St. Paul’s student Kaitlin Murray (fourth-year International Development) is the recipient of a Mitacs GlobalinkResearch grant, worth $5,000, which will allow her to work with a non-governmental organization called NIRMAN in India this term. Mitacs is an internationally known Canadian not-for-profit organization that supports research, training, and social innovation.
Kaitlin will be working with, and analyzing the sustainability strategies used by NIRMAN, located in Odisha, India. This field office focuses on the livelihood improvement of Adivasi (original inhabitants of South Asia) and farming communities in the state.
“I have this incredible opportunity to learn from a very open and healthy NGO about development intervention strategies and governance that I would not have had to the chance to see before,” Kaitlin says. “I now get to learn about the way an NGO works – where it gets its funding, how it builds partnerships and relationships, how does actual community development interventions work, and so on – up close.”
Kaitlin says she will also be able to learn about effective intervention strategies for livelihood improvement and food security, land rights, and democratization of forest governance in Adivasi and farming communities in the state.
Kaitlin’s supervisor is Prateep Nayak in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development (SEED).
This news item was originally posted on St. Paul's University College site. Reprinted with permission from their team.