Progressio online: a younger view

I'm a secondary school student and I'd decided to do some work experience during my summer holidays; the charity sector seemed a good fit for me. For the last few days I've worked at the London office to learn the inner workings of a small charity, and my week of working at Progressio has sadly just come to an end.

I've been involved in service trips, community outreach programs and fundraising through my school. Some friends suggested I approach Progressio, and I was immediately drawn by the 'people powered' approach to development in the global South.

While I was learning about the organisation I was fascinated by the first hand accounts from development workers and blogs about the progress in various communities!

To make the most of my time here, I was given a task when I arrived: to review the website and give feedback on its appeal to a young generation of supporters. This task felt very relevant because Progressio is currently working to diversify the supporter base and get more young people on board.

I was delighted with the genuine interest in my report, and the team were eager to hear my suggestions on establishing a participatory community and how best to use social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. So if you begin to notice any small changes to the website, you can blame me for it!

I felt so mature breezing into the office each morning, coffee in hand, to sit down at my desk to work on my report. Even though I was a decade younger than all the other staff members, I was treated as if I had been one of the team members for years, taking part in office chats about colourful outfits or the appearance of delicious biscuits in the kitchen.

People who didn’t even know my name would offer to grab me a cup of tea, and everyone I encountered stopped to have a 15 minute chat about how I was getting on! Even the low point – being taken down the creepy back staircase during a safety briefing about fire drill procedure – was actually quite amusing!

One of the highlights was the one-on-one meetings with staff from each of the teams, fundraising, personnel, programmes, campaigning and the Empower programme. The meetings were the perfect introduction into how a charity is organized and run.

Everyone I spoke to tirelessly answered my questions and seemed genuinely pleased to be sharing their area of expertise. By the second day I had picked up many of the insider abbreviations and was able to understand what people were talking about when I overheard snippets of conversation.

I observed the extensive planning that is going into the Big Forest Picnic at the end of August and was delighted to add my thoughts on bunting and rain preparations. And sitting in on a meeting about a new outreach and fundraising strategy, I was touched when Christine, the chief executive, turned to ask my opinion!

My experience at Progressio has been a true education. Not only do I have a fuller understanding of how a charity is run, but my eyes have been opened to new issues and campaigns worldwide.

I now know why asparagus in Peru is a big deal and I can explain the impact of participatory budgeting on poor communities in the Dominican Republic!

I will definitely continue my support of Progressio’s work and I hope come back as a volunteer in the future!

Katie Hebb, 16, is a school student from Boston, MA.