Jamie Charlebois - MDE 2012.  I obtained my Masters of Development Economics degree from Dalhousie University in 2012. I am currently working as an International Microfinance and Microenterprise Fellow through the Aga Khan Foundation Canada with CARE Bangladesh on CARE’s flagship agricultural value chain project: Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain (SDVC). The project aims to increase the income of small-scale dairy farmers by increasing their access to quality inputs (such as nutritious cow feed) and training while simultaneously linking them to a well established dairy company (BRAC Dairy) who gives them a higher fat-based price for their milk. The project uses a facilitative approach; the goal is that when CARE eventually leaves the communities, the market linkages they helped to create will remain in place. SDVC is funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the vast majority of the beneficiaries are women. Please feel free to contact me at charlebois@care.bd.org.

A group of MDE alumni and I have recently published a book entitled First Forays in International Development: Instructive Experiences from Seven Young Professionals. This unique book assembles the practical experiences and lessons learned by young development practitioners working in Asia, Africa, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. Presented here are firsthand accounts reflecting candidly (and critically) on their experiences working in a wide cross section of development organizations. These accounts provide insights on what makes a successful development project and, at the same time, a successful development practitioner. Such lessons will prove to be of great practical use to both prospective interns and the organizations that host them. The book will be available on Amazon.com by the end of December 2013.