What is “the project”?

For most people that come to my page lately have become intrigued with the ebook tab that suddenly appeared. What’s going on?

I am now discussing with my two Universities (yes, again the UK-Brazil connection) how to support International Relations/International Development students to find “jobs”. Moreover, to discuss with students the realities of international development and what it means to have a life plan. No… This is will not be new age self-help book or a book with lists and lists of aid job boards. This is more of a creating a sound strategy for action and following through with some inside tips on how to boost your profile, reach the most effective channels and not wasting time and energy on things that you are not interested about.

I have devised a little Q&A to help me get through the main questions:

Why are you doing this? Are you still employed?

Yes, I am still working with UN agencies, with the Kashmir campaign for Beyond violence and writing a lot of articles. I’m doing this ebook as a way of compile years of advice to fellow IR students in one place (saving myself some time) and helping universities be more effective in their response to students. There are two answers for my approach to this. One is actually part of my advice on this process: find what you love doing and do it! I love helping people unleash their true potential. That is as true for women in Brazil to youth in the Maldives. Most people already have the knowledge of what they love doing and what they want to be. They just need a method or a help getting started. The other answer to this is that Development is the business that I know and I was able to succeed in, but in that process I had some pretty amazing mentors who helped me through it. So… It was time to pay it forward.

Are you getting money out of this?

Yes and no. I’m not making money out of this website, newsletter and podcasts. None of those will be charged. I will charge for the ebook because I want to release a quality product, so it will need proofreading, a professional cover and decent publishing^[1]. That being said, I intend to be in the 2.99-5.99 frame, so, at most, you will give up a coffee or two (half, if you are into the fancy stuff) and I will have regained my “initial investment”. If after all of those, you still feel like you need one on one consulting, then those services will be higher priced.

Explain that consulting bit…

This has many reasons: most and foremost, I don’t have that much time. The idea of the page, newsletters, podcasts, Q&A sessions and ebooks is that you will have as much content as possible without having to get to me directly. I work full time in development and I really enjoy my work, so, if I am investing my time on someone, I want to make sure that they are invested in the process too. That’s also why I would only consult in packages of three meetings. I want to get to know you, your strengths, give you things to work on, help you measure progress and give you the opportunity of have your money back if this is not a system you are comfortable with. I want to make sure that I can help you in the first place, plus that my success rate will not be going down =P.

Are you coming to my University?

I’m talking to PUC-Rio and University of Sussex right now, because those were my Universities.  We are having some fun ideas for podcasts and Google Hangouts, so there will be a chance of asking questions at some point, don’t worry.