In this episode we chat with Tatenda Diura, a humanitarian worker from Zimbabwe.
We discuss:
A brief introduction of her background, her current work and where she is based, and what she specializes in, in her work
What is safeguarding and how long has she been doing this work?
Her background and journey to public health , what she studied, her internship experience in Zimbabwe
How she found out about public health and how she ended up doing her Masters degree in public health
What influenced her career decisions at every juncture in her journey
How she used resources available to her to search for jobs
How she navigated the catch 22 of jobs requiring experience and experience being gotten through jobs and got her first job after her Master’s degree
How she has leveraged changing organizations and roles to grow in her career
The principle of do not harm and how it is the cornerstone of safeguarding work in humanitarian settings
Examples of the kind of work she does in safeguarding
Behavior Change Communication and how her sociology degree is now relevant in her work
What a survivor centered approach in humanitarian work is and what that looks like
The importance of understanding context in populations that we serve in public health
How heavy humanitarian work can be at times
What Tatenda’s likes the most about the work that she does
What measures are in place in the humanitarian field to ensure that humanitarian workers maintain their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing
Burnout in humanitarian work
The risk of being desensitized doing the work and the importance of rest and unplugging between projects and assignments
The importance of empathy and mot sympathy while doing work
What keeps Tatenda going in the field, even with high turnover rates
What does public health mean for Tatenda
Vulnerable populations that Tatenda works with and how that is defined
Words of wisdom
How Tatenda has used LinkedIn to grow in her career