Hi, I’m Luis Pineda, GLODEP alumni (2019-2021) and I am currently serving as a Nature-based Solutions Associate Programme Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme, a position that builds directly on the skills and knowledge I gained during the GLODEP Master. Before joining the masters, I worked on environmental and development projects at the local level, and one of my main motivations for enrolling was to broaden by complementing my environmental and social expertise with economic knowledge and a global development perspective. This combination ultimately helped me transition from project-based roles into programme-oriented work within international organizations. The academic training, together with the experience of studying in a highly multicultural and multilingual environment, has been highly valuable in my professional career.  Studying and living in Olomouc, and in the Czech Republic in general, represented a dramatic and exciting change for me. Adapting to studying...

What is your current position/job, and how did you use IDS master’s experience/its courses to acquire this position?  I’m currently a Senior Associate at IDinsight based in Nairobi. At IDinsight, I use data and evidence to help development leaders make decisions. My GLODEP experience provided a strong theoretical grounding in development economics, which helped me understand the broader context of the challenges we address in my work. The technical courses also strengthened my analytical skills and built on my prior statistics background.   Why did you decide to come to study IDS at Palacky University/Olomouc/Czech Republic?  I wanted a program that could bridge my background in statistics with the development sector, and GLODEP offered exactly that combination. It provided an opportunity to deepen my technical skills while gaining a richer understanding of global development issues.  How was it to study in Olomouc? What were the major challenges?  Studying in Olomouc was both...

What is your current position/job, and how did you use your IDS master’s experience and its courses to acquire this position?  I am currently a Junior Professional Associate at the Governance – Public Institutions Global Practice at the World Bank. I have to say that this master’s degree was a cornerstone for achieving this position. As with many professional journeys, achievements are incremental and cumulative, each step builds on the previous one.  Soon after graduating from the master’s program, I secured an internship at the World Bank. The program’s focus areas, the communication and language skills I gained, the knowledge on development-related topics, the technical terminology, software skills, and the multicultural experience all made me competitive and allowed me to obtain that internship. In the same way, it was my master’s background combined with my internship experience that led to a consultancy at the United Nations. Ultimately, the combination of all these experiences...