do the news digest on daily basis, draft email communications and translations into Georgian. I was motivated to attend internal and external meetings and as the embassy is not large, assist each department. However, as my background in economic affairs is limited, I aimed to be mainly involved in the political affairs department. Additionally, as there are many international organizations and courts in The Hague, I was expecting to be involved in this work of area as well, especially with the regards of ICC and its investigation of 2008 war. Finally, as I am a winner of MFA Project Young Ambassador of Georgia, I was planning to organize an event with the embassy at the embassy’s premise. This MFA project aims to encourage youth participation and promote positive image of country among foreign youth.
By doing a placement in a Georgian environment, this was a good place to sharpen my Georgian writing skills, as I have not worked or studied in Georgian environment for over a decade. Even though this could be considered as a minor detail and as a matter of style, I wanted to understand, learn and be exposed to official MFA communication in Georgian. Therefore, I saw this opportunity to test and assess myself on how well I could adapt to the MFA.
5 4. From Groningen to The Hague
From early on I knew it was unlikely that I would secure a placement in Groningen; nevertheless, I was ill prepared when the time for the placement arrived. As I was still not sure where I would be having my placement, I was not able to search flats in advance. Once I learned I was heading to The Hague, I was faced with a tough choice. Subletting my flat in Groningen was not possible and my contract ran until end of August. Renting another flat in The Hague would have been expansive. Luckily, one of the advantages of living an international life is that you make friends from across the world. Therefore, I contacted my friends who I met in Turkey and in Georgia and asked if I could stay 1-2 days a week. Therefore, I had two friends with whom I could spend several days a week and I commuted from Groningen to The Hague during the remainder of the days. However, this was as tiring as it sounds, I would take 6.48 AM train to The Hague and return home by 10.00 PM. I was only willing to do so, because I was already paying the rent in Groningen until the end of August and therefore, I knew it this schedule would only last for more than a month. In the meantime, I have been searching for flats for the second half of my internship. During these train rides, I realized I can do much more work done than I thought I could. Therefore, at the end of the day, I would work on my university assignments in the train. Possibility of working efficiently in the train was a minor and unintended discovery of this internship.
5. Embassy of Georgia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and my arrival
The Embassy of Georgia to the Netherlands has been functioning since 2007 and its primary goal has been deepening the friendly relations between the two countries, promoting Georgia and protecting the rights of its citizens. Further strengthening of the existing relationship between the two countries in a number of important areas, such as politics, economics, culture, education is one of the main tasks of the Embassy. Even though The Netherlands supports integration of Georgia with the European institutions and supports sovereignty of Georgian territories, the Dutch government does not see Georgia’s accession to EU/NATO as its priority. The Netherlands supports a UNGA resolution in favour of Georgia annually. EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia includes 8 Dutch observers. From the economic side, the Netherlands is in top 10 inventors in Georgia and Dutch tourism to Georgia has increased by over 50% in recent year. These are some of the priority areas on which the embassy is working.
I arrived in the Embassy on Monday, July 15 and was introduced with the embassy staff and the premise. Everyone was very welcoming and had introductory conversations over the lunch and coffee breaks. There was a good working environment and everyone was happy to help me adapt. As already
6 mentioned in the sections above, the embassy is small (but relatively a normal size for Georgian embassies). As I expected, I was placed in the Political Affairs Department, under the supervision of Mr. Levan Khorkheli and was presented by 10-page long information sheet regarding bilateral relations between the countries. The info sheet highlighted the main areas of cooperation, important dates, current issues, challenges and contributions. Department of Economic Affairs is managed by Ms Maia Devadze, with whom I also worked. I was also able to work with Public Affairs/ Communications Officer. As it was summer, it was time of rotations in the MFA, therefore, person in charge of department dealing with international organizations and the Consul were newly appointed. As the embassy is small, the hierarchical structure was less observable and I had an access to the Ambassador to share my ideas.
6. My Principal Responsibilities
I had several tasks which I had to attend on daily basis. Mr Khorkheli asked me to prepare daily news digests from political side, translate in Georgian with brief analysis. Mrs. Devadze from Economic Affairs also requested my assistance in preparing weekly news digest from the Economic side. These news digest were to be sent to the MFA in Tbilisi. As the time difference was working against us (Georgia is ahead by 2 hours, and thus working day also closes 2 hours earlier), I would usually have to finalize the digests before lunchtime for my supervisor’s review. Therefore, my morning routine would start by searching for news relevant to the departments or searching Dutch news that mentioned Georgia, analysing them, translating the most relevant ones and sending it to my supervisors. If I was travelling from Groningen to The Hague, I would usually start the search an hour before my arrival to the station, so I could concentrate on other issues in the embassy. Usually, this was my morning routine, unless one time requests for assistance were made.
Within the first couple of days, Mr Khorkheli asked me to prepare several reports by end of the internship. Therefore, after the lunch break, I would usually be working on these reports. He suggested three topics from which I could choose two: MH17 Investigation, Russia-Dutch bilateral relations and China-Dutch relations. Even though all three interest me, I decided to work on the first two topics and merge into one comprehensive report with two sections: one on MH17 investigation and second on how it affected bilateral relations. In this way, I could finalize the first part of the report before the end of August (and end of my degree) and work on the second part of the paper in the remainder of the internship. Therefore, fresh out of the thesis writing, I delved back into research and started working on the report after the first week. At the end of august, I produced a report highlighting the key findings of several investigations since 2014, highlighting the position of the Dutch government and comparing it with
7 that of Russian government. I also analysed narrative of Russian media on how the downing of MH17 occurred and concluded that aim of the Russian government is not to prove that certain consequence of events happened, but their sole aim is to divert attention from truth, manipulate facts, create confusion and kindle doubt on what really occurred. Consequently, I argue, this gives them time and space for further manipulation and diverting attention from other domestic shortcomings.
7. Minor Tasks
As I started my internship in summer, many of the embassy staff left for holidays. In absence of Mr Khorkheli, who left for holidays shortly after my arrival, Mrs Devadze supervised me and I was more involved with her activities. This was the period when Russian Government decided to block all the flights from Russia to Georgia. Thus, the Georgian embassies were tasked to raise attention and find solutions to diversify tourism income from other destinations. Therefore, in these days, I was asked to search for focal person of different organizations (list was already prepared) with whom the ambassador could arrange meeting. Unfortunately, even though before starting my placement I thought I would have a chance to attend meetings, I realized that most of the time, my supervisors are already accompanying the ambassador to the meetings and there would not be space for me. Nevertheless, as September will be busier month with more meetings, I hope I can accompany my supervisors to their meetings.
At the end of July, the Assistant to the Ambassador who is also in charge of Public Affairs/ Communications, Mrs Nino Kvantrishvili, was out of office for 8 days. Therefore, I was asked to sit in her office and ensure that all queries on the embassy telephone were attended. At the same time, I was assisting the ambassador in minor, logistical, day-to-day errands, such as printing meeting materials, ensuring the car and the driver were notified and ready for departure on time. At the same time, I was searching for news worth re-sharing on social media, drafting social media posts and sending it to the Communications Officer for further actions. Upon the return of the Mrs Nino Kvantrishvili, we had a small session where I shared my insights on how to create an online sign-up sheet through Mailchimp to collect contact details of the interested parties.
On August 22, ambassador hosted two groups of students of Leiden University, which was organized in the framework of The Hague Orientation Program. As this meeting was organized before start of my internship, I did not have a role in its organization, but I was able to participate in it. Among the participants were the students of International Relations, Security Studies and other studies related to global issues and diplomacy, who visited the Embassy to be acquainted with its work. During the visit
8 30 students from different countries had chance to get information about Georgia, its history, culture, traditions, tourism potential and ongoing important reforms implemented by the government. Discussions also focused on issues relating to foreign policy priorities of Georgia, as well as to Georgia’s progress on European and Euro Atlantic integration path. During the meeting, the ambassador talked about the security and human rights situation in the occupied territories of Georgia and Russia-Georgia 2008 war. This event was a good chance for me to meet fellow students interested in IR, diplomacy and security and discuss Georgian politics with them.
8. Challenges
Upon learning that I would be doing my placement at the embassy, I was motivated to organize an event together with them. After considering the options, I wanted to merge two occasions into one event. As mentioned earlier, after Russian Federation blocked all flights from Russia to Georgia, the Georgian tourism sector felt a big strain. Consequently, a social media movement #SpendYourSummerInGeorgia was created which gathered big audience. At the same time, August was approaching, which is the anniversary of 2008 war. Therefore, I wanted to organize an event where each region of Georgia would be presented with its food, wine, and touristic destination, including the two occupied regions (but separated from the rest of the occasion via some kind of barrier, mirroring the occupation). I saw this as a good opportunity to be proactive as both, as an intern and as a Young Ambassador. Nevertheless, due to several reasons, such as people might be still out at the end of August and that occupation and tourism do not mix, it was advised not to hold such event. On the other hand, the ambassador offered me to participate and help organizing an event – Embassy Festival - in which Embassy will participate on September 6. However, in the hindsight, I believe I should have emphasized that I do have my own budget and I was not requesting additional budget for purchasing the necessary equipment, catering or services.
However, I am still hopeful that I can organize an event together with the embassy. As a Young Ambassador, I was contacted by the office of Mayor of Batumi (second largest city in Georgia), and was asked if I could help them organize a photo exhibition of artists from Batumi. I would like if I could organize such exhibition in several places, including the embassy, Groningen and Rotterdam. However, this project is at a very early stage and I am still waiting for further information from the office of mayor of Batumi. I anticipate to hold such event in November.
9 9. Evaluation of Personal learning goals
In my placement plan, I highlighted that I wanted to gain technical understanding of the Embassy work and learn more about bilateral relations between the two countries. Even though the summer was not the busiest period for the embassy, the daily exposure to the embassy team, working with the supervisors and the ambassador portrayed the daily life of embassy work. I was able to approach and ask questions to my supervisor in case the information sheet presented to me did not identify the issue that I wanted to learn more about. However, I was not able to be involved with the work regarding the ICC. As the person working on these issues arrived few days before my internship started and as summer was not very busy period, he was still busy with settling in and establishing his work. However, as my desk was across his office and we often shared coffee breaks together, I had informal conversations regarding his responsibilities and the general overview of ICC investigation in Georgia. During the remained of my internship, I intend to slowly assist him in his work. In my placement plan, I wrote that I wanted to be involved in many areas of embassy work to find what sparked my interest and deepen knowledge in that field.
By working with several different people, I noticed that my approach to them also varied. Even though this might come naturally, approaching different personalities differently, in the hindsight I find it interesting how unconsciously my approaches changed. At the same time, by working with different departments, I realized that the embassy work is not strictly divided by departments and it is based on a close team work; to an extent, everyone is involved in the priority subject/working area of the embassy. This became very apparent when various staff members left for holidays and different staff members were able to take queries outside their department (i.e. queries regarding the consular section). On a personal level, I already knew my interests lie in security issues and I take pleasure in doing research. However, I slowly, I have been realizing that I also have missed reporting and would be interested in deepening my knowledge in the area of communications/public relations.
Unfortunately, I was not able to successfully initiate and organize an event; nevertheless, I am aiming to organize an exhibition at the embassy later this year. Therefore, unfortunately, I was not able to practice the project management skills as much as I would have liked. As the embassy work is not projectized, there were not many opportunities to develop in this area; nevertheless, I was able to observe the personalities and leadership styles.
10 I believe that my master’s degree and finishing all my modules helped me better structure my research report for the embassy. The security classes especially helped me to better reflect the investigation and the reactions towards the investigation by all sides. Nevertheless, I often have troubles in highlighting those lines that connects my studies to daily life at the office. I believe, the connection between the classes and the office are more subtle and hard to pinpoint. I think the master’s degree has shaped my way of thinking, approaching challenges and analyzing problems. As one of my professors from my previous university told group of students, we would not retain 90% of the facts/knowledge from the class, but what we learned in classes was how we approached problems/life. I believe the master’s degree has shaped and trained me on how to approach different situations, shaped my thinking and thus shaped my work ethic. Therefore, even though I might not be able to pinpoint that one line where my classes meet the office work, I believe the research seminars helped me in the embassy in many, subtle forms. The placement module, thus, prepared me to transition from academia to Embassy/NGO work.
Overall, I am happy with how my placement has progressed so far. I have enjoyed the daily tasks and have a routine which I follow daily. I have progressed towards achieving some of my goals more than some others. I have faced few challenges but nothing that discouraged or demotivated from doing this placement. I was able to easily fit in with the embassy team, which further motivated me to contribute my best and be proactive. Even though in some aspects I would have like to be more involve, I understand that it takes time before I am fully integrated in the team, have full confidence from the supervisors and participate in meetings. This will be my goal for the remainder of my internship. Finally, writing reports in Georgian on a daily basis is an essential practice if I decide to continue my career with MFA and more I think about it, more acceptable it becomes. Nevertheless, my goal remains to keep searching for a job in the Netherlands, at an UN agency or other international organization/NGO.
11 10. Suggestions
In order to be able to secure a placement at the Embassy of Georgia, you need to be a Georgian national and speak Georgian. Therefore, do not apply if you cannot meet this requirement.
Start searching early, earlier than you initially planned. Start searching for flats together with the placements.
In the embassy, in small teams, be open to assist multiple person at the same time. In a small team, the hierarchical orders and rigid departments are likely to form into one big team. Therefore, it would be better if you take initiative by asking them if you could help in any way and not wait for them to come approach you.
Challenges and setbacks happen, but do not let that affect your daily work life. Eventually, everything works out.
Dress code is formal; you can never go wrong with a suit. If you do not own a suit, invest in one.
If you are considering working for the MFA and you are already living/studying abroad, doing an internship at the embassy is a must. The placement will show you the daily tasks and help you create network.
