Making the Connection!

This week’s blog assignment was so much fun!  I enjoyed learning about the different international organizations that serve children and families.  I have listed my three favorite ones below:

1.     Save The Children – this organization employs over 14, 000 people in 120 countries, including the United States.  Although I am an advocate for all children, I like to see programs that also care about children in my country.  I also like that 89% of funds raised go directly to services to save and improve the lives of children.  I thought all of the jobs sounded worthwhile but I would most like to work with the education and child development department that is based out of Westport, Connecticut.  In order to apply for any job with Save The Children you have to create an account and upload your resume.  I tried to search US Jobs, but the site kept showing an error.  I did look at the international jobs available but none of them were directly related to early childhood so they did not seem to fit my skill set. 

2.     FHI 360- this organization sounds like a perfect fit for me!  They are committed to improving the lives of all people and they focus on many areas, including education.  I like that they understand that to truly make a difference they have to look at the whole picture, hence the 360 connection.  One job that sounded very interesting to me was Director of Programs (US Based).  I believe that I have many of the qualities needed for this position.  With my combined experience in Head Start, as well as for-profit child care centers, I understand budgetary constraints as well as how to design and implement effective programs, work well with many types of people, and I possess important managerial skills to aid in developing teams.  I do, however, believe that this would be a very challenging position and that it would take many years to learn how to be effective within this position. 

3.     UNICEF- this is still one of my favorite organizations.  Although I previously wrote about working with UNICEF in the US branch, I would also consider working abroad.  Their mission to build a world that protects the rights of every child is awesome!  I would love to be part of an organization that strives to meet the needs of every child so that they can have happy and healthy lives.  One of the jobs that interests me is that of Education Specialist in Senegal.  This position if responsible for planning and implementing education programs that identify and address gender inequalities in education.  It requires an advanced degree in education or social sciences, five year of experience in a relevant position, knowledge of gender disparities, and fluency in English and an additional UN language.  Although this job interests me, I am not qualified.  I believe that a position of this caliber would be worth of working towards but I am not sure that it is something I would pursue at this time in my life. 

Thanks for reading and please let me know of other international opportunities that may be available!