by Santiago Rico August 2020

What is SEnECA?
The project “SEnECA – Strengthening and Energizing EU-Central Asia Relations” seeks to improve research cooperation and to strengthen capacities in research and policy advice in the EU and Central Asia, having recognized the importance of Central Asia for Europe.

An international consortium with twelve partner organization form the EU and all five Central Asian countries, led by Prof Dr. Michael Kaeding, professor for European politics at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), and Dr. Katrin Böttger, Director of the Institut für Europäische Politik (IEP) will map and analyze the relations between the two regions in order to make recommendations to stakeholders on future research cooperation, policies, and communication.

My Experience:
During my time as an external project development collaborator at Geneva Desk for Cooperation, I was given the opportunity to travel to Brussels, Europe’s capital, and represent GDCOO at the EU’s SEnECA Final Conference. At the conference, I dove headfirst into an experience that I have never been exposed to. I was in a huge room filled with diplomats, experts, and academics with 20+ years of experience and I was simply an undergraduate student. Understandably, I was quite nervous because I thought no one would pay attention to me based on my inexperience but then I remembered what my supervisor Aigul Jarmatova told me, “they are just regular people too”. So, at every coffee break, I began introducing myself and the concept behind GDCOO, and what happened took me by surprise. Everyone seemed very interested in what I was representing and some people really wanted to know in what ways they could contribute while others just wanted to support it and spread the word. I did not speak to a single person that I didn’t gain something from. It was an amazing experience for me personally and professionally.

Everyone, especially educators, was fascinated by the project and its mission. There definitely was not enough time and not enough business cards to go around. It seemed like every discussion topic the panel brought up, there was an increase in interest in GDCOO. It almost seemed as when the conference posed the questions and the methods, GDCOO had the answers and the resources. I met people that had extremely good suggestions on how to guide GDCOO in the right direction as well as great connections with experience, educated, and prepared people that will hopefully soon turn into a collaboration.

Learning from my time in Nyon, I was able to come out of my shell and fully represent and be proud of an organization like Geneva Desk for Cooperation. I truly enjoyed representing GDCOO because it is something I am passionate about. I aspire to continue down a career path of public service and hope to someday lead or organization like GDCOO into the industry of world-wide development through education and the fair distribution of resources. Being a part of GDCOO has shown me the type of people and conversations that need to take place in order for there to be some serious change and I hope to continue to foster a world where I can make that change.