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... > Past Fellows > Peace Fellows 2011 > Samantha Syverson...

Samantha Syverson and PARMA

Sam is currently pursuing her JD at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC, where she is a member of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. Sam previously worked as a legal intern at Ocean Conservancy where she worked with a coalition of environmental groups lobbying for policy change in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. As a member of The Community Justice Project clinic in spring 2011, Sam represented two clients in hearings in front of an Administrative Law Judge. As a result, both clients received unemployment benefits that they had previously been denied.

Sam will serve as a Peace Fellow for the summer in Baroda, India working with Parma. Parma is an organization that provides support for LGBT individuals and their partners and advocates for a future where all Indian citizens can live free from discrimination and harassment regardless of their gender identity and sexual orientation. Sam’s work with Parma started in spring 2011 as part of a project with Georgetown Law’s Community Justice Project clinic. As part of the Community Justice Project team, Sam helped Parma gain a better understanding of the challenges that female-to-male transgender people face by developing questions for a focus group discussion and refining a survey that Parma is conducting. The team also developed strategies to solve problems within the existing legal framework and identified areas for future advocacy to affect policy change.

Sam looks forward to working with Parma this summer to further develop and execute some of the strategies identified in the spring.


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