A New Chapter - Working on Poverty Alleviation

I came across an opportunity to do work on poverty alleviation, which is something I always wanted to do - the bonus is that this is work done as a freelancer, which means compensation is involved. The only thing that stands between me and this role right now is a proposal. This was the request from the organisation to ensure ways of working are compatible, and that both of our directions align. 

I have a template of a roadmap, not necessarily a proposal, but I think to an extent they are interchangeable terms. The only guide given is that this proposal will be self-determined, so let's see what I still have in store in my CSO noggin. Bismillah.

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Actually, on second thought, what is preventing myself from starting the initiative on my own? The pro of doing this with the organisation is that I will get paid, though ultimately that will have to align with my expectations. I was actually torn between wanting to be altruistic and wanting to know how much I will be compensated for my time that I leaned on the former, but there is nothing wrong in getting rewarded for providing a service, and you yourself know Syaqil that you provide good service within the realm of CSOs.

The question I need to ask myself is how much commitment am I going to put into this, and my standard answer to that is 10 hours. This has always been an interesting number however because 10 hours seems like a lot of time for doing completely voluntary work, which means that anything less than that is reasonable. At the same time, if the work in general requires putting in time to hone a new skill, 10 hours is the minimum and one should be driven by passion. I would say I'm in a position where my motive is a mix of passion, wanting to refine a set of existing skills, and establishing myself in a new field, since I have been working on climate change for a while. Given where I am, being compensated for my service can be argued as a right of passage then. As mentioned above, it is definitely a bonus. I am already working on climate change in my professional life, and anything extra is well, extra. No complains from me if I'm getting paid to provide a service and fulfil a gap. 

Secondly, given this would be considered as a passion project, why don't I create my own initiative? What is stopping me from working for myself and not be held accountable by others and let the general direction of work be determined by people other than myself? The answer to that is actually a form of self-assessment. I do want to know what it is like working under people in a CSO, especially (hopefully) with people who I am not familiar with (people who are not from the climate circle, nor the wider Undi18 or HungerHurts circle). This is definitely a platform to practice being a consultant potentially, which is not something I am ruling out once I become enough of an expert. I will be providing a quality service and it needs to accurately fulfil the requirements of people. It then begs the question of how long do I want to do this? 3 months? 6 months? 1 year? I think that is something I don't have to have an answer now, but will become clearer if things proceed in the first place.