Development Studies

Name: Adraida Banda
From: Zambia
Background: Experienced development professional in the public sector
 

Before studying at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Adraida Banda was an experienced district policy officer working in the public sector in Zambia, her home country. From Chililabombwe and Solwezi to Kasempa municipalities, she is devoted to bringing key stakeholders together to serve local communities. After 11 years, she was inspired to make a change and decided to study at ISS. We sat down with the latest ISS Changemaker to hear more about how she credits her MA in fusing her experience with critical knowledge to take her career to the next level.

In 2009, Banda began her path as a District Planning Officer in in the Solwezi and Kasempa Town Council in Zambia. Her role was primarily focused on bringing public institutions and civil society organizations together to implement the expansion of urban planning. Zambia is unique in its abundance of copper. The country's northern and southern regions are coined the 'Copperbelt' of Central Africa, with the resource reaching far into the Democratic Republic of Congo. The municipal council of Solwezi implemented a strategy to pave the way for mining investments in this resource, a plan that meant resettling communities elsewhere.

Banda spearheaded a programme to help relocate communities. She worked with key stakeholders to carry out needs assessments for programmes and benefits tailored to needs in the region. 'My role [as District Planning Officer] was to document and invite the municipality and civil society organizations to review challenges and best practices on a quarterly basis. Together, we hoped to learn lessons from this to see how best we could serve the communities.' Another aspect of her role was to do outreach. She spread the word about existing regional organizations, informing community members about how they could take advantage of services and subsidies.

Governance is the issue

However, as Banda later found out, the expansion meant things changed rapidly in Solwezi. Despite their best intentions, public institutions and civil society organizations sometimes failed to engage with communities. As a result, crucial information was simply getting lost. Banda couldn't help but notice a massive disconnect between key stakeholders. 'I discovered that people had no documents to protect their parcels of land, despite the municipality being there. I learned that people didn't even know that they could secure their pieces of land so that, in the event of anything happening, they would have a better negotiating position.'

Time and time again she witnessed this cruel cycle in her work. 'Many public institutions and civil society organizations in my region had initial visions on how best to serve the local communities, but there was a gap in terms of what people understand they could benefit from.' And then suddenly everything clicked into place for her. She laughs, 'I began to think…we have a governance problem here! I thought, how can we best organize ourselves and try to improve people’s livelihoods? Everything we do should be for the greater good. Development still comes at the expense of safety and people. We should try as much as possible to minimize these effects so that we end up with a win-win situation for everybody.' It's this cycle that stimulated her to further her studies.

On the ISS experience

Banda spoke to a colleague about her dream of pursuing a Master's. They recommended the Master of Arts in Development Studies programme at ISS. She applied and was admitted and subsequently received the Orange Knowledge Programme scholarship, a grant for mid-career professionals.

Continuing what she started

Banda is infectious in her positivity. When speaking with her, you can't help but feel motivated. She is now happily back in Zambia, working in the public sector as a Chief Settlement Officer for Chililabombwe Municipal Council, this time with a Master’s degree in her pocket and seasoned expertise in governance and development policy. But, despite calls from loved ones to climb the career ladder into upper management, she doesn't want to miss out on working with communities. 'I'm still determined to go and sit with the same communities and organizations and see how we can do things differently at a local level.'

Are you interested in ISS after reading Adraida's story? Learn more about our MA in Development Studies programme.

Name: Dina Chaerani
From: Indonesia 
Background: Development professional with expertise in gender and child and youth participation and protection 

(The following profile addresses the topic of sexual violence. We understand this content may be difficult for many. We advise you to read with caution for your wellbeing.) 

Dina Chaerani was sure that she would pursue her graduate degree at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS). Dina is ambitiously pursuing a career in gender and child and youth participation and protection. She is maintaining her work as founder of the burgeoning mobile app, Lapor Yuk!, a reporting tool for survivors of sexual violence in Indonesia. 

When speaking with Chaerani, we learn that her aspirations are rooted in personal experience. Her original path veered far from her current interest in development studies. 'I had a very chaotic experience because when I was in [secondary] school, I studied accountancy.' While in school, Chaerani became a beneficiary of Plan International's branch in Indonesia and participated closely in anti-harassment programmes.    

It was at Plan International that a new field of interest grew.' I got a lot of training in gender and children participation and child protection,' she says. 'I felt like, oh, I really like the field of gender and child participation.' Chaerani was inspired by the field's core aspects, namely children and youth being valued for their views and opinions. She decidedly no longer wanted to pursue accountancy in university but, instead, would apply for a degree in the social sciences. During her tenure as a beneficiary at Plan, she learned about ISS: 

At first, I thought, "What is that? What is ISS". They said that ISS was the best development studies university in the world. I researched the Children and Youth Studies curriculum. I thought it was very specific and something I couldn't find in Indonesia.'

But, according to Chaerani, this did not come without struggle. 'I applied [for university], but I got rejected. It was kind of hard. I continued to apply, but my last option was to pursue a German Language Education degree.' She was eventually admitted, and although she wasn't accepted on her desired terms, she took great interest in learning a new language and found the opportunity to study abroad in Germany.    

Founding a new venture 

Chaerani was a diligent undergraduate student, participating in youth panels and working at Plan Indonesia while keeping up with the rigorous expectations as she neared the end of her studies. During her third year, she devised an idea with her friends to create the mobile app Lapor Yuk! to prevent sexual violence against children and youth. The app, only available in Indonesia, is another route for children and youth to report instances of sexual violence that they have witnessed or experienced.  

Chaerani believes that digitizing the process helps people, particularly girls and youth, navigate the stigma of sexual assault and report it anonymously. 'In Indonesia, we have very low process of reporting mechanisms,' she clarifies. 'You first have to report it to the lowest level, and then it will move to regency level, and then it will go to the national level until it goes to the judicial process. I see that many girls and children don't want to report because there is stigmatization. They don't know the mechanisms or to whom they should report.'  

Impassioned, she also explains her connection to the app's purpose. 'When I was in junior high school, I experienced sexual violence as well. I reported to my teacher, and they asked me irrelevant questions. They asked who did it to me, and I didn't remember. He even said that I must've enjoyed it. I wasn't brave enough to tell anyone else, and I kept it a secret for seven years until I received a lot of information and training on this topic and became strong enough.'  

Now she collaborates with several institutions to implement Lapor Yuk! as an alternative reporting route. 'You can download [the app] and click the bottom when you or someone you know encountered sexual violence. The app leads you to the specific institution to alert. For two years, I worked together with the police department, the hospital, and other institutions for reporting. Now, it has been applied by one of the regencies in Indonesia.' 

Into the research process 

Chaerani is happy to continue her dream of attending her first-choice master's programme at ISS, focusing on Child and Youth Studies. For her master's thesis, she decided to stay close to her passion of child and youth protection by conducting research on Lombok Island. Her research (which she shares is entitled 'Conquering Fear') hopes to contribute to research on stigmatization and children’s agency when reporting sexual violence. 'We already know it's about fear, stigmatization and victimization that is happening to victims when they report cases. I want to combine my research with agency, looking at how children can feel safe to report and that they have their own agency to report it.' 

A positive aspect of her study experience has been the opportunity to take cross-cutting courses at ISS. This allowed her to learn about policy evaluation more broadly, a benefit for her thesis. 

Future ahead 

When reflecting on her goals, Chaerani dreams big. 'When I was in junior high school, I wanted to be the president of Indonesia,' she says, laughing. Now? 'I want to be the Minister of Women Empowerment and Child Protection in Indonesia because I see that my passion is about children and youth. My thing is that I don't want to see other girls or boys encounter the same experience I was in. I speak on behalf of my inner-child because I wasn't brave enough to tell on my perpetrator.' 

After graduation, she wants to build her career in humanitarian and grass-roots organizations that she believes are working effectively across the regions in Indonesia. In addition, she hopes that the data revealed in her thesis will help her expand on the success of Lapor Yuk! in the future. She tells us, 'I believe my [research] will be a stepping- stone to expand the app that I created, and the research data will help me expand upon my app. In Indonesia, the government aims to be more child-friendly by 2030. This would expand to all 416 regencies. I want to use that as well as my agenda. I say, let’s do it!' 

Interested in our programmes after hearing Dina’s story? Learn more about our MA in Development Studies programme.