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

Carmen Morcos and Rights Action

Carmen Morcos graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2000 with a BS in Finance. She then worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Dispute Analysis & Investigations Group for almost three years prior to attending Georgetown University. She is now pursuing a joint degree: Masters of Science in Foreign Service and an MBA with a concentration in international development in Latin America.

As part of The Advocacy Project’s 2004 Summer Internship Program, Carmen Morcos, a graduate student at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, interned with Rights Action (a partner of ADIVIMA), a community-based organization located in Guatemala City that supports indigenous communities in the highlands of Guatemala.

In Pacux, Guatemala, a meeting of ASCRA, the association of indigenous Maya Achí of Rabinal, was attended by representatives of communities affected by the Chixoy Dam project. Carmen Morcos attended the meeting as part of her 2004 internship with Rights Action.

The broad goal of her internship was to help these communities disseminate information about their work, thus empowering them and opening up possibilities for new partnerships and funding. Carmen is worked directly with one of Rights Action’s local partners, Asociación Campesino Río Negro 13 de Marzo (ASCRA), a grassroots organization in the province of Rabinal that formed after several villages were forcibly relocated in 1982 to make way for the Chixoy dam.

During the summer, Carmen 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 Carmen’s own personal experience as an intern.

Formed in 1983, Rights Action (formerly Guatemala Partners) supports human rights projects in Guatemala and other countries of Central America. More specifically, it provides funds to local Guatemalan organizations that implement projects on development, human rights, and humanitarian relief. By 2003, the group had channeled over US$600,000 in donations to partner organizations in Latin America.

The Advocacy Project has worked closely with Rights Action in the past, publishing their campaign reports online. A 1999 report focused specifically on the indigenous people of Rio Negro, and their struggle to win reparations for abuses suffered following the construction of the Chixoy Dam.

• Carmen Morcos's blog