Volunteer Experience of Izabella Neves – Atma Education NGO Accelerator

Volunteer Experience of Izabella Neves

ATMA   |   13 January 2022



Introducing Izabella, a highly skilled professional, speaks to us about pivoting her career into the social sector and how volunteering at Atma has helped her along her journey.

Atma volunteers have all kinds of backgrounds and bring a diverse skill set to the organisation. Izabella, who is originally from Brazil, began her career in the Brazil Stock Exchange in the innovation sector. She had dipped her toes in the social sector at the beginning of her career and is now pivoting her career in that direction by studying social innovation management at the Amani Institute in Berlin.

"During this career transition, I knew I had some skills that were needed for the social sector, however, I could see I still needed to upskill. The needs of the social sector are more specific. I was looking for an understanding of the sector and the way of working. I had worked in the sector back in 2010 but things have changed since then!"

As part of her program, Izabella needed to complete an internship and found it was Atma that was most aligned with her skillset and values.

Izabella has learnt a huge amount during her time at Atma. Hard skills such as fundraising in the social sector, fundraising in the Indian context and understanding donors are all skills that Izabella now has.

Izabella is currently working on a project with Saint Xavier’s School in Mumbai and their Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC). She has found learning about Atma’s ecosystem to be really interesting. Atma works with a huge variety of NGOs and learning about how they operate has been really valuable.

So what is it about Atma that stands out?

“It’s actually one of the best NGOs I have worked for. The organisation is structured, they’re organised and the systems in place are good. I really like the people, I have had two mentors, they are both really kind and nice. Atma is a place with a lot of win-win relationships. There’s a lot of respect, everyone listens to you and at the same time they want to take the time to teach you.”

Do you have a skill set that could make the world a better place? Are you looking to pivot your career into the social sector and gain exposure to the NGO world? Apply to be an Atma volunteer today and start your year off in a meaningful way.



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