A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

Christina Fetterhoff and Center of Economic and Social Rights (CDES)

Christina M. Fetterhoff is originally from Pennsylvania. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 2003 with a BA in Political Science and is currently pursuing an MA in Latin American Studies through Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Her concentration is Government, with a focus on human rights issues in international governance. This summer she traveled to Ecuador with the Advocacy Project as an intern for the Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES). Her work there focused on CDES’s promotion of economic and social rights for all Ecuadorians, especially the indigenous population. 

Members of CDES participate in a march against the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas.

CDES’s mission is to use economic, social and cultural rights activism to achieve social justice. CDES often confronts problems related to "development" as it is normally understood by governments and international financial institutions. Under this broad framework, they focus on issues of debt, multilateral banks, and free trade.

CDES provides grassroots organizations with training and legal assistance that provides local communities in the Amazon region with new tools and opportunities to aid them in their struggles. Christina’s internship concentrated on CDES’s promotion of economic and social rights for all Ecuadorians, but most especially those of the indigenous population.

Christina has long been personally involved in human rights issues in Latin America prior to joining the AP internship project. Christina lived and studied for six months in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she researched the role of Argentine human rights organizations during the 1976-1982 military dictatorship. She has also traveled to Cuba as a delegate for MADRE, a women’s rights and humanitarian aid organization.

During the summer, Christina posted weekly reports in the form of web logs (blogs). The blogs offer a unique view into the day-to-day operations of a grassroots organization, and into Christina’s own personal experience as an intern.

• Christina Fetterhoff's blog