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The year in Bristol passed in such a speed that I still can't believe it's over! Studying in an international environment and sharing a flat with people from all over the world was an amazing experience. What remains are wonderful memories of good friends, stimulating academic debates and of course a deepened understanding of my favourite topic: international development.
Currently I am in Bhutan doing a half-year internship with the governance unit of the UNDP, which I feel was enabled through the degree at Bristol. Our unit is very busy, since Bhutan is set to embrace a system of parliamentary democracy in 2008 and many of the democratic institutions still have to be built up and strengthened. It is an exciting process and I am very thankful for the opportunity to be part of the country's pursuit of Gross National Happiness (GNH). I had to come all the way to this little kingdom in the Himalaya to find out that even the Resident Coordinator of the UN in Bhutan got his degree at Bristol!
Spending one year at Bristol University was a great experience! I could specialise in the subject of my interest and learned a lot about development, management, people etc. During the study year I also got to improve my English. I volunteered in an Oxfam bookshop during my spare time. I am lucky to have come in Ghana since January 11. I am doing an internship with Oxfam Great-Britain for one year. My job title is Communication and Media volunteer. This position comes from my first degree in Information and Communication, specialisation written and broadcast Journalism. Nevetheless I am
convinced that without Bristol I wouldn't have had the current opportunity of working with an NGO in a developing country. Bristol is one of my favourite cities. I lived wonderful times there, got to know many different kinds of people. For sure, I will go back soon and will have a lot to tell about what happened since I graduated.
Having arranged an Internship with the UN's FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation) during my second semester, I was able to spend three fantastic months in Rome with the FAO once the second semester had finished. The experience was incredible - I met a lot of very interesting people who were able to give me excellent guidance and advice whenever I needed it. I am still in contact with these people now, and hopefully one day I can work there again! On my return to the UK I have found work on a part-time basis for the disability charity Leonard Cheshire International. The opportunity to help disabled people in the third world is very rewarding, and my work there as the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer is giving me some essential core skills to carry with me in my future career in International Development.
After graduating from Bristol's MSc International Development course in 2003, I joined Motivation, a development agency working in partnership with a variety of organisations to initiate grass-root programmes to improve the quality of life of people with mobility disabilities in developing countries. I am involved in fundraising and PR, planning, monitoring and evaluating our international programmes, and working in the field with our partners in Africa and Asia. Disabled people are the poorest of the poor, and are marginalised and excluded from mainstream development programmes. It is a privilege to work with Motivation's project partners to go someway towards redressing this injustice.
