The UN and I-House: Rand Jarallah

“The diversity and selection of people living here. There’s so much talent and knowledge everywhere you go – it’s always interesting to meet new people and learn about their stories.”

Rand Jarallah was born and raised in Palestine. She moved to New York and into International House in July 2016, to complete the Young Innovators Fellowship Program at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). After completing the Program in June 2017, she started another United Nations Volunteers Assignment at UNFPA and currently serves as a Social Media Officer.

UNFPA focuses mainly on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, young people’s potential, and maternal health. Rand is responsible for video production for UNFPA’s social media platforms.

She sees her work at the UN as directly interrelated with her life at I-House. “Considering that UNFPA focuses on issues that are especially relevant to young people, living at I-House has definitely been extremely beneficial. Getting feedback and involving the diverse group of young people at I-House in the different issues we work on has been very exciting.”

A project she is especially proud of was her UNFPA video series for the annual Valentine’s Day “I Don’t” campaign against child marriage, which amassed over 1.6 million people engaging with the video through likes and comments via social media and reached 6.2 million people. The videos featured only I-House Residents and the success of the campaign was covered in Elle, Cosmopolitan, Biba, Glamour, and Madame Figaro.