It's been a fascinating, inspiring, challenging, exhilarating and exhausting few months with high highs and low lows. I've learned a lot; about the work we do and about myself. But the time has come to hang up my nomad hat (for now) as my Restless Development consultancy comes to an end this month.
So what next?!
Well over the last couple of months I've been busy applying and (telephone) interviewing for jobs and was really pleased to find out (on the night before I left Zambia) that I got the new Programme Development Manager role for ICS.... back at Restless Development!
I've mentioned ICS a few times in various blog posts and met with some of our ICS volunteers in both South Africa and Zambia. ICS stands for International Citizen Service and it is the British Government's flagship international volunteering scheme for 18-25 year olds. Restless Development is one of a consortium of international development agencies that implements the ICS programme with funding from the Department of International Development (DFID). Just nearing the end of an 18 month pilot programme, we're now entering the 3 year full programme so it's at a really exciting stage. My role will be to support our country offices to design strong programme models for ICS and link them into the other work that we do, as well as develop a system for monitoring and evaluating our ICS work. I'll be based back in London but it looks like a trip to Delhi for an ICS conference may be on the cards for August, so even though I'm looking forward to getting back into London life I know that it won't be long before I'm "restless" again...
Thanks for all the great messages and emails - they've really kept me going, boosting me during the tough times and uplifting me during the good times. I'll be back for an update in August. In the meantime... A de go (Krio - Sierra Leone), Kwaheri (Swahili - Tanzania), Hambani Kakuhle (Xhosa - South Africa), Ndapita (Nyanja - Zambia) and Goodbye.....
