NZAID SCHOLARSHIPS
UNLOCKING
Scholarships are a vital part of NZAID’s work, helping people gain knowledge and skills that will help with the development of their home countries. Since 1995, the scholarships scheme has assisted more than 8,000 students to study at educational institutions in their home country, New Zealand or the Pacific region. Currents editor Nicole Were reports.
AT A GLANCE: Scholarships Total allocation 2006/2007 Bilateral Scholarships Pacific Asia Africa Latin America $32.9 million $25.2 million $17.6 $5.4 $1 $1 million million million million WHEN INDONESIAN woman Paulina Japardy decided to further her studies, the NZAID scholarship programme opened the door to a new world. Already armed with a Bachelor of Economics (management) and a Master of Commerce (marketing), as well as two years’ experience as a marketing manager in Singapore, she joined the NZAID Lombok Crafts Project as head of marketing. Living on a small island and working within the community became a huge turning point for Paulina. “It was so different to the commercial focus of the profit-orientated business world and gave me a different kind of work satisfaction. You can see how your work affects people immediately. I discovered that I didn’t like working for profit any more. I had found something else that I really wanted to do; something that gives meaning back to my life.” Following her two year contract in Lombok, Paulina joined another NZAID programme, the Gunung Rinjani National Park Project, before returning to the Lombok Crafts project, this time as programme manager.
Non-bilateral Scholarship Programmes Pacific Global Total expenditure by year 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 $4.4 million $3.2 million $39.4 $31.6 $25.1 $22.7 $28.5 million million million million million
Top: Scholarship recipient Paulina Japardy stands outside Massey University in Palmerston North. Above and right: The Lombok Crafts Project, a bilateral development project between the governments of Indonesia and New Zealand, assisted the women potters of Lombok to improve their standard of living.
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THE FUTURE
“It was great experience but made me realise that after five years in working on community development projects, I was not an expert. I wanted to learn more so I could make it a career and now seemed like the perfect opportunity.” Compiling her references, Paulina applied to the NZAID scholarship programme and was awarded a two-year New Zealand development scholarship to study towards her master’s degree in development studies at Massey University in Palmerston North in 2006. “It’s always good to get the chance to study more. Development studies is mindblowing. I am learning to see it from very different angles, looking at what went wrong and why. The more I learn, the more questions I have.” Continued overleaf…
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“It’s always good to get the chance to study more. Development studies is mindblowing. I am learning to see it from very different angles, looking at what went wrong and why.” Paulina Japardy
Above: Women weavers from the Lombok Crafts Project are observed by visitors.
Paulina says she is thriving on studying in New Zealand and speaks enthusiastically about what she is learning. “In a way, it’s like a bird’s eye view; looking at the development field from different angles. There are students from all over the world in my programme: Africa, Asia, Kiwis, South Africa, China. Everyone has a different experience and offers new perspectives. This scholarship has opened up a range of options. It’s a huge experience, an experience that I couldn’t get working in my own particular area.”
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Now entering her second and final year of study, Paulina is building on her previous experience by focusing on Lombok for her thesis topic. There, she plans to talk to government officials, private businesses and community-based organisations and look at the relationship between tourism and development. “The main difference between tourism and development is that tourism looks at profit and loss and development thinks about the effect on the poor. We need to think in a business way but not sacrifice the poor. The poor need more than skills. There are social issues that the private sector and community-based organisations need to come in and tackle,” she says. Paulina intends to submit her thesis at the end of the year and graduate in February 2008 before returning home to Indonesia. It’s a mandatory requirement of the scholarship scheme that students return to their home country for two years after the completion of their studies. This way, students can apply their skills and knowledge in a way that has long-term benefits to their country, for example in government, civil society or private business positions. For Paulina, these complex problems are just another challenge she’s prepared to take on. “Education is experience. It’s a huge privilege to be given the opportunity to study. The next challenge is to apply my knowledge and make a change back home. I don’t know what the future holds but I will be able to tackle issues differently – making this study worth while.” Kirsty Wild, a PhD student from Massey University researching the impacts of NZAID’s postgraduate development scholarship schemes, says their results tend to be long- lasting. “I’ve spoken with women who took part in the scholarship scheme as far back as 20 years ago. It has given me a long-term view of things and a sense of how important the experience can be to someone in terms of shaping the direction of their life and career.”
Above: Paulina and other NZAID students attend an Asia:NZ young leaders forum. Emmanuel Gusman (Philippines), Paulina Japardy (Indonesia), Komalawati (Lala) Subardja (Indonesia), New Zealand’s Governor-General, The Honourable Anand Satyanand, Syed Hasan (Bangladesh), Oni Yuliarti (Indonesia), Dani Hamdani (Indonesia).
“I’ve spoken with women who took part in the scholarship scheme as far back as 20 years ago.” Kirsty Wild
Kirsty’s research has highlighted that for many professionals, a postgraduate scholarship is important because it gives them the time and space to think about and learn more about the ‘big picture’ of development issues facing their communities. It means that they must adapt to a completely different culture and learning environment. And it gives a chance to form professional and personal networks within New Zealand and the Southeast Asian region.
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