Career opportunities

Your career in International Development Management

After graduating, you can find work in the (international) development sector close to your home or anywhere else in the world. You will probably be traveling a lot and be working with people from many different cultural backgrounds. Circumstances could be challenging but often also rewarding, when a project succeeds or you see positive impacts on communities!

Many of our students find their first jobs through their internship organisations or with other organisations they meet while studying. We support you in building your own network of organisations that can get you a job in the future!

Perhaps you will become a bridge-builder between farmers and the government, a food safety project manager or advisor on reconstruction after a natural disaster. This can be for a governmental, non-governmental organisation, a company or you can set up your own organisation.

You can find a few examples connected to our specialisations below:

Regional Development and Innovation

As a regional development manager and/or facilitator, you will pick up new ideas and trends and turn them into concrete activities to educate, support and empower local communities in rural areas. Whether you work in your own or in another country, you will be a mediator between groups and organisations and create and facilitate positive impact.

Former student Heidi works as coordinator environmental education at the Dutch non-governmental organisation ‘de Watersnip’. Here she sets up educational programs and activities to increase awareness amongst children and schools about sustainability and the natural environment.

Sustainable Value Chains

Fair Trade is something that many companies are trying to achieve. As more and more producers and consumers worldwide become conscious of the social and environmental impact of trade, more career opportunities arise. You can become a campaign officer, where you draw up plans for how a company can improve their trade methods and strategies, you can be a Fair Trade educator, a buyer for a company or a certification analyst, who determines whether a product has been bought and produced fairly.

Former IDM student David lives in Nairobi, Kenya and is director of the Impact Facility, an organisation that works with local mining communities. In many of our digital devices such as our phones, there are minerals that are mined by people and sometimes children under harsh circumstances. With his organisation, David brings economic and environmental empowerment through the sustainable value chain to artisanal and small-scale mining communities.

Disaster Risk Management

If your chosen specialisation is Disaster Risk Management, you will be able to support communities in becoming stronger and more resilient in the face of both manmade and natural disasters. You will know how to rebuild regions after disasters and be ready to assist communities in getting back on their feet.

Former student Rosa works as a program manager for Because we Carry at a refugee camp in Greece, Lesbos. Here she coordinates volunteers. Together they support refugees arriving on boats, for example by handing out dry clothes or by delivering baby carriers for the long walking journey ahead. Rosa also manages projects that create better living circumstances in the camps.