For Linnea Halvarsson, impact is the driving force behind international development
Meet Linnea Halvarsson, Country Director of NIRAS International Consulting in Sweden, who and has been with NIRAS for seven months.
Linnea has worked in international development for 15 years but mostly for civil society organisations. Eager to experience development cooperation from another perspective, she joined the NIRAS Sweden team less than a year ago.
For Linnea, the passion for her work stems from working with the fundamental corner stones for building democratic and open societies with a social sustainability perspective.
“I work with governance, gender equality and human rights. We are currently working on a tender that is about supporting gender equality and social inclusion in projects for sustainable progress of societies. For example, how the green transition can be done in a socially responsible way so that vulnerable groups are not negatively affected," says Linnea.
An international culture and collaboration
“In NIRAS we work with international colleagues around the globe, so I collaborate with offices in, for instance, Serbia, Denmark, Belgium and Kenya. It widens your perspective working with international colleagues and clients, and the pluralism is really an asset both for individual and professional development as well as the things we want to achieve by bringing different perspectives, which increase your chances to achieve more,” she remarks.
Impact is the driving force
”We work on behalf of Sida, the Swedish International Development Agency, with training programmes - the most recent being about self-regulation in media. Media representatives from different countries attend this programme together where they both learn from international experts and each other’s experiences and expertise,” says Linnea, while also emphasising that when you gather people from around the world with different perspectives and experiences, that’s where the magic happens and where you really can make an impact.
The best part about working in NIRAS
Linnea’s passion and wanting to contribute to sustainable societies and international development was part of the driving force to choose to work for NIRAS.
“My impression was that NIRAS was a friendly company with clear values working with sustainable societies whether it is within international development or other sectors across NIRAS Sweden. It is fun to sit with the other business units in NIRAS. I wanted to contribute to that. Besides that, NIRAS has very friendly and professionally skilled staff who are dedicated to making a difference and willing to support each other,” says Linnea.
Maintaining the good atmosphere and making sure her colleagues have a sense of belonging and feel that they have a meaningful job is very important for Linnea.
“I believe that contributes to both joy in your day-to-day work and motivation to do your best. The perfect working day is when many of the colleagues are in the office, we have a good balance between meetings and undisturbed working time, and we make time to play some ping pong and laugh together.”
“I am excited about the HOW-questions, like how to organise for best results and impact or how to build well-functioning teams. This can also be challenging as there is seldom one correct solution, but the approach depends on individual experiences and preferences that require responsiveness and not being too hasty,”
Linnea Halvarsson
