Student testimonial

Alumna Marre ten Holder works at UNHCR, assisting people on the move

Marre ten Holder: Senior Programme Assistant at UNHCR

“You have to be curious and critical, these two things I appreciate most from my time in Wageningen.”

Alumna Marre took the thesis track Disaster Studies during her master's in International Development Studies programme. Upon graduation she endeavoured on a career path full of surprises. While never expecting to work for the government, she stayed at the Dutch Embassy in Ethiopia for four years after her internship and had a lot of fun. Currently, she works for UNHCR as a Senior Programme Assistant in Aruba. The common thread in her career path? A focus on assisting people on the move.

UNHCR, also the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organisation that focuses on protecting the rights of refugees, internally- and forcibly displaced communities and (undocumented) migrants. Put simply, the organisation works in two ways: through direct implementation by UNHCR and through partnerships with local or international NGOs. Marre’s focus is on partnerships, being the focal point to the partners UNHCR works with in Aruba and Curacao. She supports these organisations from project development, all the way to the evaluation and finalisation of a project.

“Together with the partners I develop a strategy that we focus on for the next year. Further into the year, this turns into capacity support. Here on the island, we work with small organisations, so my job is to guide them in managing the programme.” The partnerships she is currently managing focus, amongst others, on medical and legal assistance. For example, they work with a clinic that provides medical assistance without any cost to undocumented migrants and vulnerable host communities.

What drives Marre? “I’ve always been interested in resilience in the context of conflict and disaster. When people strand in an uncertain situation, inequalities tend to grow. I wanted to know how this works and how we, as an international community, can support these people.”

“Theory teaches you to think critically, but practice sometimes shows you a whole different world.”

Additionally, Marre enjoys working aboard, an experience she highly recommends to fellow MID-students. “Everyone should! It’s an open door, but it teaches you many things. You’re always in new situations and must adapt. I like this place, testing the ground to see what works. In the positions I’ve been in, but generally when working abroad, you are a bridge between different cultures and work ethics. Personally, I grew a lot from this. You see that there’s so many more options.”

Always keep asking questions, that is what Marre learned during the MID programme. “You have to be curious and critical, these two things I appreciate most from my time in Wageningen.” She also greatly enjoyed the variety of students and teachers who brought in different perspectives during debates in class. “These discussions really prepared me for work life, they were more than theoretic. Theory teaches you to think critically, but practice sometimes shows you a whole different world.”