How can I link my experience as a teacher and an NGO worker to development studies?

Dear all,

I am applying for a scholarship for the postgraduate degree in Development Studies/International Development. I am having a hard time trying to link my experiences as a teacher of English and a NGO worker (the NGO being the development agency) to development studies. I have no other experiences besides these two and the problem is my NGO work experience was to do with Finance and Proposal Writing for funding. I was wondering if anyone could offer me with some ideas how to go about writing my essay.

Your help will be greatly and highly appreciated.

Nathan

Hi Nathan,

Just some thoughts, maybe you can use these points:-

1. Teaching gave you the fulfilment of contributing knowledge to the younger generation which is essential for the development of a society/culture/country etc.
2. Working in an NGO regardless of the task, shows how serious you are on helping the society because NGO doesn't pay much or it's a pro bono job. Usually, people with great passion to help the society works with an NGO. Thus this could be a strong point.

I'll add more stuff if I can think of :) hope it helps!

Great ideas, babybloom!
I'll add that it is important here to open your mind to all that Development Studies/International Development comprises. This is not just an essay; it's the direction you are choosing for your life, as you apply your existing skills to this field of work. So, how do you fit into this field?

You can describe a scenario where someone with your unique blend of skills plays a key role in an international humanitarian effort or innovation. Look into CASE STUDIES in the fields of Development Studies/International Development, and see where someone with your skills fits into each case.

You need raw material to write with. I think that is going to have be a case study, so search your school library database or Google Scholar for:

"case study", "Development Studies"
or
"International Development" "case study"

:-)

THANK YOU so much, babybloom and EF_Kevin, for your very kind help. I will surely look for the case studies and blend my answers using your ideas. I will surely come back and seek more advice from you on here. :)))))

EF_Kevin, I don't quite get what you said (sorry, my English is poor) :(

You said, "You can describe a scenario where someone with your unique blend of skills plays a key role in an international humanitarian effort or innovation. Look into CASE STUDIES in the fields of Development Studies/International Development, and see where someone with your skills fits into each case."

Did you mean it's from the finding of successful stories of people with the same blend of skills I have that I develop it into my essay? So in my essay, i will be saying that I could be doing something like that successful person (without actually using his name or anything in the essay)? I really feel my English is so broken here urgh.

I'm looking forward to hearing your comments. Thanks so much!

Nathan

Well, your English is not so bad, because you are correct in your interpretation of what I meant.

I think you are going to do very well!

My advice was all about showing them a "picture" of the future. Show the reader what you want to do.

If you run for president, people will only vote for you if you say, "I can use my knowledge as a teacher of English and an NGO to do ______(fill in the blank.)

So, it is the same here. Show the reader that you want to do something specific. When you read about what is going on today in the field of Dev. studies/Int. development -- when you read some great articles about what people in the field are doing -- you will get some ideas about what YOU want to do with your unique skills.

Make yourself useful, ha ha. :-))

Thank you, Kevin!!!

That's very useful indeed. I am starting to search through the case studies as you suggested now. If I am successful, the success will be accounted to your kind help here :)))

Kind regards,

Nathan