These local organisations work for humanitarian and human rights issues in their area and are taken on as PBI as 'clients' if they are threatened as a result of their work. PBI (IP) runs in West Timor, Aceh, Flores and Jakarta. During my time with PBI, I spent 8 months on the Jakarta team, where I was responsible for maintaining a high-level network of contacts, with embassies, Indonesian government agencies, other international NGOs, the UN and local NGOs. These contacts form part of PBI's international political support network that they rely on to respond when one of their client members is threatened as a result of their humanitarian or human rights work.

Apart from my work in Jakarta, I also spent one month in Banda Aceh working directly with PBI IP's clients and meeting a broad range of local actors in this conflict zone. At the time of my deployment to Aceh, the Indonesian government and GAM (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka - Free Aceh Movement) were in the midst of a cessation of hostilities agreement aimed at bringing an end to the armed conflict there. Since then the agreement broke down and Aceh is once again in a state of armed conflict. Later, I was able to participate as a facilitator for PBI IP's peace education training workshops in Flores, East Indonesia. The program focussed on finding local solutions for various conflicts experienced in the area and included local as well as PBI facilitators.

I then took up a position with the World Bank's Jakarta office. During my four years with the World Bank, among other things I provided support to the Indonesian Government to produce its National Poverty Reduction Strategy, to commission evaluations of national poverty reduction programs, and to design the Indonesian Conditional Cash Transfer Program (Program Keluarga Harapan). I also took time out from the World Bank after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to provide relief assistance to villages along the west coast of Aceh.

I returned to Canberra in 2008 to work for AusAID in the Office of Development Effectiveness, which monitors the quality and evaluates the impact of the Australian government aid program. I am currently responsible for managing the production of the 2009 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness, which will provide an account of the Australian aid program's performance in 2008-09.

Doing Honours at ANU allowed me to interact with leading scholars in the field and to have access to extensive research materials both on campus and at the National Library, enabling me to take my research to a higher level, resulting in First Class Honours and the University Medal. My Honours project looked at strategies employed by Islamic women's organisations to promote reproductive health and gender equality in Indonesia. This background enabled me to get an internship in the Indonesia Branch at AusAID in 2004, which in turn led to a permanent position there, and most recently, a posting to Indonesia as a Development Program Specialist. Expertise in Asian Studies and in-country experience are highly regarded in the Australian Government's aid program.

I've recently returned from a posting with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) to West Timor, Indonesia. This position required strong Indonesian language and analytical skills, and sound knowledge and understanding of the Indonesian development context - all skills that I developed during my Asian Studies degree at ANU.

At the moment there is a huge need for Indonesianists in East Timor in particular translators and interpreters. I have found myself continually drawing on my Indonesian language and culture skills learnt through my Bachelor of Asian Studies degree. I wouldn't call this a hardship post - it is however intense and there is a lot of work to do to rebuild the infrastructure and services in East Timor.

East Timor is an incredibly beautiful place. The struggles of this area have been enormous and it will certainly be interesting to see what happens here in the lead up to the elections scheduled for 30 August. At the moment they are going through the registration of voters and education process and it is wonderful to be here to see this in action! My contract here finishes in June and following this I have been offered a job with the UN in an interpreting/translating role for possibly the Timor National Parliament and to provide other training.