Dagoberto Rivera: “At UNICEF I have learned to dream without a script”
After twelve years of work as part of UNICEF, our colleague reviewed this stage of learning and challenges, which helped him to grow professionally and as a human being

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How were your first experiences in the organization?
My entry was very unusual. On April 29, 2010, someone sent me an advertisement for a position at UNICEF El Salvador, my home country, by email at about 8 pm. The ad expired at 5 pm the next day. I joined UNICEF as a Local Development Specialist in November of that same year. It was only my second time in 20 years working full time for an organization.
I didn’t know that the position entailed the health portfolio (maternal and child health, nutrition, HIV, early childhood, vaccines, WASH), emergencies and many other issues that did not yet have a focal point. It was a very exciting start. I devoured the online courses and, for those who remember, I enjoyed filling out the EWEA. I was entering a new world and that’s how I experienced it.
What are your special memories of those early responsibilities?
My memories go back to those multiple and complex tasks that I had to take on almost from the very beginning. Only two months had passed since my first role at UNICEF, when I had to face a major emergency. In January 2011, Tropical Depression 12 E affected more than 150,000 families in less than five days and UNICEF’s response was immediate. I had a great responsibility in water and sanitation (as lead agency) and health.
That was my best training for emergency management at UNICEF, which has its own particularities. Before that, I had already had management experience in disaster situations such as earthquakes (three in El Salvador and two in Nicaragua), hurricanes (Mitch, 1998) and tropical storms.

What do you consider your biggest professional challenge at UNICEF?
I joined as a Local Development Specialist, in line with my profile and experience. I ended up assuming roles as Health Officer, Emergency Specialist, Health Specialist, Program Manager and Program Specialist. All this in a process of continuous change and adaptation, with permanent learning, motivations and personal challenges, focused on the rights of children and adolescents.


How much do you think UNICEF helped you grow?
It’s difficult to answer in the first person, because growth does not only refer to rising in rank but, particularly, to improving as a human being, in human quality. I have learned to value this very much. I have been able to see much in what apparently is little, I have learned to smile, I have experienced the frustration of an action that wasn’t successful, but have also learned to move forward. I have learned to dream without a script, despite its inevitability. It is my colleagues, with whom I have worked and shared, who will be the best judges of whether I have grown or not and by how much.
What joys do you take with you from this stage?
My main joy is to have done my bit for UNICEF’s praiseworthy mission. I take with me the smiles of children and adolescents who for a long time did not see their homes, their schools and their community as safe spaces. The smiles of mothers and fathers when they saw that their sons and daughters in danger of death, due to birth conditions, malnutrition and other causes, would survive. I was able to see health professionals feel proud to contribute to the parents’ joy. I learned of the pride of teachers seeing their students’ progress or of entire families in both remote and very urban areas, happy to finally have access to drinking water and hygiene accessories. In short, what I was able to see and feel firsthand are joys that stay with me.
When you look back on your work for UNICEF, whom do you think of?
Like many UNICEF colleagues around the world, I know what it’s like to live and grow up in the midst of senseless wars, societies that limit rights, to see the pain of the migration process, the blows of natural disasters, and inefficiencies of the guarantors of rights. I think that, although we have come a long way, there is still much to be done. I think it is more necessary than ever to go back to basics, to people and their needs, but not only for visibility, but to contribute to truly sustainable solutions over time.

After your work in Cuba, challenged by a unique context -a pandemic, natural disasters and economic crisis-, what keys or recommendations do you share with your UNICEF colleagues to continue contributing to the well-being and rights of children?
In Cuban slang I’d say, “it is what it is”: a very strong, solid and capable team. I have no keys, no recipes, no recommendations other than that they maintain their level of commitment, that they enjoy what they do. The changes in the lives of children, adolescents and all those who, even as adults, support us with their work in schools, children’s centers, trade schools, integral education schools, hospitals, general clinics, health centers... Those who manage and take decisions from their offices and those who are always preparing to act in disaster situations, which is what fills our working life. Please keep that important and vital balance with your family. As an office, let us simply lead by example.