- By James Nguyen 

The past three months have been an amazing experience, both professionally and personally. I have had the opportunity to work with some wonderful people whose talents are only exceeded by their dedication to justice and human rights. My time here working with the Coalition to Abolish Modern‐day Slavery in Asia (CAMSA) and Tenaganita has given me the opportunity to make a difference and given me something to be proud of; along with contributing greatly to my professional development.

Working with CAMSA and an organization like Tenaganita fighting for justice and upholding human rights is certainly enough to make any one feel proud. It is certainly true for me. I was tasked with helping to improve efficiency and to assist with the restructuring of the organization. Being tasked with these responsibilities, I took pride in helping Tenaganita help others better. To increase Tenaganita’s capacity to better serve the underserved and the exploited not only allows them to provide better frontline services, it also allows them to be more effective at advocacy and thereby addressing issues on larger scales. Thought indirectly, I feel that I am able to contribute to a great cause through my fellowship. This fellowship has not only afforded me this sense of pride, it has also helped me to grow professionally.

Developing professionally was a major goal of mine; I wanted to take from this fellowship skills and experience that would benefit me in my future. Thankfully, this worked out. Coming into Tenaganita during a time of many changes was a great challenge as a fellow. Tenaganita was undergoing a fundamental change in its management and organizational structure and thus made transitioning into the organization significantly more difficult. In the beginning, I felt that my presence in the office was unnoticed due in part to all the changes, but mostly because we did not get a proper introduction to the staff until two weeks in. Taking note of this, another fellow and I took the initiative to introduce ourselves and to get to know each and every one of the staff members. We were also able to take advantage of this opportunity to gather information and construct an organizational chart detailing staff member’s roles and responsibilities. This particular situation taught me the value of taking initiative and being resourceful, and at the same time allowed me to improve my interpersonal communication skills. This fellowship required studying the organization, drafting and implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) along with other templates and protocols thereby exposing me to human resources. Additionally, the other fellow and I were assigned to assist with the restructuring of the management and organizational structure thereby exposing me to management and administration. These specific assignments were an excellent opportunity to study management principles and apply them to real world scenarios. Through this I witnessed how different management styles and principles can affect the effectiveness of an organization and its employees. Overall, it was a great educational and professional development opportunity.

Having spent three thrilling months with this fellowship, I feel that I am better equipped and better prepared to move forth in my career. It is with great pride that I can say I have worked for both CAMSA and Tenaganita.

James Nguyen