Fantastic experience with SEED Madagascar as a Pioneer Intern

I had the opportunity to take a career break at the start of 2016 and I wanted to spend some time volunteering in Africa, putting my environmental health and safety career expertise to good use and be a part of making a small difference to communities that would benefit from sustainable development initiatives. SEED Madagascar gave me the opportunity to do just that. Firstly, they are one of the only sustainable development charities that offers a short-term 3 month program, which fitted in with my schedule perfectly. They were also incredibly friendly, helpful in talking thrugh the different options available to me and flexible in their approach. I enjoyed the 10 week program so much, that I extended my stay for 2 weeks to offer my assistance in reporting projects back in the office.

The Pioneer offers something for everyone who is interested in international sustainable development. You get to be involved in education, health sanitation, sustainable livelihoods and conservation projects, which gives a great insight into the different types of work and a good understanding of the different interconnected factors at play when it comes to development and cultural behavioural change.

At first, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend 6 weeks on a construction site building a school building. However, this turned out to be my highlight and was so rewarding. You really get to live and work with the local community and can see that your efforts will actually make a real impact to a certain number of people. Within 6 weeks, we had almost completed a full school building and finished off painting the first and built 40 desks, so that an additional 160 students could attend the lycee. Whilst here, I also got the chance to teach the students English, which was a great experience. We were greeted through town each evneing as we went to get a cold beer at Lily's Bar with cries of our names from the children as we passed. It was a truly enriching experience and I couldn't recommend it enough.