Justin Foster ’26 (MUPP) Engages in Fall 2025 Co-op at UNDP
“It was amazing to hear the work that people from all around the world are doing,” says Justin. “For example, Tess Valbuena who is the CEO of Humans in the Loop, shared her company’s work on democratizing AI and using people to remove bias and better handle ethical issues within AI.”
In September, MUPP student Justin Foster ’26 began a Fall 2025 co-op with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), upporting the Digital Partnerships and Engagement team on initiatives that connect emerging technologies with sustainable development. On Sep 24, Justin’s team hosted “Digital@UNGA,” attended by private sector, civil society, international organizations, and government officials.
Justin has also able to sit in on several meetings at the Digital Cooperation Day with UN ODET. One of the events was a panel talking about taking the UN’s global mission and localizing it. The event hosted the new mayor from San Antonio and the Mayor from Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Mayor from Freetown Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, shared a project dubbed “Freetown the Tree Town,” where the city planted 1.2 million trees to combat deforestation and soil degradation. The project also employed the use of digital technologies to track and monitor every tree that was planted, which in turn created a large number of jobs to transition residents out of the informal economy and fragile living conditions into better pay.