1. Working in Development Cooperation
Afonso Mendonça Reis
Founder and Mentor of the Mentes Empreendedoras Project
Nova School of Business and Economics (NovaSBE)
Lisbon, September 2012
How many of you tried to get more information on my profile, experiences and what I did?
Swisscontact - We create opportunities

2. Presentation Roadmap Why think about international organisations?
Who are they?
What do they do?
What opportunities do they present to you?
My experience:
Joining FEUNL (2001)
Erasmus in Lausanne (04/05)
Back to Portugal - now what?
Joining and working at the OECD
Next, joining and working at the ILO - Skills department
Some lessons learned

3. What do they do? What do we learn in these organisations?
Bilateral and Multilateral organisations:
USAID, CIDA, SIDA, NORAD, IPAD
UN, OECD, EC
Different mandates:
Research & Knowledge production - OECD
Regulation - WTO/ILO...
Carrying out projects in the field - WB/UNDP/ILO...
What do we learn in these organisations?
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4. Joining FEUNL
The importance of setting standards – recalling Dean Neves Adelino’s welcome speech: students in top schools will:
Seek Internships - an average of 3.5 by time of graduation
Do voluntary work – give back to society
Establish contacts at university (beyond core technical skills) that are essential for future career development
Exploring GAFE and FORTUNA -» Pedro Freire
Novactiva – Successes and Failures -» Experience
Youth Programme -» International Experience
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5. Erasmus Lausanne - 2004/2005 What did I take from my exchange?
Started in Finance and ended in Development
Meeting people with different experiences -» other perspectives
Soft skills - (Theatre, Languages, 1st Research Project, inter- disciplinary seminar, and lastly Career Vocation)
Larry Weiss - “Look for Portuguese”
Goal: practice + research skills = AKF + CG&G
More demanding but less risky
FEUNL -» needs to improve “campus” culture -» Challenge
Core skills (economics) Vs Soft skills (campus)
Swisscontact - We create opportunities

6. Back to Portugal – now what?
• IMVF, IPAD, NORAD, CIDA, SIDA, KEPA, DANIDA…
Aga Khan Foundation
• Projects in Education and Social Exclusion
Center for Globalization & Governance
• Initiative – Carry out research on development issues
Working with Experienced Researchers on a “win-win” basis
Learning “how to do” and dealing with responsibility – Mentoring and autonomy
Presented (AfDB & UNECA, Ethiopia) and published Paper “Measuring EMP across five African Countries” in Open Economics Review -» Output + Signaling
Inov Mundus – New programme looks interesting
Swisscontact - We create opportunities

7. How did I join the OECD?
When googling for masters...
OECD sound nice but:
Is it relevant? Do we match?
“Jose” worked on a Macroeconomic Analysis on Chile
I have a paper -» Good match -» Apply
“Jose” offered an intership on an Education Indicator
AKF (education) + master in econometrics -» Good match
I took an internship in Statistics/Education (2nd best)
Moreover OECD has DAC and DEV (working in Development)
But other directorates too: ECO, DAF, TRADE, ELS

8. OECD – Experience
Exposed to high quality people -» learning opportunities
Good mentoring + building on colleague’s experience
The “untouchables” myth -» Focus on quality
Right for me? -» No field work and only rich countries
While working for EDU found a potential match in the ILO
Vladimir Grasskov ILO Skills Department - Good match? -» Apply
Before leaving what did I learn?
Sharper analytical skills
Improved Education and VET background
Wider knowledge and experience network
Excluding possibilities -» OECD’s DAC and DEV directorates
Swisscontact - We create opportunities

9. ILO – United Nations - Skills
I applied for:
a project financed by Portugal on PALOP countries
Skills department -» The best match worked
Since at the ILO what did I learn up to now?
Training on Rural Economic Empowerment
Employment Services - International Financial Crisis
Informal Apprenticeship in Africa
Additional Soft Skills
Fluent in Spanish + progressing German
Poorer countries experience + potential field access
Wider knowledge and experience network

10. Some Lessons Learned
Initiative – Do it and do it well, covering unexplored niches
Output - Show visible work and/or experience
Coherent profile – Flexibility with some degree of field “specialisation” on a topic you like (moreover PhD approach)
Always do your homework -» Make professional offers
Be humble but sharp -» e.g. secretaries are the key figures
Learning and Improving -» use every opportunity!
Develop and work within your network – Alumni, Portuguese, Lusophone, Latin…
Long term institutional network – connect back with Portugal
Your competition is not other Portuguese... but the World
Swisscontact - We create opportunities

11. “You will be judged by what you can build”
Some Lessons Learned
Barack Obama:
“You will be judged by what you can build”

12. Thanks for your attention
More information:
Websites:
Swisscontact –
CG&G –