Development Together
Development Together arranges sustainable, ethical, inspiring and supported volunteering, internship and short term mobility opportunities with our community development partners around the world. Our experienced staff help you to find the perfect volunteer or internship opportunity that suits your skills and abilities. And with our well established industry connections, we’re able to offer unique travel experiences that you can’t find anywhere else.
Development Together is a Western Australian company that specialises in skill matching volunteers and interns to the host organisations requirements. The Managing Director, Kristy Goodchild, has 14 years’ experience as a volunteer health professional with communities in the developing world and over 5 years’ experience coordinating volunteer and internship placements for university students in both the developing and developed world.
All Development Together small groups are accompanied by a professional Health or Engineering supervisor with experience in the specific project area and the host country. Our staff are passionate about sustainable community development and are passionate about the country and organisation we partner with.
Development Together is a new approach to volunteering and internships working collaboratively alongside organisations focused on sustainable, ethical partnerships.
There are many volunteering and internship companies to choose from, however Development Together is different because we firmly believe in the rights of local people and we respect their privacy and dignity.
We provide volunteer and internship placements only to suitably qualified applicants who show a real desire to work collaboratively in a sustainable, ethical manner with our partner groups.
We strongly discourage “volun-tourism” and “orphanage-tourism” and focus on collaborating with individuals and groups who understand that long term positive change for communities is reliant on strong relationships and partnerships developed over time.
We return 20% of profits at the end of every financial year to one of our not-for-profit partners. We want to support community groups who are doing the best for others in a sustainable and ethical manner.
I believe that this experience showed me how business works in a non-western environment…The supervisor educated us well and was extremely supportive through the course of the placement. The extra activities such as the orphanage, dinners, showing us the markets and going to Siem Reap made the trip really enjoyable. Overall, the experience was educational and Development Together did a wonderful job.
I have always been interested in volunteering – Development Together provided an opportunity to work for a greater cause while still gaining engineering experience. I was looking for something that would be both technical and self-challenging. By immersing myself into something so unfamiliar, I was able to learn a lot about myself.
I was applying for internships all year in 2017, without any luck, and then my university sent me an email about an opportunity with Development Together….Cambodia was a new and raw experience that took me far from the experience of a typical tourist. Overcoming cultural and language barriers and learning to embrace the people and culture was a great experience and is unlike anything I had every faced before.
I joined Development Together because I saw this as such an amazing opportunity not only to work as an Engineer in the real world, but also to help better the lives of real people. Development Together catered to the needs of a young and striving engineer like me in seeking for a platform to develop and discover a new chapter of my career and life.
Not only receiving satisfaction in terms of meeting my expected learning outcomes but it has also been satisfying being able to provide such valuable work to people that can benefit greatly from everything we have done.
Volunteering in Cambodia on a Prosthetics and Orthotics placement was a once in a lifetime incredible experience. I highly recommend volunteering with Development Together to both students and professionals. I learnt so many skills which will benefit my studies and career. I fell in love with the Cambodian culture and met fantastic people. The trip was well organised and my supervisor Kristy went over and above to ensure I had the best possible experience- which I definitely did!
My Engineering internship with Development Together has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I have had the unique opportunity to take my skills as an engineering student and apply them to solving real world issues in a community development capacity. The technical and interpersonal skills gained from this experience will be invaluable for my future career. I would recommend a placement with Development Together for anyone looking to apply their skills towards improving the lives of others!
Kristy has exceptional organisation skills. Her trips are always well researched and planned to ensure firstly the safety and wellbeing of her team and secondly, the best support and service to the host site. Her passion for this cause means this is much more than a job for her and so she does everything with the highest level of commitment and compassion. Kristy has years of experience in managing teams travelling to Cambodia and therefore knows far more about the host country than you could ever read in a Lonely Planet guide!
Kristy has a track record of successfully facilitating multiple tertiary student groups on international team-based mobility placements. Her calm demeanour, prowess at tackling challenging situations, topped off with her sense of humour, have made working with her an absolute pleasure.
