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.
Recent events in the US and around the world, such as the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, have shed a light on a number issues concerning race, prejudice, gender and social inclusion. To talk about these issues, we sat down with with Chinyere Sussan Ezinwa. Chinyere is the coordinator of Girls in Parliament (Anambra State, Nigeria), a public speaker, passionate volunteer, Girl-child advocate and social entrepreneur. She has been working to empower young girls on building a healthy self esteem and preparing them to become "job creators, rather than jobseekers." She has a keen interest in humanitarianism, gender and social change, and has worked as Project Manager at Whispering Hope Africa Initiative and as a volunteer for the Youngstar Foundation.
When we asked her about her personal experience with gender discrimination, she discussed prevailing gender norms in Nigeria, saying "communities do not value for education for girls". The girls she works with are often without access to education, and some are forced into early marriages and motherhood. Even as a student herself in University, she said as a woman you are "not supposed be the top of your class".
However, she said things are improving slowly. For example, the development sector has made headway on gender equality both within programmes and within their own organisations. She also says that many prevailing issues in the sector, such as "white saviourism", have been on the decline. Her experience with Western NGOs is that they treat local organisations as equal partners, including her own. Still, she says there is a lot of work to be done both in Nigeria and the sector more broadly.
When asked what advice she would give women in the sector, particularly during COVID-19, she said "social media and online courses" can help break down entry-level barriers. She also stressed the importance of technology for women's education and re-skilling, stating that online courses taught her things "she never learned in university". For example, how to code or design a website. She said that YouTube, Coursera, and EdEx were her go-to platforms. Furthermore, new technologies can change the lives of young girls she works with by expanding the access and quality of education.
Thank you Ezinwa for sharing these insights! If you have any questions for Ezinwa, feel free to leave a comment.
Check our social media for more speakers 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, follow our Linkedin page:
Why should you join the RE:Project Community?
One reason behind the high unemployment rate among recent grads is the gap between 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 is a career advice, peer mentoring, and re-skilling community for millennial and Gen Z social scientists, born from 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