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“Working in development is not a nine-to-five job”
22 March 2010
On 15 March, the event “Career Development in Development Work” currently organised by UM Career Services attracted almost 300 UM students. For the eighth consecutive year, this event, initially a Mundo’s initiative, has grown in popularity and attendance. Geraldine van Kasteren and Lou Snijders, from Mundo, participated in this informative evening and were very positive about the students’ interest in development work.
Increasingly more students are interested in sustainable development and development cooperation and want to know more about how to pursue a career in these areas. Heiny Eilkes, head of Career Services, opened the session by emphasizing the importance of development work on both a local and global level. Among the presenters were representatives of national and international development organisations, such as BuZa (Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs), HIVOS (Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries), PSO (Capacity building in Development Countries), and DED (Deutscher Entwicklungsdienst), just to name a few.
In her presentation, Geraldine van Kasteren, project manager at Mundo, talked about her working experience in development countries and said how working abroad can trigger the need to carry on studying as “you become aware of your knowledge gaps.” Having spent six years working in Kenya and Sudan, Geraldine considers teamwork, social interaction with people from other cultures in their own contexts, knowledge sharing and personal enrichment, the most important aspects of this type of work. However, she also mentioned the challenges and demands involved in working in development, “it’s not a nine-to-five job.”
Also present in this event was Dr. Chris Leonards from the Faculty of Arts and Cultures (FASOS) and also a board member of Mundo. As from September 2010, in addition to a number of minor’s already offered by UM faculties and schools, students will have another possibility of preparing themselves for a career in development by following the new one-year MA in Globalisation and Development Studies. Dr. Leonards, prospective director of studies, gave an overview of this master’s programme and outlined its key points, namely the focus on transnational connections. Graduates of the MA in Globalisation and Development Studies will be able to work, for instance, for the European Union, NGOs, the World Bank, or pursue an academic career.
After the presentations, students headed to the various stands in the information market place to collect folders and leaflets and then to the ‘Speakers café’, where they had the opportunity to meet the presenters and ask specific questions. Lou Snijders, project manager at Mundo, talked with several students about Mundo’s projects, his own experience in development work and gave them useful tips and advice to succeed in a “huge and opaque market where social skills, knowledge and determination are central.”
During this event, students got to know Maastricht University as an institution that not only is actively engaged in development work through its faculties and schools, Mundo, and development-oriented student organisations, but that also strives to educate students in this area and get them acquainted with this specific labour market.
For more information on development work, please visit the Career Services page.
For more information about Mundo, please visit the Mundo website.
For development-oriented student organisations, scroll through the UM students associations' overview page.
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