AusAID sponsored permaculture position in Mongolia! The experience of a lifetime!

Discussion in 'Jobs, projects, courses, training, WWOOFing, volun' started by bronleah, May 15, 2013.

  1. bronleah

    bronleah Junior Member

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    Hello!

    AusAID's Australian Youth Ambassador's for Development program is currently recruiting! They are looking for a Permaculture Food Security Officer working with ADRA Mongolia.

    I was very fortunate to have worked in this position from December 2011-12, and I cannot recommend it enough. The AYAD program is very well respected professionally, it is also fully supported by AusAID, with a generous allowance, in-country support and a great crew of people.

    Please see link below, it will truly be the experience of a lifetime!

    https://www.ayad.com.au/assignments


    And please read the short story below that outlines my own experiences volunteering with ADRA Mongolia:

    After becoming officially certified in permaculture in 2008 at the Permacuture Research Institute with Geoff Lawton, I was given the amazing opportunity to travel to Tonga to work as an Agricultural Education Officer through Austraining’s AVID program between 2008-2010. This was a very enriching experience through which I worked with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture to implement a number of community-based projects, including school kitchen gardens, community organic gardening cooperatives, seed saving program, and permaculture demonstration gardens at the Ministry office.


    Due to the great successes and experiences of my 2 year placement in Tonga, upon returning to Australia, I was keen to find similar work and came upon an advertisement on the Permaculture Forum about an Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development position in Mongolia. My desire to broaden my experience and share my skills in a new environment couldn’t have been met in a better way!



    The assignment was working as Food Security Officer with the Food Security Division of ADRA Mongolia for 12 months, and it was possibly the busiest and most enriching 12 months of my life! Mongolia is intense in every way – extreme weather, epic landscapes, resilient people, and heavy food (unless you’re a keen carnivore!), which combine to make it the most incredible experience of your life!



    In terms of working with ADRA Mongolia, it was one of the best environments in which I have had the pleasure of working- I would actually wake up in the mornings and be quite excited to be going to the office! All the staff were really friendly and supportive and my co-workers in the Food Security team were just like family. We worked very hard together on various elements of all the Food Security projects and I was fortunate enough to be able to travel extensively around the countryside to all project sites to help improve their permaculture approach. I not only worked on improving permaculture activities, but I also helped on other elements of project design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation which provided a great learning opportunity for both the staff and myself. At the culmination of my placement, we had designed and implemented ADRA Mongolia’s largest ever project, valued at $3 million, which will reduce poverty amongst people in the expanding slum areas of the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, through food production and marketing opportunities based on a permaculture approach.


    Permaculture is a challenging concept to introduce to Mongolia; they are a country traditionally based on nomadism which evolved for thousands of years in an extreme physical environment. Agriculture is a relatively new concept for most people and eating vegetables is too! For this reason, it will take time for it to be well adopted, and ADRA Mongolia needs more help in order to do this.



    Mongolia is a challenging place to live, but Austraining’s programs are very well supported and there is always a great crew of like-minded people to support you along the way.



    If you have any questions, please feel free to message me!


    Cheers!
     
  2. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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    G'day bronleah, welcome to the PRI Forum, and thanks for the opportunity to pose the following questions:

    Does one have to adhere to, or even be sympathetic toward, values (including discrimination against GLBTIQ people) espoused by ADRA and the SDAC in order to work in this role?

    How exactly does ADRA and the SDAC reconcile the differences that exist between its own religious belief structure with that of the people it seeks to work with, in this case people of a predominantly Buddhist and atheist background?

    Cheerio, Markos
     
  3. bronleah

    bronleah Junior Member

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    Hey there Markos,

    No, one does not have to adhere to, or be sympathetic to the Adventist church values to work in this role. Only the country director, finance director and program directors have to be Adventist. The rest of the staff are of various faiths, including Buddhist, Muslim, shaman, agnostic, whatever, etc.

    ADRA Mongolia is an international humanitarian organisation and they work with any person in need, regardless of their religion, race, gender, etc. In fact, most of their project participants are not even aware of the religious affiliation. The church mission, SDAC, is a separate organisation, and although the two are tied by the faith, they operate very individually.

    I hope that's helpful!
     
  4. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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    G'day again, bronleah, and thanks for your response:

    In part, yes.

    However, when it states on the ADRA website that it 'believes ... in non-discrimination and respect for differences, accepting people as equals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, political, or religious affiliation', is it then just a case of a mere oversight that it does not include anything about being non-discrimintory concerning people's sexuality? If so, and considering you seem to know so much about the ethos of the same, do you reckon ADRA might be open to introducing sexual orientation into this part of their values and mission statement?

    Cheers again, Markos
     
  5. bronleah

    bronleah Junior Member

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    Hey

    I'm going to PM you. I don't think it would be good for me to continue to represent ADRA on this.
     
  6. Kerrydella27

    Kerrydella27 New Member

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    Hi bronleah
    I am currently applying for this role coming up in May 2015. I have aphone interview tomorrow and am doing a but of (last minute) research into the role… Hopefully you read this soon, do you have any further information on the role itself? What did the $3million dollar project deliver??

    I am really looking forward to hearing more from you!

    Regards

    kerry
     

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