Working at WVI Can Open Chances for Overseas Secondment
Working for a humanitarian organisation is a great opportunity to develop your skills overseas. As well as channeling your passion to make a difference to the most vulnerable children and communities, a career in a humanitarian organisation can also make a difference to you. As one of the humanitarian agencies in Indonesia, WVI has a career development programme for its staff in the form of secondment opportunities to WVI partner offices in other countries.
In 2023, one of WVI's staff, Yuventa, was sent to World Vision Viet Nam. Yuventa, who works as WVI's Head of Public Engagement and Communications, spent four months as a Communications Advisor for WV Vietnam. "As part of the World Vision partnership, any WVI staff can go on secondment, either for disaster response or community development programmes. Staff can apply or express their intention to be included in the secondment pool so that they can be contacted immediately when a need arises," said Yuventa, explaining her secondment process.
During her assignment, Yuventa also visited one of the villages supported by WV Viet Nam. There she was able to see the condition of the children and the community. "With different contexts, I found similarities but also differences that enriched me to see children's issues in Indonesia," she said. In addition to gaining a new perspective on children's issues, Yuventa felt that the assignment deepened her skills in ensuring the implementation of communication activity plans in different contexts, as well as recruiting and preparing new teams to perform well.
In addition, Yuventa was able to share lessons learned with WV Viet Nam. Yuventa provided analysis and feedback to the National Director and management on strategic issues such as systems, structures and human resources for the WV Viet Nam communications team.
The biggest challenge for Yuventa during the assignment was the different context with Indonesia and the fact that she still split her time working for Indonesia. However, Yuventa learnt more about task-sharing planning and solid teamwork so that her assignment with WV Viet Nam ran quite smoothly. "I am grateful for the supportive and open working environment at WVI, which develops the capacity of each staff member so that we can continue to learn, not only in Indonesia, but throughout the World Vision partnership," she concluded.
Author: Mariana Kurniawati (Communication Executive)
