【EP2】Careers in International Development & Humanitarianism - A Female Perspective with Bhanvi Anand
Updated: Jun 24, 2021

Here is a skip time for you :)
[0:50] Bhanvi’s introduction
[1:48] Q1. Working in the sector for almost 6 years, what is your personal stance on the diversity issue within international development? Have you been personally affected?
[4:16] Q2. What are some obstacles you have faced in the field? How did these obstacles relate to your identifying as a woman? How are they related to your ethnicity? How are they related to your racial background? How are they related to your socioeconomic background?
[6:28] Q3. What was your experience moving from consultancy to sustainable development like? What was your motivation for wanting to go into the development sector?
[9:20] Q4. You were always in leadership groups throughout your career, what drove you to be a part of such groups?
[12:00] Q5. What do you think could be done to improve diversity and inclusion in the international development sector and also at large in the workplace?
[13:50] Q6. What advice would you give women just starting their careers in the aid and development sectors? What advice would you give your younger self when you were starting out?
[16:40] Q7. what is the main difference between the private and public areas of the aid and development sectors?
The RE: Project has partnered with the WIAN | The Women in International Affairs Network to create a podcast interview series about the career experience of remarkable women from the international development and humanitarian sector. They will be sharing their experience about the obstacles they faced, how they overcame them, and advice for other women embarking on a similar path.
Our second podcast features Bhanvi Anand the Director of Education Initiatives at PNG Sustainable Development Program.
In this podcast, Bhanvi talked about diversity inclusion and intersectionality issues within the international development sector (where she shared her perspective as an Indian Australian) as well as advice she has for women just starting their careers in the aid and development sectors.
Bhanvi Anand is currently based in Sydney, Australia and is the Director of Education Initiatives at PNG Sustainable Development Program, a fund that invests in initiatives supporting the development of communities in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea through a focus on health, education and upliftment of livelihoods. Prior to joining PNG, Bhanvi worked across various finance, banking and strategy roles within the Commonwealth Bank and as an independent consultant. She seeks to solve social problems through data-driven development and impact programs, particularly in the areas of financial exclusion and vulnerability. Lastly, she is a passionate advocate for creating diverse and inclusive workplaces.
Thank you, Bhanvi for sharing these insights! If you have any questions for Bhanvi feel free to leave a comment!
More speaks coming up soon!
Through this podcast series, we want to highlight the experiences of women from a variety of ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds, and how their careers could be better supported.
Women working in HR, diversity and inclusion roles or international programs who wish to be involved will be interviewed about gender and race-related issues. They'll also be asked about the obstacles they faced, how they overcame them and advice for women embarking on their careers.
*Women who wish to participate but are uncomfortable discussing these issues and topics on video can be included via a podcast, blog and/or anonymous involvement. Additionally, individuals do not have to answer questions they are uncomfortable with.
If you are interested in sharing your experience as a guest speaker email us at : thereproject.manager@gmail.com
The RE:Project is a career advice, peer mentoring, and re-skilling community for millennial and Gen Z social scientists/practitioners.
For more interesting content on career building in international development/social science/humanity fields:
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Why should you join the RE:Project Community?
One main reason behind the high unemployment rate among recent grads is the gap between the structured academic training and the “messiness” of the real-world career market. This is especially true for International Development students, on average with 0–3 years of experience, that look for impact-driven work. However, the development sector requires significant work experience, specialization, and networking to break into — none of which academic training alone can adequately offer.
The RE:Project a career advice, peer mentoring, and re-skilling community for millennial and Gen Z social scientists, born with the idea that millennials and Gen-Zers can help one another out for today’s job market.
In the short-run, we offer tailored career support by creating curated real-life, authentic content generated by real people of the millennial generation working the industries. Practitioners with 4–7 years of experience can offer as many insights (or more!) as 50-year-old CEOs and Directors about how to break into the industry.
This way, young job seekers can interact with mentors using social media live (visit our Linkedin page, Instagram coming soon), and blog posts.
User-generated blog posts, interviews, and tips will also be very welcome.
In the long run, the ultimate goal of this platform is to grow into the forefront community for the Future of Work for social scientists.
You can also get involved with our work as a mentor, a community ambassador right on organizational capacity. Find out more here www.thereprojectcommunity.com/get-involved
If you got any good content ideas, any interesting people you’d like us to interview, or interested in joining the team as a content creator email us at
thereproject.manager@gmail.com