Joost Backer: ‘The International Studies programme was full of lovely people to get to know’
An exchange programme in Istanbul gave Joost Backer the push he needed to study International Studies. He now works as a policy adviser in Brussels. ‘During my studies, I learned what it really means to work together.’
‘When I was sixteen, I went on an exchange to Istanbul,’ says Backer. ‘I felt so incredibly welcome there. The homesickness I’d sometimes felt before vanished like snow in the sun. I loved how I was seen first and foremost as a person, not necessarily as a Dutch person.’
Gradually settling into student life
Partly because of that experience, Backer began studying International Studies two years later. ‘I gradually settled into student life,’ he recalls. ‘In my first year, I was still living at home and mainly travelled to The Hague for lectures.’ Because the International Studies programme received more applications than expected in its early years, students often couldn’t fit into the regular lecture theatres. ‘I got to see a lot of The Hague’s historic sites that first year,’ says Backer. ‘We had lectures in the Nieuwe Kerk and the Grote Kerk. Eventually, we had a nine o’clock lecture on Monday mornings in the Diligentiatheater. Those seats were so comfortable that I really had to make an effort to stay awake.’
Despite that overdose of comfort, Backer sailed through his studies. ‘It might sound strange, but I actually enjoyed the exam weeks. You could focus entirely on the material and discuss it with others, before we all hopped on the tram together to a skating rink or ice hockey hall, because it was big enough to hold the exam.’
Life in The Hague
Outside of exam weeks, Backer gradually built up a social life in The Hague. ‘I love making friends, and there were loads of lovely people in the International Studies programme to get to know,’ he says. ‘In the summer, we often went to the beach to celebrate birthdays. People’s birthdays had long since passed, but we enjoyed having a party on the beach in June with a barbecue. Throughout the year, there were lots of impromptu parties, which I’d find out about by keeping an eye on Facebook. Once I’d moved into student accommodation in The Hague from my second year onwards, I also played a lot of football with my flatmates. At the weekends, I’d regularly go back to my parents’ house. That’s where I noticed a difference compared to my international fellow students: they tended to disappear even further into that Hague bubble, whilst I also wanted to keep seeing my old friends.’
An outsider in Chile
Having specialised in Latin America, a stay in that region was inevitable. In his third year, Backer spent a semester at a Chilean university. ‘That’s where I first realised what it was like to be an outsider,’ he recalls. ‘I wanted to travel a lot and see the country; I suddenly found myself playing keyboards in a band, whilst my fellow students had often got themselves deeply into debt just to be able to study at this university. They weren’t happy when I prioritised having fun over my studies.’
The distance from the Netherlands also gave Backer new insights. ‘The attacks in France made me realise for the first time just how much your perception is shaped by what you read in the newspapers,’ he explains. ‘I could hardly imagine that a normal life was still possible in Europe; I genuinely thought my parents would be living in fear day and night.’
Career
Following Backer’s stay in Chile, he undertook an internship at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, completed a Master’s degree in Political Economy at the University of Amsterdam, and went on a tour of Latin America. ‘I thought I’d saved enough, but in fact I had to ring my parents quite often to borrow a bit more.’ He then went on to work for a start-up dedicated to social entrepreneurship and subsequently for a consultancy firm specialising in international trade and supply chains.
For the past month, he has been working as a policy adviser for GIZ in Brussels, a division of the German Ministry for Development Cooperation. ‘The aim is to make agriculture more sustainable, for example by increasing farmers’ incomes and reducing deforestation,’ explains Backer. ‘We want to do this more than in the past, in collaboration not only with the European Commission but also with the countries concerned. Partly because of my background in International Studies, I realise just how great the power imbalance is between countries – and that it works much better if we treat everyone as equals, regardless of their background.’