My name is Akshay Kashikar and I am a second-year master’s student at Teachers College, Columbia University (TC) pursuing a degree in International Education Development with a concentration in International Humanitarian Issues. In complement to the Applied Peacebuilding course conducted at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs by Dr. Zachary Metz, I had the opportunity to intern at the United Nations (UN) Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Section at UN Headquarters in New York. As part of the UN’s multidimensional approach to peace, the cross-cutting process of DDR contributes to all stages of the peace continuum in supporting persons associated with armed groups and forces to lay down arms and transition back to civilian life. The internship has been an incredibly rewarding experience and has provided me with many opportunities for both personal and professional development. As part of the DDR Section, my work has focused on the impacts of COVID-19 on DDR programming, the linkages between mental health and DDR, and the development of Community Violence Reduction (CVR) projects. This varied work has allowed me to practice and learn more about many of the skills that I developed in my coursework here at TC. These skills include qualitative research, data analysis, proposal and grant writing, project development and management, conflict and context analysis, and monitoring and evaluation. In addition to these important skills, the internship has given me an opportunity to conduct research as part of my Integrative Project (IP) here at TC. As a result of the incredibly welcoming and supportive environment at the DDR Section, I was able to propose and begin conducting a research project exploring the role of education in DDR. I hope that through this project I can utilize my research skills to support the DDR Section in expanding the role of education to better progress towards the long-term peacebuilding and social cohesion goals of DDR. I am incredibly grateful to my passionate colleagues at the DDR Section for their patience and kindness during my internship. I know that the skills I have developed and the relationships I have made will be invaluable in my career path within the fields of education in emergencies and peacebuilding.