Chevening Career Plan Essay Example: Urban climate adaptation coordinator

After my MSc in Climate Change and Development, I will return to my role as urban climate adaptation coordinator in Khulna City Corporation. Last year, my ward risk-mapping workshop with residents and ward officers was the first time resident flood evidence was cited in a Khulna drainage decision note, and the review engineer asked us to repeat the method. In the first year back, I will convert that workshop into a step-by-step guide and a one-page submission template aligned to the municipal review protocol. Before leaving the UK, I will request a written expression of interest from the review engineer and two ward councillors who have asked for support, so piloting in two further wards does not depend on one relationship. Success indicators: wards adopting the method, resident observations cited in planning records, and drain sections reprioritized. Over two to five years, I want community evidence built into at least three municipal investment decisions. To test whether this reduces repeat flooding, I will add a baseline street-level log of monsoon flood reports in pilot wards and compare it against the following two seasons. The binding constraint is engineer review time, so the template must cut review effort. I will run a quarterly critique with two Chevening alumni in Dhaka adaptation programmes, with a written backup of feedback from IDS faculty if alumni rotate out. Longer term, beyond five years, I will seek a working-group slot with the National Institute of Local Government to propose the template as voluntary guidance. If that route stalls, the alternative is a coastal-municipalities learning circle convened through BRAC or ICCCAD. My weakest area is rigorous monitoring. I will take adaptation M and E modules at IDS Sussex and pilot a simple outcome sheet with my team in the first month back.