Graduate Testimonials

 

The MAAPD program since it inception in 2002 has had students from a range of backgrounds and experiences. The countries represented in the Program to date include: Australia, Canada, Colombia, China, Canada, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Ireland, Holland, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Panama, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the USA. Below are some of experiences and work that the MAAPD program has led people to.

Amy Glass - Madagascar

Graduated 2009 - The MAAPD programme was perfectly adapted to my aspirations. After many years in the field with NGOs such as Action against Hunger and Oxfam, I wanted to pause, reflect and question what we do as development "practitioners." The academic level is challenging, and the learning tools are well-adapted to those of us still in the field. They range from recorded lectures and pdf files to interactive class discussion and even on-line role play. I was able to do essays and projects directly tied to my interests and the country where I live. As I return to development work, I feel my professional experience has a much more solid and wider base, thanks to the MAAPD programme and its dedicated faculty!

Summer Edwards - Australia

Graduated 2008 in the Conflict specialisation. I enrolled part time, immediately after my undergraduate studies for two reasons: it combined my interests in development, gender and peace studies; and, I was having difficulty finding graduate employment in any field. Within a year of part time study with the MAAPD, I not only had a job, but I had secured graduate position with a development consultancy firm against a highly competitive field of applicants. I credit much of my success in this to the knowledge and experience gained from the MAAPD. The program combines important theoretical debates with practical skills- the perfect combination of academic debate with development practice. The practical value of the MAAPD is has continuously shown in my work. Since graduating from the program, I have been on assignment with the AYAD program, working for the Beijing Cultural Development Centre for Rural Women. In this role with a grassroots NGO, I am able to use my graduate training for the purpose of capacity building local staff across a range of technical areas, as well as program design skills and effective monitoring and evaluation. I am grateful to the whole MAAPD team for the world class training the program provides.

Cinzia Pedrotti - Italy/Australia

Graduated in 2008. I decided to apply for the MAAPD straight after my Bachelor-level degree in Anthropology from Italy, and I chose it because it seemed to perfectly match my interest in Gender and Development. Less than two years have passed from when I started the MAAPD program and I can clearly see how much enrolling in this Master has helped me not only to gain skills for a hopefully successful career, the idea of which is clearer in my mind, but also to develop my personality in a way that I am proud of. I attended courses which were very different from each other, but all extremely captivating and I had the opportunity to learn more not only about gender and development, but also about social impact assessment and Australian Indigenous cultures for example, two topics I knew nothing about when I started the MAAPD program and that now have became two of my main interests, and certainly something I would like to be involved with in a professional career. The lecturers at MAAPD are as engaging and friendly as possible, and with their support even novices can gain a deep understanding of complex issues. Last, but not least, the MAAPD program allowed me to be involved in the monitoring and evaluation of a micro-enterprise development program funded by Hewlett Packard. This represented one the most challenging, interesting and useful projects I have ever had the privilege of taking part in.

Edith Bewlay – Australia/Kenya

Graduated in 2008. Having grown up in a developing country I was constantly aware of development initiatives yielding mediocre outcomes. With a keen interest in participatory development approaches, but grappling with questions such as conditionality of aid and its [in]effectiveness in community and international development, I settled on the MAAPD program. I am so thankful I did. As a former teacher turned public servant, the program provided a practical and conceptual appreciation of the factors that stifle effective change and/or contribute to the unintended consequences of intervention. Shortly after commencing the MAAPD, I started working at the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health on a range of national health policy and program areas. The course equipped me to better handle the social, political, ethical and cultural issues present in the Indigenous health sector. The applied anthropology theme - combined with a critical perspective on development - added an essential balance between academic theory and practical implementation of sustainable development solutions. Course delivery was excellent; most lecturers are recognised development practitioners drawing from hands-on experience in various fields. There is no doubt the MAAPD program is a highly effective qualification for any private or public sector professional dedicated to sustainable development strategies.

Kristie Drucza - Australia

Graduated in 2008. I originally began the MAAPD when I was a volunteer development worker in Tonga. It was helpful to get resources that informed the work I was doing. Studying development while working assists with knowledge transfer. You learn the theory and then instantly apply a practical application. I was working at AusAID for most of my MAAPD, and it assisted in informing my work on government aid policy and programming. The MAAPD gives a different perspective and way of thinking about development. It challenges previous assumptions and doesn’t shy away from the complexities of development. Upon completing the gender specialised MAAPD I secured a position in Nepal as a gender and social inclusion adviser for business development. The Hewlett Packard internship that I did in connection with the MAAPD made me marketable to the international development community.

Ross Craven – Australia

Graduated 2008. Having lived and worked in a developing country for two years I found myself increasingly challenged to better understand how development activities impact on the communities in which they are set. With a range of specialisations on offer the MAAPD Program is both an ideal catalyst for people wanting to engage in practical development activities or to enhance understanding and challenge development approaches for those already in development settings. The course has developed a strong reputation as a global leader in providing its graduates with an objective, diverse and practical approach to development interventions and the importance of participation by beneficiaries themselves in development activity. The assessment tasks are all relevant and include conducting Social Impact Assessments, carrying out field surveys, project appraisal and management, all in the context of the cross-cultural setting. Strengths are guest speakers, specialists in their discipline, and the flexibility of the program, courses offered online or on-campus. Course content is practical, contemporary and drawn from the field, the convenors being experienced and practicing development workers. As someone now implementing and assessing aid projects in the Pacific I would strongly recommend this course to anyone wanting to develop or improve their understanding of the importance of participation at all levels in development interventions.

Sarah Boddington - Australia

Graduated 2008. The MAAPD course at ANU was great. It gave me the chance to reflect upon my experiences working as an Australian Volunteer in Pakistan and Mongolia. I got to build my practical skills in things like social impact studies and designing survey tools as well as reflecting on key development concepts like participation, social capital and democratisation. The highlight of the course was doing a Hewlett Packard internship, where I monitored a Microenterprise Development Centre Project at the ASEAN Foundation in Indonesia. In doing this I got great experience in applying an evaluation tool and interviewing project participants, as well as a fantastic introduction to working in Jakarta. Since graduating, I have moved to Cambodia and have used what I learned in the MAAPD in my work in a international housing rights NGO and at a local development research NGO.

Susan Mackay - Thailand

Graduated in 2008. Studied by distance and was 'hooked' from the very first week - engaging lectures, thought provoking readings, and a great online space to develop, test and exchange ideas. Although juggling studies with a full-time development job, I was addicted enough to study right into the early hours. The excellent academic support is a real hallmark of the MAAPD experience, as is the opportunity to engage with other practitioners working in challenging real-life development situations. It's already been a stepping-stone for me to move into a management position, but I'm sufficiently inspired to sign up for a another course this year as well!

Amber Guillory - USA

Graduated in 2008. I originally chose the program because it promised practical experience and a dedication to examining the role of participatory processes within international development.  I was not disappointed.  The program as a whole has a wide diversity of classes from which to choose.  The topics covered in each and every class presented challenges to me as an academic, requiring clear and organized research and writing, and also as a human, grappling with the ethical dilemmas of the world today.  The MAAPD professors are approachable, very knowledgeable practitioners and always willing to support students' interests and goals.  My fellow students provided me with another sphere of learning that I did not imagine was possible: each student sharing my study room came from a different country, a different perspective, and many were already professionals in the field of international development.  I believe that the MAAPD program has provided me with the tools to begin a fruitful career in anthropology and development.  Upon the end of my term with the program, I had the opportunity to travel to Kunming, China to conduct an evaluation of a microenterprise training program. I am currently working with a small socio-economic research firm in my hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, USA on social impact assessments of diverse projects ranging from rural agricultural development and cruise ship tourism, to military mobilizations in the Asia Pacific region.

Tran Minh Thu  - Vietnam

Graduated in 2007, and I never have to regret that I have chosen MAAPD. I came to the program after more than 10 years hands on experience with an NGO in Vietnam. My current work centres around human rights and participation. The MAAPD program combines both perspectives from academia and development practitioners, thus bring about interesting experiences on participatory processes. What really fascinated me was being able to discuss how culture affected peopleʼs decisions and thus intended results in development projects may not be realized. The program has equipped me with methodologies to learn things and more things and exposed me to different school of thoughts. The MAAPD program is highly recommended for anyone who wants to pursue development career.

Máire Ní Mhórdha - Ireland

Graduated in 2007. I found the course highly stimulating, combining anthropological and gender theory with development praxis, providing me with a pathway to undertake PhD research on an African NGO participatory development program, at St Andrews University in Scotland. The quality of teaching was top-class, and included guest lectures from academics and development practitioners in the field. The level of support given to students was the best I have encountered and I can't recommend the MAAPD enough to those interested in the area of applied anthropology and development.

Rachel Williams - Australia

Graduated 2007.  I was studying while I continued working almost full time in CSIRO.  My particular interest was to acquire a formal, post-graduate qualification to help me move into the social science domain in CSIRO, as my original training was in the physical sciences.  I found the program extremely rewarding and enjoyable, both for the exposure to new ways of thinking about human social systems and for the opportunity to explore, with class-mates, lecturers and guest speakers with a wide diversity of experience, the dilemmas that arise when one endeavours to engage with communities in a development context.  I came away from the program with a strong appreciation of the systemic nature of human society and an awareness of at least some of the factors that tend to prevent change occurring and and/or contribute to the inevitable unintended consequences of intervention.  I am now working with sustainable communities’ projects in Australia where we are learning how to bring corporate, government and NGOs together with communities to support them in addressing their sustainability issues.

Audra Brown  - USA

Graduated 2007.  Pleased to find a program that merged my interest in international development with my background as an anthropologist. What I enjoyed most was the balance between theory and practical application, exposing the real ethical dilemmas and bureaucratic structures of development work. Additionally the calibre of students in the program added a working context representing vast spectrums of field experience, some of which were doing the course by distance from the field. The faculty is exceptionally attentive, educated professionals with practical experience in development from which to draw examples from. They have been incredible resources to me even after completing the program. Since the MAAPD I have focused on refugee resettlement in the US and have worked with American non-profits in fundraising and program evaluation. I am currently working within the International Rescue Committee’s domestic resettlement department. I have found that the MAAPD provided me a strong contextual basis for the work I am currently doing. I would and have recommended the program to many of my colleagues in the development profession.

Stephanie Donse  - Australia

Graduated 2007. I had finished up an undergraduate degree in Public Relations and after doing some work for a couple of Australian NGOs I was interested in learning more about development issues. The course was wonderful. It gave me practical insight into the mechanics of development projects and some of the issues that need to be considered when working in this field. The readings are interesting and challenging and encourage critical analysis of development projects and programs. The lecturers are invaluable – they come from diverse development fields and have both the theoretical and practical knowledge to communicate the difficulties and necessities of development projects both in Australia and abroad. These teachings are currently helping me to apply the participatory approach to the PR work that I am doing here in Mongolia at Monfemnet, a Mongolian non-government organisation working towards human rights and gender justice.

Shannon McNamara - Australia

Graduated in 2007.  After undertaking the MAAPD part time while working fulltime in the Australian Public Service. I found the MAAPD program to be extremely flexible and considerate to my needs as a student and also towards my work commitments. The course content was very engaging, as were the lecturers; so I can now bring a great deal of valuable theoretical and practical knowledge away with me on completion of this program. For example, I was able to turn some interesting field work that I undertook in Papua New Guinea (and a subsequent report) into credit points towards the MAAPD, all of which has greatly benefited my working career today. I now work as Manager of Capacity Development for the Australian Tsunami Warning System within Emergency Management Australia. I oversee several research projects, including one to develop tsunami awareness products and educational activities for remote coastal indigenous communities. I develop and present awareness and educational materials for other key groups relevant to tsunami the threat. I was also involved with an assessment of the tsunami warning system for the Solomon Islands earlier this year to evaluate this country's capacity to deal with this hazard. MAAPD has given me an appreciation for the importance of taking a participatory approach which I practice and promote through all facets of my work.

Mark Harradine - Australia

Graduated 2007. The MAAPD may seem a surprising choice for an economist and director of a Canberra-based management consulting firm. It makes more sense when seen in the context of our firm's past work on public sector management capacity strengthening in Vanuatu and China. Like anyone involved in development, I wondered whether we could do better for the people who we were meant to be helping. The development anthropology aspect of the MAAPD program - introducing techniques of social mapping, social impact analysis and participatory development approaches - proved to be relevant in answering this question. But equally, or even more, useful to me was the unexpected 'anthropology of development' aspect of the program, which introduced a critical perspective on development. This lifted the program well above the status of an extended 'in-service' or preparatory training program and I found the lecturers excellent and willing to assist anyone who wanted to delve more deeply into the mysteries of the development phenomenon. This is a program that returns what you put into it, it gives you access to great people with rich experiences. For me it has created a chance to do a PhD exploring land use and ownership in Vanuatu. To save for that I am working as an economist overseas, as co-ordinator of the treasury component of an AusAID governance program, and using the lessons learned from the MAAPD program all the time.

Rita Sully, - Singapore

Graduated 2006. I joined the MAAPD because I had a personal interest in applied anthropology and a professional interest in community development. Having been involved with private sector initiated social investment programs for a number of years first with Cisco Systems and now with Hewlett Packard, I was acutely aware of the gaps in the deployment and sustainability of these programs. The MAAPD program provided an excellent balance between academic theory and practical implementation of key aspects relating to sustainable community development. On completing the MAAPD program in 2006 I was able to quickly integrate many of the techniques and methodologies into the existing community investment programs of Hewlett Packard, significantly increasing social value and relevance. An unanticipated added benefit was the ongoing link to the MAAPD, which led to a successful collaboration with ANU Enterprises to implement a comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation initiative for H-Ps community investment programs in Asia Pacific and Japan. Some MAAPD students are involved in this exercise. One of the key challenges in private sector driven social investment programs is the lack of qualifications required of practitioners to develop and deploy effective programs. The MAAPD program is a highly effective qualification for any private sector professional committed to sustainable and relevant strategic social investment.

Kaori Suzuki - Japan

I joined the MAAPD programme in 2006 as part of an exchange program from the United States. Although I spent only a semester, the MAAPD programme gave me profound contextual and practical insight in development work. The programme also equipped me with practical knowledge of social impact assessment and project management, which become the solid foundation for my current work. I am now working for a peace building and conflict resolution/management organization in India. My primary work is project coordination and fund-raising, to which I can directly apply my knowledge gained from the MAAPD programme. I truly enjoyed my time in the programme. The diverse background and expertise of lectures and cohorts allowed me to explore different fields of work in and outside of class. I am also grateful for the personal attention from the programme faculty. I received tremendous help in locating my internship in India as well as in writing my thesis for my degree in the United States. I never expected such long-term support for an exchange student. The experience, knowledge and friendship I gained in the MAAPD programme is and will be of great importance throughout my life.

Lim Wei Ling - Singapore

I graduated from the MAAPD programme in 2004. I am currently working as a senior biodiversity officer with the National Parks Board Singapore. My job scope involves nature conservation, commenting on the conservation aspect of development, community outreach as well as other nature related issues.

The MAAPD programme has equipped me in many ways for this position. It has enhanced my understanding of conservation from the social and human perspective and has equipped me with the knowledge and skills needed in successfully executing community outreach conservation programmes. The MAAPD course provided a solid foundation in the theories and methodologies behind conservation and resource management, which I've found to be pertinent and relevant to real life situations. I have truly enjoyed my time in the programme. The lecturers came from diverse range of backgrounds and expertise, and were very knowledgeable and forthcoming. Last but not least, owing to the diverse backgrounds of my fellow course mates, class was never dull and lively discourses formed a large part of my learning experience. Thanks to the course, I've not only gained an insightful education, but friendships to last a lifetime.

Sandya Manickam - Australia

I entered the MAAPD not knowing what to expect but keen to find out more about the development field and whether or not it was for me. Irrespective of background, I found that most people were new to anthropology, which at times, after deciphering concepts and sentence structures, was indeed the great leveller! What I got out of the course was extraordinary and exceeded expectation beyond the highly sought after professional qualification in development. It highlighted the importance of context, participatory approaches, stakeholder consultation and the ethical implications of this kind of work. It allowed students to explore issues in practical examples and applications. I also further developed my research, writing and analytical skills. Since completing the course in 2004 I have worked in the local NGO sector in Canberra and Sydney where , for example, I conducted a needs analysis for pregnant and parenting young mothers wanting to return or complete their secondary education . I have also worked with small drug and alcohol service in western Sydney, which had focused community development activities and assisted in facilitating change management and building organisational capacity.Currently I am the Program Officer for the Humanitarian Response group with Caritas Australia where so far I have travelled to Pakistan to monitor and evaluate humanitarian programs in the earthquake affected areas , and will soon travel to Indonesia and Sri Lanka. In my current role I am able to combine my development and legal training to issues such as human rights protection and humanitarian advocacy. The MAAPD lecturers were generous in their support and I made some great friends. It's always nice to see a familiar face or make the MAAPD connection both at home or overseas.

Kali Napier - Australia

I graduated from the MAAPD course in 2005. The course was one of the best times of my life- don't tell the lecturers! I went to Bangladesh for a year as an Australian Youth Ambassador for Development where I worked with the Department of Women Affairs, and I believe that my participation in the MAAPD course was directly and almost entirely responsible for my selection into the program. When I returned, the flexibility of the course allowed me to change tack and enter the world of native title anthropology, through an internship with CAEPR. My colleagues at CAEPR were incredibly supportive and grounded me in current events in Indigenous Australia. I then went on to be a native title anthropologist at Yamatji Land and Sea Council in Geraldton. I have to say, though, that nothing I learnt in the MAAPD course equipped me for my current and very challenging role as a mother to an energetic one year old!! However, when I do re enter the workforce I know that I will be able to draw on the contacts I made, and the resources still available to me, through my standing as an MAAPD graduate.

Katrina Hudacin,MAAPD - Australia

Since graduating from the MAAPD program in 2003 I quickly found that the ANU, their graduate program and professors have a strong and very good reputation internationally. The applied nature of the MAAPD program prepared me with contextual and practical experiences that I could confidently draw on in an interview. I was quickly hired by an international education consulting company, PINZ (Global Education Specialists), and have been quickly gaining more responsibility over the past three years. The MAAPD program prepared me with strong writing skills, critical thinking and an introduction to the complexities of multi-donor funded projects – all skills that I draw on in my current work. As the Development Manager at PINZ today I manage projects from the likes of the ADB, World Bank, NZAID and CIDA ranging in value from USD 500,000 to 108million. I travel frequently to Asia and the Pacific managing and working with professionals on aid and education projects.

Cetana Das, MAAPD - Australia

As a graduate of the MAAPD program in 2005 I have found it has provided me with fantastic employment and networking opportunities in the field of development. Shortly after completing the program, I commenced work at the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health in a range of national health policy and program areas, including sexual health and mental health. This knowledge gained from the MAAPD has well prepared me to deal with the cultural, ethical and political issues that I have encountered within the Indigenous health sector. Since then I have been accepted into the AusAID Australian Youth Ambassador for Development program to undertake field work in the Qinghai province of China where I am working for the Snowland Service Group in developing and monitoring the organisation’s health projects for Tibetan people in the Yushu region. I have learnt from my studies in MAAPD about the ways in which the organisation can incorporate social perspectives and participatory methodologies into its community-based health projects.

Rachel Wright, MAAPD - Canada

I am a graduate of the MAAPD in 2003; shortly after completing the MAAPD I was hired as an intern by the Canadian Society for International Health to work at the International Organization for Migration in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The position was HIV/AIDS project coordinator for the High Risk Corridor Initiative (HRCI). The HRCI has 18 voluntary HIV/AIDS counselling and testing sites at truck stops along a major route between Addis Ababa and Djibouti targeting truck drivers, commercial sex workers and the local populations. The MAAPD program prepared in many ways for this position. I entered the position with a strong foundational knowledge of development issues and key players. The MAAPD courses offered many development examples and challenged development ideologies and concepts; this helped me to personally, and in the work context, suspend judgement to the best of my ability and respond with practical and locally relative input that was very much appreciated. The participatory focus has increase the marketability of my resume as experience and knowledge in participatory processes is in great demand. While I did not realize nor appreciate it at the time the course work and readings hugely prepared me for the demanding job of project report writing. During the MAAPD I met great, wonderful, like-minded people who remain to be great friends today.

Natalie Jones - Australia

Since graduating from the MAAPD in December 2004, I have been volunteering for Snowland Service Group, a grassroots Tibetan NGO in western China, to gain hands on development experience. My role is to assist the organisation in building their capacity through teaching the staff how to conduct Participatory Rural Appraisals, write project proposals, mid-term and final reports as well as train staff on project monitoring. The MAAPD well equipped me to fulfil this role both practically and theoretically. In practical terms, I gained the necessary skills and tools to promote a participatory approach to development and greatly strengthened my report writing skills. The theoretical side of the course provided me with a holistic view of development, emphasizing the political, social and cultural forces involved which are essential to navigate in ensuring sustainable development. The most rewarding aspect of the course is that it has provided me with a clear vision of what direction I would like to take my career in anthropology and the confidence to pursue it.

Sarah Meyanathan - USA

The Peace Corps finally sent me to East Timor! I have been here for almost 3 months and have recently finished training. My site for the next two years is a coastal village on the northern part of the island, not too far from Dili. My official job description is health promotion, but I hope that within 2 years I will be able to assist in a variety of activities. I will start by doing basic health education in schools. Timor has the highest fertility rate in the world and one of the highest maternal mortality rates as well; diarrhoea and malaria are also huge problems here so there is a definite need to focus on health. I think that MAAPD prepared me well for the peace corps and hopefully in a career in development.

Erin O.Connor, MAAPD - Australia

My enrolment in the MAAPD program was fortuitous and the program has stood me in good stead. The breadth of subjects covered, the participatory skills, and the flexibility and variety of elective units, all provide both practical experience and a forum to apply the theory. This has helped me with my work with Hassall and Associates on the social impact assessment (SIA) conducted for the Murray Darling Basin Commission on proposed changes to environmental flows; and in grant management in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Service in my capacity as Deputy Manager of the Indigenous Coordination Centre in Geraldton WA.

I have now commenced research for a PhD in the area of social values and significance of groundwater in arid regions; and the principles, processes and breadth of readings from the MAAPD provide a rich field on which to draw for this study. However, what makes MAAPD so enjoyable, aside from the great campus, is the people who put so much into the course. True friendships are developed with lecturers who are knowledgeable, accessible, and have an immense diversity of background and experience, and a true interest in the participants of the program.

Bill Fogarty - Australia

As a practitioner who had come straight from the field in a remote Indigenous community, the MAAPD provided me with a perfect blend of practicality and theory that has led to fantastic opportunity. The quality of the lecturers, all leaders in their fields, combined with a unique blend of applied anthropology and development theory give the course an extremely broad relevance. Practical advice about the business of applied research, contacts in the international development field and access to the academy's best research centres were just a part of the course. The MAAPD qualification has allowed me to win an Australian research council scholarship to complete a PhD in Anthropology and opened so many employment choices, it was difficult to choose what to do. The best thing about this course though is the people that you meet from all over the world with an amazing array of expertise and such a diversity of development experience. I'd recommend it to anyone interested in making a difference from policy to practice in whatever their field of interest may be.

Tegan Molony - Australia

Since graduating from the MAAPD in 2004 I have worked for the American Refugee Committee in Liberia as their Gender Based Violence (GBV) Program Coordinator. I manage 40 staff working on GBV prevention and response in both IDP camps and communities of return. We conduct community education around issues such as gender, human rights, HIV/AIDs, STIs, GBV and sexual exploitation; work with local health and security service providers to prevent, identify and appropriately respond to cases of GBV; deliver comprehensive case management and counseling services for GBV survivors and teach Reproductive Health Literacy (RHL) classes. We also work with ARC Guinea on a cross-border GBV information and referral project for returning Liberian refugees, conducting community assessments in areas of high return for dissemination in the Guinea camps and providing follow up, protection and referral services for vulnerable returnee women.

After years in the field of rural community development and gender in East Timor, the MAAPD provided the perfect space to stop, reflect and write on what I had been doing and refocus and prepare for another stint of field work in an entirely different context. The flexible nature of the course allowed me to develop my interest in participatory methodologies in the context of gender and conflict, great preparation for my current job where I have designed and implemented pre and post intervention participatory assessments on GBV and try to mainstream a participatory approach throughout the project cycle.

The MAAPD lecturers and tutors have a blend of both academic and practical implementing experience and there is a distinct emphasis on applying theory to real field situations which I greatly appreciated. Of course having fellow students from many countries with diverse experience was a fantastic networking and learning experience too.