My Placement Organization: Sustainable Rural Development

This post is long overdue, but still very exciting. I may not have a mandate yet… but I can officially say I’m going to be working for the Center for Sustainable Rural Development in Hanio, Vietnam this September! The more I read about them, the more excited I get!

The Center for Sustainable Rural Development is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization that aims to support rural communities in adapting to the changing environment while also sustainably managing their resources. Their expertise is in the areas of sustainable agriculture and livelihoods, climate change, networking, and research/advocacy. They take a truly holistic approach to development; spanning from grassroots capacity building to international advocacy. All of their projects include a strong capacity building focus, and also integrate crosscutting issues like gender equity and rights for the disabled. Here’s their website to read more about them: http://www.srd.org.vn/

To be honest… SRD was my second choice placement. When I was doing my application back in December, I remember thinking “I don’t know if I want to apply to that organization… they work in rural areas and my dream job is planning sustainable cities”. I really liked the kind of work they did, so I decided to apply there anyway. I realize now that I’m going to love working for this organization, even if it’s not my “dream job”. That was never the point of this field placement in the first place.

The reason I’m most excited to work for SRD is their focus on working WITH communities to build capacity. (In case you couldn’t tell from some of my previous blog posts… I’m a bit of a suck for grassroots development. In fact, I believe it’s the only right way to “do development”). I’m also really excited to get some experience in climate change/disaster management projects. Climate change is an area I’m really interested in, considering the effects that climate change is having on the livelihoods of the poor. I can’t wait to finally apply all the natural disasters, environmental assessment/management and ecology knowledge I’ve gained over three years of studying.

How do you feel about my placement organization? What kinds of projects do you think I should work on or try and start while I work there? And to my fellow INDEVOURS… where are you going on placement and what do/don’t you like about your organization?