Hello, welcome again to The CLP Blog. This is Mohammad Maksudur Rahman. I am working as intern in Innovations, Monitoring and Learning (IML) Division of Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP). I joined CLP on September, 2013, around four months ago. It is my first job ever and also my first experience outside an academic arena. So, I am a newbie in development practice indeed. However, coming to development was not totally unexpected, rather, I would say, it was the first step towards a long-cherished dream.

I have recently completed Masters in Social Science from the Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka with a major in Development Economics. Previously, I completed my Bachelor degree in the same discipline. Throughout my university education, I have studied and put my thoughts into development and I have received training to deal with development issues. Thus, a keen interest to work in development sector and to apply my knowledge in this field had grown over time. That’s why the day I joined CLP, I felt like getting closer to my dream.

From the very first day at CLP, I started to see my hitherto acquired knowledge with new insights. Many puzzles that I could not solve before started to make sense. I came to realize that without real-time experience my training would have been incomplete. Days went by and I became more and more convinced that classroom knowledge and field experience, though related, opens up different dimensions of reality. I cannot but accept the complementarities of the two. It amazes me how even the simplest works in development practice is the result of extensive thinking and part of broader development plan.

Poverty alleviation, as one of the biggest challenges of development in Bangladesh, has been my area of interest. I feel myself very fortunate to be able to work in CLP at the very beginning of my career which directly deals with poverty and livelihoods. Moreover, working in IML offered me one of the greatest and rarest opportunities – to work in both communications and monitoring at the same time. I came to know about many stories of sufferings and hardship of the poor during my education. Being in CLP, I got the chance to experience them more closely and to help them come out of it through CLP. It feels really good to be part of their success and to be able to tell their stories to others through CLP’s communication.

In monitoring part I am mostly attached to monitoring team of Market Development Projects of CLP. It is a relatively new project in CLP as well as a complex one. CLP recognises the potential of char dwellers to work for their own development through enterprise which is largely constrained by geographic drawbacks and socio-economic factors. CLP facilitates to remove some of those barriers by linking different market actors and making market more accessible for the char dwellers which will lead them toward self-sustaining livelihoods. The project concept has large theoretical underpinning in academic arena which I studied during my study. So, I am very eager to track the process and outcome of the project to further my understanding of the theories related to this as well as of practical challenges to implement them.

My role as an intern in IML is to facilitate both communications and monitoring activities. I conduct interview, write case stories, and translate documents to produce communication materials for the communication unit. I also do the data analysis and assist in research or regular monitoring as part of monitoring unit. All these may sound boring and regular office work like in any other job but, to me, they are not. Firstly, the learning part is really fun. Whenever I am given any assignment, I try to apply my academic knowledge to complete it. As the result comes out, it gives a feeling of satisfaction and builds my confidence. Moreover, I have come in contact with people from diverse backgrounds, who are expert in their respective fields. I constantly learn from their experience and way of work. Secondly, all these works are part of a great cause. Whatever we do makes difference in the lives of many poor char dwellers. So, at the end of the day, it gives satisfaction to what I do and energises me every day to work even harder.

I would like to thank IML and CLP to offer me such an opportunity which is not only enriching my knowledge but also shaping my outlook towards life. I hope to continue with CLP and be part of many good works that we are currently doing.

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