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Capitol Hill, Washington D.C.
Hello! Sorry it's taken me a while to get to this blog thing... but it's better late than never, I suppose. Let me try to get you up to speed...
I moved into my apartment in the afternoon of Tuesday the 19th--an extremely stressful process which involved an accidental attempt at stealing a grocery cart (which was foiled by the automatic-lock wheels) and several close calls with local automobiles on DC's busy streets. The next day I woke up early to plan my route to work, and went (via metro!) to the first day of my internship. I got a bit of an orientation, met the people I would be working w/, etc. It was kind of nerve-wracking but everyone was very nice and helpful. I wore heels my first day to the office, but realized that my half-hour walk plus 20-minute, often standing, metro ride was not an appropriate venue for me to learn to wear heels. I have since purchased every city woman's best friend, a pair of little black sneakers.
As far as my internship goes, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I'm still learning about this organization, but Women Thrive Worldwide (womenthrive.org) is an organization which works to impact US policies that impact the world's women, specifically related to foreign aid, agriculture, and trade (they also have been working on violence against women). The idea behind the organization is that women are empowered economically, politically, socially, etc, they have the ability to bring their communities out of poverty. What's really important is that they believe in listening to the women who are impacted by US policies in other countries--which is where the Global Partnerships Department comes in.
I work with two women--the Director of Global Partnerships, Catalina (Cata, a Colombian!) and the Manager for African Partnerships, Antoinette (Toni, a Rwandan). The two of them (and me!) make up the Global Partnerships department, which is in charge of learning what's going on "on the ground" from SWO's (Southern Womens Organizations--first acronym of the day!) in Latin America and the Caribbean, West Africa, and South Asia--the three regions that WTW (second acronym) works in. Basically we are responsible for coming up with the content of the organization's advocacy--in other words, asking women what they need/want and taking those messages back to our policy and advocacy staff, who then bring them to the highest powers in the US government. We also inform SWO's advocacy efforts by provding them with information about what is going on in the US policy front. We accomplish this through direct partnerships with specific organizations in other countries (our current partners are CBDF, or the Coalition Burkinabé pour les Droits de la Femme/Burkinabe Coalition for the Rights of Women in Burkina Faso and COMUCAP--Coordinadora de Mujeres Campesinas de La Paz/ The Coordinator of Rural Women in La Paz in Honduras), by traveling to these countries to observe with our (their--sadly I won't be traveling) own eyes how policies are impacting women, and by undertaking research projects to analyze the impact of foreign aid, trade, and ag policies. The department also coordinates visits by "southern" women leaders (global south), who meet with members of congress to express their opinions about US policy.
In other words, it's awesome! I personally find it very refreshing in a world of "pop aid/development culture" that Women Thrive actually goes to the source to find out what solutions are best for global poverty.
I'm short of time now, but later on today or this week I will update with some more recent developments, including the IVAWA introduction event which happened on Thursday (see Facebook for photos). Thanks for reading--hope you enjoyed!
Jenny
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