Chilean born Marlen Mondaca describes her experiences within the nonprofit organization sector. She provides some useful information about what it means to work with international and development organizations such as Seeds of Hope, Save the Children, Plan International, and OXFAM. Rooted on a rights based approach, Marlen explains that some of the objectives of these organizations are alleviating poverty, supporting local organizations, providing formal and non-formal education programs on health, nutrition and child & family protection among others.

Marlen offers specific information about the necessary skills anyone needs to pursue a career in this sector: 1) Having a good theoretical and historical foundation of international issues, 2) being able to make management or technical decisions, 3) having some knowledge of statistics, and program evaluation, 4) having good communication skills to connect with donors, managers and program officers, 5) having some experience in areas such literacy, numeracy, health, nutrition or experience in the region, 6) having knowledge of languages from the communities and 7) becoming a volunteer or finding a placement in any of the organizations.

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Biography:

Marlen Mondaca, Special Advisor to the CEO on Strategy and Thought Leadership. She assumed her current position in May 2020 following nine years as Director of International Programs and Chief of Programs and Policy Officer. She is a champion of children’s rights and gender equality. She began her career working with refugees in Guatemala and Honduras and then went on to work as a Public Policy Advisor for Oxfam Great Britain and Oxfam Canada based out of Santiago, Chile. While at Oxfam, she helped expand programming in the areas of violence against women, women and trade, and food security. Marlen is known for her long-standing commitment to programs and policies that are rooted in social justice and are holistic and gender transformative. Marlen believes that the international aid sector needs to re-imagine itself using principles of social justice, political ecology and localization. Marlen holds Masters’ Degrees in Journalism.

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Cite this podcast (APA):

Ortega, Y. (Producer). (2021, January 27). CES5E2 – https://soundcloud.com/chasingencounters/ces5e2-international-aid-sector

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Sources:

https://www.savethechildren.ca/

https://www.oxfam.ca/

https://plan-international.org/