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The Advocacy Project seeks to produce social change by helping marginalized communities to become advocates for social justice and claim their rights

15 Interns to Work with the Advocacy Project Partners, June 1, 2005

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Advocacynet
News Bulletin – Number 38, June 1, 2005
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Washington, D.C., June 1, 2005: The Advocacy Project (AP) is sending 15 interns to work with partner organizations this summer, as part of a broad push to improve the quality of AP’s services and refine the AP model of support for civil society.

This will be the third year for ‘Interns Without Borders,’ and the summer program will be particularly challenging.

Three interns will be working in Afghanistan on women’s rights and girls’ education as that country prepares for September elections. Another three will intern in Srebrenica, helping survivors to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the July 11 1995 massacre. Two more interns will be working at both ends of the trafficking of women from Nigeria to Italy and exploring possibilities for partnership between anti-trafficking groups in the two countries.

Mona Shomali, a law student from the City University of New York, will intern with the Sarayaku Indians of Ecuador in Puyo, as they seek ways to capitalize on a recent decision of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Also in Latin America, Paula will spend the summer in the highlands of Guatemala with indigenous activists who are seeking reparations for the 1982 Chixoy massacres.

Nitzan Goldberger, from Berkeley, will intern in Jerusalem with the Alternative Information Center, one of the most respected Palestinian-Israeli NGOs. Sarosh Syed will be working alongside Sri Lankan Tamils left homeless by the Tsunami. Anne Finnan, from Fordham University, will provide training for the Nepalese pro-democracy movement during one of its greatest crises.

Margaret Swink, from Yale, will help the Dzeno Association in Prague disseminate news about Roma at a time when Roma face a growing threat from evictions throughout Europe. Eun Ha Kim, from the Georgetown Law School, will join the Refugee Law Project in Makerere University, Uganda, which is providing legal support for African refugees.

While interns find their own funds, several have also received prestigious awards from their universities - testifying to the program’s growing credibility with university administrations. Sarosh Syed will be the first recipient of the new Georgetown University De Mello award, named after the late director of the UN mission in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Interns have also received awards from the One Small Step Foundation, the Coca Cola World Fund, the Net Impact Scholarship and the Equal Justice Foundation.

The goal of ‘Interns Without Borders’ is to help AP’s partners develop their capacity to manage and produce information. As in the past, interns will also post their own web logs (blogs) directly onto the AP site, providing a fresh and personal account of their work as it evolves through the summer. This innovative use of blogging has been profiled in the mainstream media.

If the program is staying with a proven formula, it is also trying to learn from the past. Several interns have been chosen early and are already working by e-mail with their hosts, to be better prepared to begin their assignments on arrival.

In another innovation, AP staff in Washington are asking interns to help AP advocate for their hosts in the United States. In one example, MacKenzie Frady and Chiara Zerunian in Bosnia will provide back-up for a delegation from Srebrenica that will be visiting Washington in late June.

Interns will also be producing profiles of Afghan girl students for use by American teachers in US classrooms. AP hopes to encourage pen-pal relationships between students from both countries, and so give the Afghan girls an added incentive to remain in school. AP’s interns in Nigeria and Italy will be asked collect material on trafficking from Africa that can be used by African American community groups in Washington.

These changes reflect AP’s determination to adapt, improve, and find new ways to promote the work of partners. In the process, ‘Interns Without Borders’ also aims to provide committed young professionals with a unique chance to work for human rights and deepen their own understanding of a challenging world.

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