The story of Viktor

Viktor: “When you study languages, you come into contact with all kinds of things”

As Business Development and Partnerships Officer at an NGO, Viktor works with colleagues from Nepal to Zimbabwe. 'It's incredibly interesting to work with people from such diverse backgrounds.'

'I am a generalist and find everything interesting,' says Viktor. 'When I had to choose a degree programme, it seemed a bit limiting to go for one specific subject right away, but I discovered that a language degree actually teaches you about everything. To really get to know a region, you need to know something about philosophy, economics and history, for example. In my first year, I took the course Area Studies, in which we explored the different perspectives you can take when describing a region, its population, languages, cultures and politics. At the time, it wasn't my favourite course, but in my current job, I'm glad I learned how much your perspective is shaped by the context in which you grow up.

International contact

Viktor brings this skill to his current job at an NGO, an international development organisation that has been active in Africa and Asia for more than sixty years. In collaboration with local governments, communities and businesses, the organisation focuses on three themes: agriculture and food; energy and water.

'We have offices in 24 countries, with which I work on a daily basis to draw up project proposals,' says Viktor. 'I make sure that all the information is brought together in a single proposal, which we can then share with potential funding partners. That means I have a lot of online meetings, but I also travel abroad about five or six times a year to work out new project ideas with colleagues.'

‘I find the changing international context interesting, but I also enjoy the technical side of the work. One day I'm working on solid waste management in Bangladesh, the next day I'm working on regenerative agriculture in Rwanda.’

After my bachelor's degree, I took two gap years to travel through Australia and Southeast Asia, among other places, after which I continued with a master's degree in International Relations. There, I was able to delve even deeper into China and changing world politics, but the emphasis was less on further mastering the language.

Networking

During his master's programme, Viktor ultimately decided to broaden his horizons even further and ended up at the Dutch embassy in Hungary for an internship in the political cluster. “That was a very special period, because the coronavirus outbreak occurred during my internship,” he recalls. 'Fortunately, I was able to stay in Hungary, because I found it very interesting to see all kinds of things that seemed purely theoretical during my studies come to life here. That helped me enormously in getting my current job. If it is possible for students, I would definitely recommend them to do an internship.'

Viktor advises students who are specifically interested in a job in development cooperation to make contacts. “You can do that via LinkedIn, but there are also special networking events, for example organised by Partos. People are often happy to help motivated students!”