People Noemi Dalmonte

A passion for cooperation and human rights

10 Mar 2024, by Diana Cavalcoli

At an orientation meeting she was told that there was little room for women in diplomacy but Noemi Dalmonte didn’t give up and after experiences at the UN and in NGOs today she is Deputy Representative at UNFPA in Cameroon

“My parents had a restaurant in Imola; when I was very young I worked as a family helper. My attitude was always: ‘I have to make it work,’ an approach that has helped me throughout my career.” Noemi Dalmonte is the Deputy Representative of UNFPA in Cameroon, the United Nations agency specializing in sexual and reproductive rights. Her story is one of opportunities seized and a powerful passion for human rights.

In her words: “My grandfather was a Red Cross driver, and from him I inherited the values of solidarity and volunteerism.
I was hyperactive as a teenager: I worked on the school newspaper, I dreamed of becoming a war journalist, following in the footsteps of Oriana Fallaci, I played basketball, I was in my school’s student government and a member of the regional student council.” But her parents were not convinced by her choice of university degree: Culture and Human Rights in the International Relations Department at the University of Bologna.

Dalmonte graduated in 2004 and decided to move to Padua for her Master’s in Human Rights and Peace Institutions and Policies, where her passion for multilateralism crystalized. “When I was still in Bologna, I attended a career day where several professional diplomats introduced themselves. They were all men. The Italian diplomat told us frankly that there was very little room for women in diplomacy, while a young man who had just joined the UN recommended that we read My War Against Indifference, by Jean-Sélim Kanaan, an aide to the High Commissioner for Human Rights who died in the 2003 attack on the UN in Iraq.” The book that changed her life: “I wanted to be Kanaan,” she says.

So she won a scholarship, flew to Geneva and, towards the end of her Masters, attempted to enter the UN orbit. “I manage to make it work there too, I found a job in a bar. I applied, but I never got in. When I made friends with the UN interns who hung out at the bar where I waited tables, I realized why: they all grew up moving around the world, surrounded by diplomacy, and they spoke four or five languages. There was no contest, but I don’t give up.” So Dalmonte got the number of the secretary in charge of the selection process. “My CV was in the database, approved with an excellent score. As soon as I found out about a vacancy, I called the secretary, who just took down my name. I didn’t know it, but that secretary easily found me in the database and immediately put my name forward in several spots where vacancies had come up. Surprisingly, I got a job. And not just any job: at the High Commission and, as fate would have it, with Kanaan’s widow as my boss.”

Next, Dalmonte took a deep dive into the world of cooperation, traveling to Mexico, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo with various NGOs, including Don Albino Bizzotto’s Blessed Builders of Peace. After that, it was back to the UN, first with the Peace Mission in Côte d’Ivoire, and later answering the call of UNFPA. She has been working with this agency since March 8, 2011 in five Sub-Saharan African countries, and also in the Regional Office for Central and West Africa in Dakar, covering 23 countries. Going back to school in 2020, to SDA Bocconi for an Executive Master in Management of International Organizations, was not a random decision, but a conscious choice to consolidate her skills and knowledge after working in complex humanitarian crises.

“I don’t deny that working in international institutions is a difficult career. Women in diplomacy, even in multilateral diplomacy, are few and far between, and they often leave when it’s time to have children. But things are changing, thanks in part to new role models such as our Executive Director, Dr Natalia Kanem, who is a visionary; she’s very good at advocacy and has a soft but energetic leadership style.” Dalmonte cites an encouraging statistic: “When I started, there were maybe 10 percent of women managers at the UN; now there is parity at the executive level and we are probably 30–40 percent of managers.” It’s time for the next generation to step up and take charge.