www.laurainliberia.blogspot.com

Laura Bacon worked in Liberia's Ministry of Gender and Development as the Special Assistant to Deputy Minister Annette Kiawu and Minister Vabah Gayflor.  This position involved assisting with the implementation plan for the National Gender Policy, composing policy briefings for the Ministers, conducting research on current policies, preparing presentations for the Minister, and analyzing the gender effects of various policies presented to the Ministry by other sectors of the government.

http://jamilleinjordan.blogspot.com/

Jamille Bigio worked under of the overall guidance of the Head of the Inter-Agency Information and Analysis (IAU) Unit, which reports to the HC/RC/DSRSG.  She provided socio-economic analysis related to the development and humanitarian situation in Iraq. Her responsibilities involved collecting and analyzing information from a range of sources, including COSIT / KRSO, UN Agencies, sector outcome teams (SOTs) and NGOs and integrating it into various outputs that are effectively disseminated. Jamille also provided support and guidance to the SOTs in producing measurable outcome indicators and developing strategies through the quarterly monitoring survey conducted by the IAU with NGO partners. She developed networks with research institutes and universities working on Iraq to harness their information and analysis.

http://augustinjordan.blogspot.com/

Megan Carroll worked with the Foundation’s Institute for Family Health (IFH) in Amman. IFH has been providing health care services for mothers and children since 1986. As the Institute grew, it began to place special emphasis on women through the Women’s Health Counseling Center. In 2006, the Institute started providing services to displaced Iraqis, a greatly underserved population. As the demand for services for the displaced grows, IFH is struggling to find a balance between continuing care of women (their initial focus) and meeting the needs of a new population. Megan looked at how the Foundation is expanding to meet these new demands and to what extent the displaced population is being served (i.e. Where are the gaps? and make recommendations for improvement). She was especially interested in access to psychological and domestic violence counseling services as there is a much greater need than resources allow. Megan worked under the guidance of two women: Dr. Manal Tahtamouni (IFH Managing Director) and Hana Mitri Shahin (Executive Director, Noor Al Hussein Foundation).

http://peaceinfocus-kyle.blogspot.com/

During the summer of 2008, Kyle Dietrich worked with Peace in Focus (www.peaceinfocus.org), a non-profit organization that he co-founded in 2007. Kyle conducted two photography and conflict transformation workshops with underserved and at-risk youth: one in Boston, Massachusetts in June/July and one in Bujumbura, Burundi in July/August. Each workshop lasted roughly two weeks and brought together 15-20 youth from diverse backgrounds in each community to learn the power of photography and healthy relationships in engaging their communities in a dialogue for peace. In particular, the workshops aimed to facilitate learning in self-expression, creative non-violence, cross-cultural sensitivity, and leadership with the goal of building a constituency of youth and youth organizers working to advocate for social change in their communities. Kyle also conducted thesis-related field research and a summative evaluation of the workshops through focus groups, one-on-ones, and surveys.

http://apassagetoindia- francescoferretti.blogspot.com/

Francesco Ferretti continued his work from the summer of 2007 with Sr. Sudha Vargese’s NGO Nari Gunjan (Bihar, India). Nari Gunjan aims at empowering women and girls of the caste community (Dalit – Musahar) with education, microfinance, sanitation, and HIV prevention programs. Francesco worked to help enable gender empowerment from a social, political and economic standpoint.

http://sheilainindia.blogspot.com

Sheila Lalwani worked at the State Department and Human Rights Network.  Her internship provided a unique opportunity to affect policy related to women. During her time at the State Department and Human Rights Network, she primarily focused on the following areas: human trafficking, girls’ education and marriage rights.

www.dianedaninliberia.blogspot.com

Diane Mak worked in Liberia’s Ministry of Finance with Elfrieda Stewart Tamba, the country’s Deputy Minister for Revenue. Under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian government finished the draft of their Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS), and over the summer of 2008, Diane supported the Ministry’s work in implementing some of the development-focused policies articulated in the PRS. These included areas such as revenue policy, administrative regulation development, impact modeling and private sector development. The 8-week internship gave Diane the chance to build on her core MPA/ID coursework in economics and provided her with the opportunity to work directly with the leadership of a post-conflict country committed to building peace and to improving the lives of its citizens.

http://www.bridgetobangladesh.blogspot.com/

Ami Novoryta worked with BRAC’s Education Program on a new adolescent development and livelihood assistance project, as part of a team involved in designing a hybrid adolescent education, awareness building and micro-enterprise development program. BRAC is a Bangladeshi-led international development organization founded in 1972 whose mission is to promote human rights, dignity and gender equity by building poor people’s social, economic, political and human capacity.  Her specific duties included research and evaluation of current adolescent education program components, analysis of life-skills training and borrower profiles of adolescents, research into new skills such as financial education and support in program curriculum development.

http://jenscottinindia.blogspot.com/

Jen Scott’s internship placement with Action Aid India was structured around the organization’s policy level, media level and community level engagement with the issues faced by displaced tribal women in connection to natural resources access. Her internship focused on three aspects of Action Aid’s strategic programming: supporting research activities and capacity building interventions with field teams in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chatisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa; assisting Action Aid’s Policy Unit (based in Bangalore) with data analysis and written input to a key report on opportunities for greater participation in the development planning process for populations affected by mineral extraction projects; and working with the Action Aid media team to produce a three-minute advocacy film on tribal communities, to be screened as a pre-film commercial in UK cinemas.

http://preyainliberia.blogspot.com/

Preya Sharma worked in the Ministry of Finance as the Private Secretary to Minister Sayeh for two months. Her internship was based in Monrovia, Liberia. Preya’s primary role was to assist Minister Sayeh in preparation for two key events; Budget 2008 and a major donor conference. Working closely with the Minister she provided three distinct services: forecasting and briefing to pass Budget 2008 through fiscal policy and macroeconomic analysis; producing tailored products for the Minister in terms of memos, speeches and briefings in preparation of negotiations and meetings; and sharing practices to build capacity and develop processes to create an effective organization.

http://brusselstoburkina-margo.blogspot.com/

As an intern for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, Margo Steiner spent her summer interviewing Burkinabe women who have participated in the NDI’s program designed to strengthen women’s participation in politics on the national and local level in Burkina Faso. Margo’s work is based on an evaluation at the conclusion of the program’s first year to ensure that activities are responding to Burkinabe needs, and would adjust the design of activities for the second and third years of the program accordingly.

http://inbala.blogspot.com/

Inbal Alon worked in Northern Uganda with Betty Ocean Aol, a Ugandan member of parliament, to support former child soldiers’ education and protection. Inbal designed a study to assess the impact of the Acholi Bursary Scheme, a program for war-affected young people. The overall objective of the Acholi Bursary Scheme is to facilitate reconciliation, reintegration, and reconstruction of Acholi’s war-affected districts by improving access to education for adolescents. Since its inception, the program has assisted 5,500 war-affected young people, mostly former child soldiers, to go back to secondary school or vocational institutes. Inbal’s study not only to informed future phases of the program, but also enriched the human rights discussion in Uganda and East Africa.

http://apassagetoindia-francescoferretti.blogspot.com/

Francesco Ferretti worked with Sister Sudha Varghese and another former Cultural Bridge Fellow, Myra Valenzuela, in Bihar, India. Sister Sudha is the founder of Nari Gunjan, a non-profit organization that promotes social, political, and economic empowerment for women and girls belonging to Bihar’s most backward caste. Nari Gunjan had 50 elementary education centers in Bihar in 2007 and a residential hostel for girls to continue their education. The centers provided vocational training and micro-credit assistance for women. Francesco assisted Sister Sudha in designing and starting a legal study group to analyze and increase women’s access to legal protection in courts. Francesco also helped Sister Sudha to develop an English language curriculum for girls.

http://mollyinliberia.blogspot.com/

Molly Kinder worked in Liberia with Antoinette Sayeh, Liberia’s Minister of Finance. Building on her core MPA/ID coursework in economics, Molly supported the Ministry on a diverse range of development-focused policies such as private sector development and employment creation, investment code and tax reform, fiscal policy and budget allocations, and preparation for arrears clearance and debt relief. One of Molly’s primary projects focused on the issue of Liberia’s burdensome debt and the pursuit of urgently needed debt relief from the donor community. Liberia’s mammoth outstanding debt of nearly $3.5 billion served as a formidable obstacle to essential social sector spending, while at the same time distracting limited human resource capacity from priority government tasks.

www.southofaden.blogspot.com

Tamara Klajn’s summer internship was with Ms. Suaad Ibrahim Abdi at the Academy for Peace and Development in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Ms. Abdi served as the head of the Decentralization and Non-State Actors Project for the Academy for Peace and Development (APD). Tamara worked with Ms. Abdi to design policies that define local government roles and operations, and create accountability for the centrally-nominated district executive secretaries. Tamara assisted in evaluation of three key issues: 1) the development of a democratically agreed upon system for the future of the Guurti, or House of Elders; 2) the production of a single electoral law to govern the conduct of all future elections; and 3) the review of contentious elements of the constitution. Additionally, Tamara’s research included assessing potential international engagement and the impacts of foreign involvement in a developing nation.

http://www.liberia07.blogspot.com/

Zach Neumann worked as a protocol assistant for Liberian President Ellen Johnshon Sirleaf. In his role, Zach had a range of duties, including: organizing the President’s schedule, arranging for international travel, coordinating meetings and preparing speeches and briefing materials. The position allowed Zach to interact with President Sirleaf and other senior officials on a regular basis. Not only was Zach be able to develop a deeper understanding of Liberian politics, he was also able to directly provide critical organizational support to the government as it continues to promote peace and sustainable development.

http://roshanpaul.blogspot.com/2007/05/peacebuilding-in-colombia-wapp-ngk_30.html

Roshan Paul worked with Ana Teresa Bernal and her organization, Redepaz (Network of Peace), in Bogota, Colombia. Redepaz uses innovative strategies and mechanisms to mobilize civil society in Colombia to come together in non-violent opposition to the country’s five decade-long conflict. Ana Teresa Bernal and Redepaz have received several recognitions for their successful peacebuilding work, including the Ashoka Fellowship for social entrepreneurship and a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. Roshan’s primary role is to help Ms. Bernal and the Redepaz senior management team develop a 10-year strategic plan for the organization.

http://loololan.blogspot.com/

Jessica Reitz worked in Sudan with Fahima A. Hashim, the Salmmah Women’s Resource Centre, and women legislators to help Sudanese women actualize and implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the north and south of Sudan. She focused on helping women do capacity building work, developing political strategy, and teaching campaigns and advocacy skills. Jessica worked particularly with Darfurian women to advocate to legislators in Khartoum, members of the African Union, and leaders of other international organizations for women’s participation at all levels in the Darfur peace process.

http://emilyinliberia.blogspot.com/

Emily Stanger worked in Liberia with Vabah Gayflor, Liberia’s Minister of Gender and Development, supporting the Ministry’s work to formulate a national action plan addressing gender-based violence. Through cooperation with the Department of Research and Technical Services, she conducted data analysis on the prevalence and profile of gender-based and sexual violence in Liberia. In addition to informing the nation’s action plan, mandated by the interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, this assessment contributed to the continued efforts by the Liberian government and international development partners to tackle issues that constrain women’s involvement in Liberia’s development process.

http://emptysuitcases.blogspot.com

Anne Sung worked with Sarita Giri, central member of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party and Director of the Center for Women and Politics (CWAP) in Nepal. To support CWAP’s efforts to educate and empower women and other historically-marginalized groups in the Constituent Assembly elections, Anne researched and reported on best practices utilized by women in other countries with experiences relevant to Nepal’s evolving circumstances. In addition, she developed strategy and materials for providing support, training, and relationship-building among grassroots leaders who organize women across Nepal.

http://myrasadventures.blogspot.com/

Myra Valenzuela worked with Sister Sudha Vargehse along with Francesco Ferretti, in Bihar, India. Sister Sudha is the founder of Nari Gunjan, a non-profit organization that promotes social, political, and economic empowerment for women and girls belonging to Bihar’s most backward caste. At the time of this internship, Nari Gunjan had 50 elementary education centers in Bihar and a residential hostel for girls to continue their education. The centers provided vocational training and micro-credit assistance for women. Myra assisted Sister Sudha in fundraising efforts, developing an English language curriculum for the children, and training the staff to assist women’s Self-Help Groups in the various villages where Nari Gunjan has a presence. 

http://karinaweinstein.blogspot.com/

Karina Weinstein worked with Shaheen Mistri, an Ashoka fellow and the founder of Akanksha, in Mumbai, India. Akanksha is a grassroots community organization whose mission is to empower children and youth from slums in Mumbai. The organization runs 37 after school centers and works to reform public school education with a mission to maximize the potential of each child and to provide unique learning and leadership opportunities. Karina helped with the Teachers Program as well as the Learning to Lead program, training teachers as well as providing leadership workshops to the youth. Additionally, she engaged the children in a creative project using visual art around the issues of violence and community security. 

Desiree Allen served as a Special Assistant to Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, where she identified opportunities for the development of a viable Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) market. In all economies SMEs are the primary source of mainstream labor. Supporting the growth of SMEs is not only the most effective means of creating employment, but it is also a fundamental building block in a viable and sustainable economy that allows for the poor to be true stakeholders in economic success. Desiree served as a liaison between the Minister of Finance, the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment, EcoBank, and transnational organization in order to identify the resources necessary to begin planning and implementing a long term campaign for SME development.

Desiree's blog

Karolina Dryjanska worked in Kigali, Rwanda at Next Generation Connect (NGC) with the organization’s founder and CEO, Justine Rukeba Mbabazi, a Rwandan human rights attorney.  NGC’s mission is the empowerment of the current generation of women leaders in Rwanda and the cultivation of the next generation of young women.    NGC’s programs include:  training and public leadership education, a leadership mentoring program, a young women's leadership seminar, legal aid and advocacy.  Ms. Dryjanska focused on writing a grant proposal and working to develop a seed operational budget for the young organization.  She also facilitated trainings.

Joanne Kubba worked in Ecuador at E.Ducate, an innovate technology-based learning program designed to give students ages 10-16 the skills they missed in primary school. Joanne worked with Nathalie Cely, a Harvard-educated Ecuadorian, who returned home to help reform Ecuador's education system in the early 1990s.  Upon her return, Cely found a centralized system rigid with government bureaucracy, teachers resistant to change, and a high secondary school drop-out rate, particularly for rural and indigenous children. While at E.Ducate, Joanne worked on projects related to developing training programs for rural and poor youth and women to develop skills to make them competitive for jobs. Through technological programs these training programs help to move a larger portion of the poor into the work force.

Joanne's blog

Serah Makka worked with Hassina Sherjan, an Afghan-American businesswoman who founded Aid Afghanistan, a school for women and girls.  She taught English courses and helped with the management of the school.  Serah also worked develop an expansion plan and marketing strategy for Ms. Sherjan’s design firm Boumi, which used all Afghan materials and designs to showcase the country and provide jobs for Afghan women. 

Serah's blog

Funmi Olorunnipa’s summer internship focused on expanding the model of gender-related advocacy exemplified by the Women’s Legal Centre in South Africa to other countries in Southern Africa. Funmi worked with South African Women’s Legal Centre Attorney Sibongile Ndashe to bring the Centre’s model of empowering women in neighboring countries Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, by assisting attorneys with the day to day legal and political advocacy work done at the Centre.  Additionally, Funmi created a proposal and implementation design for female legal advocates who were interested in expanding the Women’s Legal Centre framework to their own countries.  The expansion model was a framework for the creation of organizations which focused on establishing the elimination of violence against women in Southern Africa through legal and political advocacy.  The central focus of the expansion project research, proposal and design was the issue of violence against women (including but not limited to rape, sex-trafficking and other gender-related crimes) and the country-specific policy and law-related options associated with this issue.

Funmi's blog

Sarah-Catherine Phillips connected with women peacebuilders in Sudan to learn the path of leadership for women there and to determine measurable outcomes that can be linked to their efforts. Under the supervision of Dr. Sidiga Washi at Ahfad University, Sarah-Catherine conducted interviews with women leaders in Khartoum and assisted Jemma Kumba, MP. Ms. Kumba, in additional to being a leader in Sudan, was also a member of the Pan-African’s Parliament for Committee for Cooperative International Relations. Her leadership roles are important and unique because she focused her efforts on gender in the grassroots peace building process.  While working for Ms. Kumba, Sarah-Catherine witnessed firsthand the role that women play in the African Union and Sudanese Parliament and the organizations’ considerations for women’s leadership and development.

Sarah-Catherine's blog

Mark Richards worked with Senator Rafael Pardo of the Congress of Colombia and Ms. Luz Piedad Caicedo Delgado, a Colombian anthropologist whose previous research includes the impact of paramilitary demobilization on the life and security of women.  Mark examined the economic impact of different peace policies of the current Uribe Administration, as well as how these policies affect women differently from other groups within Colombian society. 

Mark's blog

Joy Adams worked with Dr. Sidiga Washi, NGO consultant and Dean of the School of Family Sciences at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman, Sudan. In Sudan, Joy designed and conducted a women’s leadership program for Ahfad University students and the greater community. In addition, she hosted a peace-building session with a focus on Darfur. Upon her return to the Kennedy School, she wrote articles on her experience in Sudan for submission to various academic journals and reviews.

Jacqueline O’Neill also worked with Dr. Sidiga Washi of Ahfad University.  In Sudan, Jacqui researched the role of women in the Sudanese peace process.  Her work focused on women peace builders’ interaction with the military, armed rebel groups and international forces.  Upon her graduation, Jacqui wanted to integrate her findings into the curriculum at Ahfad University.

Luc Roullet worked with Lucy Nusseibeh, 2005 WAPPP Fellow and Founding Director of Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy (MEND).  Luc integrated a microfinance element into MEND's program that complements their main activity of non-violence training. Luc also sought to engage in partnership with other organizations and advocacy at the political level to promote the integration of microfinance in development projects.

Nao Valentino worked with Masuda Sultan, Director of Women for Afghan Women (WAW). Together, they started a new organization, Impact Capital, which provided business opportunities for Afghan businesswomen and entrepreneurs. After conducting preliminary research with Afghan woman entrepreneurs to determine their financial services and business training needs, Nao and Masuda worked with area authorities to structure export agreements and investment opportunities for their clients.