Florina

"I was able to do something really meaningful! I am very interested in the Food Sovereignty movement, and I have been working in this area for more than a year now. Working for Gaia helped me obtain more experience in this subject and I gained much more confidence regarding my knowledge around it. I also developed my research, video production and writing skills."

The Gaia Foundation works with communities to revive and protect cultural and biological diversity. Its mission is to regenerate healthy ecosystems, enhance traditional knowledge and practices for land, seed, food and water sovereignty, and to strengthen community self-governance. This enables communities to become more resilient to climate change and the industrial processes which have caused the many current crises.

Rowan Phillimore at Gaia:

"Florina’s contribution to the Seeds of Freedom launch and campaign has been huge. She worked brilliantly as part of a team, and with the filmmaker in particular, and was a vital cog in the smooth running of the events and website at the time of the film’s release. Florina took charge of her responsibilities and showed great capability and a wonderful positive, imaginative, attitude to all that we gave her. Florina’s knowledge and interest in food sovereignty meant that she was able to input ideas and respond quickly to the issues being discussed as part of the film."

Florina’s advice to students looking for placements:

"Think hard on what you’re passionate about, and then things sort of tend to arrange themselves. Search for a small organisation, because you will actually be involved in meaningful work and people will take the time to engage with you on a personal level."

Florina's advice to organisations thinking of offering placements:

"Student placements are a great way to engage with those at the heart of researching key issues, and to help illuminate their understanding in a practical work setting. By gearing placements to particular course interests, the student’s skills become far more relevant to the role and this has benefits for both the organisation and the student. I would certainly recommend that more organisations offer placements which involve research, campaigns and communications to the many capable and engaged students out there."