Inspired by Houssein Djirdeh
A lot has transpired this year. I won't talk about what I did outside of work (besides the hobbies I now pursue to maintain my mental health). This article will talk about some of the things my team and I accomplished at UNICEF, the work I struggled with, and what I am looking to do in the coming year. Enjoy!
What did I do at UNICEF?
Products and Research
Atrium
With a few colleagues from World Food Programme and UNICEF, we collectively launched an interagency blockchain platform at the UN. This platform enables users around the United Nations (UN) to learn about blockchain and see what other organizations are doing with blockchain (e.g. projects, papers, research, etc.). With the platform, our team also coauthored a paper called "UN's Practical Guide to Using Blockchain". The platform is live here and the guide can be found here.
In 2021, we will be launching a new version of the platform. The platform will encourage people across the UN to learn smart contract fundamentals by teaching them the basics of Solidity and walking them through the process of sending a smart contract to the Ethereum blockchain.
Juniper
UNICEF launched a Crypto Fund in October 2019. The Crypto Fund enables UNICEF to accept, hold and disburse cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether. Since then, my team at UNICEF worked closely with other UNICEF teams, donors, national committees, and governments around the world to figure out what tools do organizations need to have in place to interact with cryptocurrencies.
After some research, we started working on Juniper. Juniper is a set of websites that public sector organizations can use to start using cryptocurrencies in their organization. The websites include:
Visualization tool for the public (makes it easy to understand what an organization is doing with cryptocurrencies).
Portfolio tool for internal users (to track cryptocurrency accounts, payees, prices, etc.).
The last piece of Juniper is extensive research in the custodianship space. There are a set of best practices in account management, facilitating sign-offs, etc. for the bitcoin and ethereum blockchains and we have created a comprehensive guide for public sector organization's looking to set up their own cryptocurrency denominated funds.
In 2021, our team is looking to build out the next versions of the tools mentioned above. We are working closely with designers and our current set of users to get feedback so that we can improve on the existing platforms and tools.
DeFi and DAOs
There is no shortage of acronyms and symbols in the blockchain ecosystem. Two large areas of research that our blockchain team conducted at UNICEF include the realms of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).
DeFi: Decentralized finance, also referred to as “DeFi” or open finance, aims to recreate traditional financial systems (such as lending, borrowing, derivatives, and exchange) with automation in place of middlemen (Source).
DAOs: DAOs are an organization represented by rules encoded as computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members and not influenced by a central authority (Source).
Our team's main mission at UNICEF's Office of Innovation is to look at emerging technologies like cryptocurrencies and blockchain and see how they fit into Giga and the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA). Giga is a global initiative to connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity and choice and DPGA is an initiative to consolidate open source projects around the world that can enable people in developing and emerging markets to solve their own problems.
One of the ideas we are looking at includes lending and borrowing protocols being set up at schools to see if they can function as economic hubs for their communities and ideating how decentralized autonomous organizations can be position to facilitate various functions of UNICEF's Cryptocurrency Fund. Stay tuned in 2021 to see where this research takes us!
Aside from all the product related work, I've been keen on expanding my eminence in the blockchain and social impact space. I made it clear to my team that I want to put myself out there at speaking events, conferences, panels, etc. Though this was a strange year to actualize that goal (i.e. not a lot of in person events), I was able to work with various groups around the world to do podcasts, present at conferences, and write articles. Here's a summary of how it went:
* Articles published were either authored by Mehran or co-authored with his colleagues from UNICEF.
If you're curious to dive into some of the work that I was a part of this year, please visit my online resume. I've listed all my work for this year (and years prior) on this page.
Challenges
Young UNICEF
I used to be a part of a team at UNICEF called Young UNICEF. I led a portfolio that was looking to connect staff at UNICEF under the age of 35 to the senior leadership at the organization. The connections would occur through formal channels (e.g. introducing seats at a Global Management Team for UNICEF employees under the age of 35) so that the younger group could voice to opinions and concerns to UNICEF's leadership.
Once the pandemic kicked off, I lost a lot of the efficiency and drive that I once had for the work I did at UNICEF. I was losing my ability to focus on my core work so I made the tough decision to pull back from Young UNICEF. I let them know that I may reengage some time in the future if I could figure out some of the challenges I had at work.
I think this is when I realized that I need to make some changes so that I can balance my mental state with the work I was doing. If I only did work then I would burn out and then everything would become more difficult. It was a necessary step to run as fast as I was running before the pandemic. Once I freed up some of the time as a result of not volunteering with Young UNICEF, I was able to work better with my team because I was less distracted.
University of Toronto Engineering Alumni Network Board Member
I've been volunteering with my college ever since I graduated. I made a lot of close friends in the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering and so I wanted to continue building those relationships after I graduated. There was a new opportunity from the faculty, Board Member and Chair of the Alumni Engagement Committee for the Engineering Alumni Network Board. I interviewed for the role and ended up getting the position. I was excited beyond words. I had formalized the volunteering I was doing with the university.
Though I was in an exciting position, I was a bit overwhelmed at first. A lot of the projects and initiatives I was a part of were defined very well or was in my domain of expertise. The board position introduced new learning opportunities which put me out of my comfort zone.
One of the main tasks of the position I was appointed is to improve the alumni to alumni experience for University of Toronto Engineering Alumni. I worked closely with the existing board members and a few other colleagues in the school to create a strategic plan for the next few years. Once the plan was reviewed and approved by the board, I had to act.
Now that I am in a position with a bit more clarity, I am excited to work as a board member to increase the number of quality interactions between engineering alumni. I think I started off slow and confused, but by working with people who were on the board / working with the board for a long time, I was able to figure out what I needed to do and how I can go strong into the new year in this new role.
Finding Balance
After learning that we were probably going to be working from home till 2022, I started looking for ways to take real breaks from my work. I was rolling out of bed every morning, hitting the shower and then jumping into my work. I'd work for countless hours and to take a break I would go for an intense run. Once I returned home I would work on a side project or two and by the time that the sun was setting, I'd be cooked.
Normally that lifestyle worked for me. I would take breaks in between work and working out by trying to see friends. I love to socialize and meet new people. I found it relaxing and compelling. The pandemic made it difficult to pursue that and so my mental health took a toll. I think another thing that made it easier to work at that pace before the pandemic was the fact that I was doing my UNICEF work in the office. I was surrounded by my awesome team and then after I'd workout, see friends and come home, I'd start working on my side projects at my desk. It was difficult to work at the same location over and over again everyday.
To introduce something that was completely outside of my work was the answer I needed to resolve the fatigue I was feeling trying to project the same lifestyle post-pandemic. I started painting and learning Spanish. I had to dig really deep to figure out what passions I wanted to pursue outside of my work. After thinking and reflecting on different points of my life where I found a bit of happiness, I eventually landed on these two things.
I am learning Spanish with an outstanding teacher using an application called Preply. It's tough to think about what types of goals I want to set for learning a language. I think right now, all that matters to me is that I am having fun and I am slowly getting better at speaking the language. To learn how to paint, I bought a ton of acrylics, canvases, and paintbrushes and I now paint at least once a week. I'm currently learning how to paint faces on canvas.
What does next year look like?
After learning that being absorbed in work and working out is not a sustainable model, the goals I've set for the next year should accommodate for my passions and interests as well.
UNICEF
Launch the next version of the Atrium: as the UN becomes more acquainted with what blockchain and cryptocurrencies can do, the next version of the platform will enable people to create and learn faster with its new set of features.
Work closely with Juniper users: as more and more feedback starts coming in for the visualization tool, the portfolio tool, and some of the custody research we've shared regarding interacting with cryptocurrencies, our team will look to improve the existing tools to tailor to the exact needs of our users.
Create tangible products that identify how UNICEF (or the UN) can use DeFi and DAOs
University of Toronto Engineering Alumni Network
Determine who from the alumni community wants to play an active role in creating connections between alumni
Create a set of templates that can be leveraged by anyone in the alumni community to set up calls, events, etc. to increase alumni interactions
Start tracking metrics to see what types of things need work and what types of things already work well in the alumni community
Personal
Work on improving my online presence: information overload is something anyone using the internet is familiar with. I think I can create a better persona online so that the messages that I want to communicate through the internet can be streamlined and refined. I will do this by writing and publishing material through a few channels. I will also use this method to better define my online brand (more blockchain and mentorship).
Run 5 kilometres under 20 minutes: This is a goal that someone compelled me to pursue at the beginning of 2020. I was able to get close but I ended up injuring myself in August and I wasn't able to pick back up! Will take another attempt this year because it was a fun goal to work towards.
Become a better artist: With most skills in life, you need to practice to get better. I picked up painting because it was something that was fun to do. In the coming years I want to improve my precision and attention to detail to what I paint. I think this year I developed an idea of what my style can be. In the coming year I will look to get better with details and creativity.
Become a strong Spanish speaker: I am already practicing with my Spanish teacher twice a week, but I want to create more immersive opportunities to speak Spanish. To help with pronunciations, I'll probably start reading some books (out loud) on a daily basis. I was pretty lousy with the homework my teacher game me so I'll focus on getting more of it completed in the coming year as well.