A Voice For the Voiceless

The Advocacy Project helps marginalized communities to tell their story, claim their rights and produce social change. We recruit graduate students to volunteer as Peace Fellows with partners.

The Impact of Service



"Speaking with locals and living in a country is the best way to learn about the real lives of citizens, not just the stories in the mainstream media. I will be more critical of what I read as a result of this experience. I also feel even more grateful for my education, and I feel a stronger responsibility to assist others who do not have resources or access to opportunities in their communities."

Maria Skouras (New York University) volunteered in 2011 as a Peace Fellow for eHomemakers in Malaysia.

For more 2011 feedback click here.

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The Fellowship Pr... > Blogging for Peace > 2005 > From the Field, J...

From the Field, June 23, 2005

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin - Number 3, June 23, 2005
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Headlines:


Planes Take Evasive Action to Avoid Attacks Over Jalalabad

Carrie Hasselback (New York University) is working with the Afghan Women's Network, a network of NGOs committed to improving women's rights in Afghanistan.

"I took an ICRC flight, and there were only six people on board, mostly ex-pats. We had to make a stop in Jalalabad to drop off supplies. Before we started our decent, the pilot made an announcement but it was lost among the loud noises of the plane. We started to spiral downward and it would have been pretty frightening, but the Swedish girl sitting near me informed me that the announcement was that the decent would be that downward spiral. […]It wasn't until after we landed that I was informed that the reason for the spiral was so the plane couldn't be targeted. It changed how I looked at things after that."

Bringing Bosfam Into the 21st Century

MacKenzie Frady (Georgetown University) is working with Bosfam, a support group and weaving center for women in Eastern Bosnia.

"I will also try to bring some rudimentary organizational system to the organization. My main concern is the continuing of the system after I am gone. I have to make sure what ever I decide to do is simple and easy, or there is zero chance of it being kept up. I want to stress that I think this is more a function of the overall culture of the country rather than a shortcoming of this particular organization. Life and work just move at a different pace here. The country is still recovering from the double punch of war and the end of socialism, so progress in most all areas is slow."

The Cause of Roma Evictions in Europe

Margaret Swink (Yale University) is working at the Dzeno Association, a media organization dedicated to promoting the rights of the Roma people.

"Asking why Roma were evicted is more complicated than you might think. The obvious answer, that we don't need a questionnaire to prove, is that most Roma are poor, and so they are evicted more frequently than the majority population. […]The problem is how to get at the motivations behind the evictions. In many cases, Roma have been squatting illegally for years before evictions occur. Evictions usually happen after some motivating event: in Greece it was the 2004 Olympics, in Britain, the 2005 National Elections. To create a complete picture of evictions, we need to know about all of these factors, and thus must make questions that will gather all of this information."

The Human Face of Suffering in Guatemala

Paula is working with Rights Action in Guatemala. In partnership with the local group Adivima, Rights Action are documenting the investigation following the Chixoy Dam massacres.

"Yesterday we learned that this man had died. He was one of my supervisor´s brother. He was among the people of the Rio Negro community who returned to Rio Negro after the massacres and refused to stay in Pacux, the "model" community that was created by the military as part of its policy of forced resettlement. Not only is his death tragic for the family and the community, but it is also yet another example of what is lacking in these communities. […] This was a preventable death. All this man needed was access to a hospital and that, among many other things is something that he lacked. His community's isolation and the lack of any initiative to provide these communities with access to health care cost this man his life."

Community Integration Needed for Refugees in Northern Uganda

Eun Ha Kim (Georgetown University) is working with the Refugee Law Project, an organization providing refugees and IDPs in Uganda with legal services.

"Today is World Refugee Day. A moment to reflect on some of the dire conditions faced at camps all around the world. In the New Vision newspaper the other day, I read that one IDP settlement in Northern Uganda had two wells available for 8700 people. In general, more advocacy should be pointed at the durable solution of integration into communities for refugees so that people will not be relegated to these separate conditions (which are often treated as falling outside the responsibility of nations)."

Victims of Human Trafficking Receive Micro-Credit Training,
Capacity-Building

Ewa Sobczynska (Georgetown University) will be working with the Turin, Italy branch of the Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe Project (TAMPEP). TAMPEP is an Italian grass-roots NGO committed to advocating human and civil rights of migrant sex workers and to assist trafficked women and minors.

"ALNIMA is an extremely innovative project, co-ordinated by TAMPEP and sponsored by the European Union that aims at addressing the problem of repatriation and the life after the arrival to the home country of immigrants, prisoners and trafficked women from Albania, Morocco and Nigeria. […] This has been achieved through the establishment of training session, micro-credit schemes and self-capacity building courses. The project tries therefore to pre-empt the attempts of the returnees at immigrate again, mostly illegally by creating opportunities in their home countries - setting up their own business, etc. This has been an incredible lesson of empowerment."

Combating Child Labor in Nigeria

Malia Mayson (Tufts University) is working with the Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON). WOCON is a grassroots women's human rights organization that focuses on the trafficking of Nigerian women and children nationally and internationally.

"I was rather shocked to learn about a case whereby WOCON discovered the existence of child labor camps right in the heart of Nigeria. In fact, the nature of these camps was well known by the communities that lived nearby, yet they did nothing about it. Even worse, they saw nothing wrong with what was going on. This is to show that there is great confusion on what the difference is between child slavery and the African traditional practice of child fostering. WOCON withdrew the children from the camps and began developing its awareness campaign on these issues."

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