Peacebuilding as a job

As a senior advisor in the NIS, where she works with Myanmar, Mali and Somalia, Maria has good use of the experience she got by studying, Peace and conflict studies.

-Peace and conflict studies are directly relevant to my job today. When I traveled to Sri Lanka for the first time to follow up a project for NIS, I was also happy that I had been working on a group project on Sri Lanka when I was studying in Pondicherry. That assignment made it easier to understand the context in Sri Lanka today, says Maria.

The semester of Peace and conflict studies she took as part of their Bachelor of Social Anthropology.

The study location gave us closeness to the countries and the region we studied, which we could not have had in Norway. I also appreciated that the course was in English, since I had studied in the Norwegian past years and wanted to improve my English skills at a higher academic level than I had done before, says Maria.

Being able to demonstrate international experience was also important when she was applying for a job. For Maria it was a combination of academic qualifications and outdoor experience that made ​​the difference. Group exam in Pondicherry was also an important reference point in the interviews, because she could show specific examples of how she worked in a diverse group.

Today’s colleagues in the NIS are her biggest vocational inspiration.

- NIS is a fairly new organization and thus offers a variety of options, some of which really challenges the skills I have gained so far. I am particularly inspired by my colleagues in Somalia and Mali who work hard to influence the future of their respective countries. Today I work at the NIS headquartered in Oslo, and it is inspiring to be included and affect the foundation's priorities and strategies. But in the future I want to move to one of the countries where we work  says Maria.