IDSC Internships

International Development and Social Change students are involved in a variety of internships that enhance their academic learning with practical experiences in the field. Interns work directly in both government and non-governmental organizations to gain a better understanding of such topics as organizational structure and project management as well as grassroots activism. In addition, for their internship graduate students may receive one academic credit towards their master's degree. The following are descriptions of recent internships held by IDSC graduate students.

Meg Barritt (IDSC/MA ’08) and Jenna Mosely (IDSC/MA ’09) are working as research assistants with Ellen Foley on a grant she acquired from the Central Mass. Health Foundation for an action research project titled “Bridging Barriers: Meeting Youth Immigrant and Refugee Health Needs in Worcester, MA.” They are studying the health, literacy, and after-school program needs among African and Southeast Asian refugee and immigrant youth in Worcester.

Allen Gallant (IDSC/MA ’08) interned with Mercy Corps in Cambridge, Mass. He assisted in the development of three monitoring and evaluation tip sheets to be used by field staff worldwide. He has also conducted research and evaluation of conflict negotiation and resolution programs to assist in a UNICEF training.

Charleen Richards (IDSC/MA ’08) recently interned with CARE Bangladesh, working to gather information on the approaches and practices being applied explicitly or implicitly within the development assistance program, as well as working with Strengthening Household Ability to Respond to Development Opportunities (SHOUHARDO) to address disaster management as it pertains to the target group. This research aims to contribute data that will become part of the overall information used for one of four long term impact statements will be constructed.

Alex Lefter (IDSC/MA ’08) is interning at the Lutheran Social Services for Refugees and Asylees legal assistance office. His responsibilities include assisting attorneys, helping clients who are Spanish speakers complete forms, serving as a translator, and answering basic questions related to immigration.

Sheela Pradhan (IDSC/MA ’08) worked with Oxfam America on the New Forms of Organizing for Women Workers. Oxfam supports women who are involved in precarious employment, primarily those linked to global trading chains such as agriculture for export, garment workers, and home-based workers.

Matt Rubin (IDSC/MA ’08) interned with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in Boston, writing grant proposals and maintaining donor relations.

Tara Arthur (IDSC/MA ’08) has been working with the Haitian Sports Foundation, an NGO dedicated to helping Haitian children gain access to daily meals, AIDS awareness, primary education, and sports. Serving as an editorialist, she has traveled to Mexico, Argentina, Haiti, and Senegal, working to promote Haitian sports, and in particular karate. In addition to submitting project proposals and coaching tasks, she has assisted in the organization of Haiti’s first International Karate Championship.

Jon Steenbeke (IDSC/MA ’08) worked last summer as a volunteer teacher with Bambino Private School in Lilongwe, Malawi. At the secondary school level, he taught English as well as character development. He received the Steinbrecher Fellowship based on his proposal to conduct research on HIV and AIDS and children in Malawi. Since then, he has retailored his proposal to focus on education.

Ben Stephens (IDSC/MA ’08) and Meg Barritt (IDSC/MA ’08) are finishing up a year-long study with Lutheran Refugee and Immigrant Services (LRIS) of Worcester, a research project funded by the Health Foundation of Central Mass. The study consisted of a psycho-social needs assessment of refugee families, with a focus on health concerns. They were the co-primary investigators and co-authored a final report which involved several recommendations for action for resettlement agencies. The report will be made available on the LRIS national affiliate website.

Corrina Simon (IDSC/MA '08) interned with the International Rescue Committee in San Francisco, CA. She attended a conference in Cape Town, South Africa called "Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Reflecting on Ten Years of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission" and gave a brownbag presentation on the conference. She is researching torture, refugee family resettlement and role adjustment with Lutheran Refugee and Immigrant Services.

Jason Coleman (IDSC/MA '07) studied anti-corruption and corporate social responsibility with Oxford Business Knowledge in England.

Courtney J. Croteau (IDSC/BA '07) is an Anton and Steinbrecher Fellow and International Development undergraduate major. She spent the summer in San Francisco interning at Asian Neighborhood Design, a nonprofit organization with programs in architecture, community planning, employment training, and family and youth resources after taking a studio class trip to San Francisco in Miriam Chion’s graduate seminar. She assisted with projects in community planning, including an affordable housing and mapping project, using geographic information system (GIS) technology to show where all of the affordable housing built in the city over the past 30 years is located.

Lara Fedorov (IDSC/MA '07) went to Micronesia to study participatory models of conservation with the Pohnpei Marine Protected Areas Learning Network.

Anne Hendrixson (IDSC/MA '07) is working with William Fisher on dams and displacement research. She also moderated a panel on the “politics of populational control” at the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program as part of Hampshire College’s Reproductive Rights Conference. In Spring 2007, Anne published a short article with the Population and Development Program at Hampshire College entitled "What's Wrong with the Demographic Dividend Concept?"

Jodi Lasseter (IDSC/MA '07) worked with Duncan Earle and Dianne Rocheleau on research pertaining to women's organizing within the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. She interned with Project South as the lead organizer for the first Southeast Social Forum last summer in Durham, NC. Her responsibilities included volunteer recruitment and training, media outreach, registration, and overall event coordination. Five hundred eighty grassroots activists from all over the Southeast, including 100 Hurricane Katrina survivors, participated in the forum, which is modeled after the World Social Forum. She is continuing to work with Project South to coordinate the first U.S. Social Forum, taking place this summer in Atlanta, GA.

Patrick Obrist (IDSC/MA '07) went to Jamaica to work with the Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society to study the relationship between the Negril Marine Park and livelihoods of the local population.

Tanya Palit (IDSC/MA '07) interned with the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a sex worker’s rights collective in Kolkata West Bengal, India. She is trying to build a relationship between Clark and IDCE and this organization as part of their “friends of Durbar Network” in support of sex worker’s rights.

Karen Bengoa (IDSC/M.A. '06) interned as an agronomist with Save the Children in Nicaragua. She evaluated and explored alternatives for agricultural projects sponsored by Save the Children in various communities in the Chinandega region in northern Nicaragua.

Berthelomiyos Bayou (IDSC/M.A. '06) completed an internship working under the Public Relations Officer of Un/World Food Programme, US liason office. His responsibilities included: collecting, compiling, producing and dissemination world hunger information to government offices, international organizations, the U.S. Congress, media, and advocacy groups; following up news and information from world media on issues of hunger; attending different meetings on issues of hunger, relief and development, and write reports and give briefing to staff; assist advocacy workers in WFP or outside, by reading, consulting, and sharing field experience in Ethiopia on hunger and relief; traveling with public relations officer in different missions of hunger awareness events in the U.S.; and attending the Congress hearing on food aid programs.

Elisa Dry (IDSC/MA '06) completed her internship with the Cooperative Monitoring Center-Amman which promotes activities that encourage regional partnerships of cooperation in four main areas; public health, border security, arms control, and non-proliferation and environmental security.

Sara Connarley (IDSC/BA/MA '06) was an intern at Catholic AIDS Action in Namibia as a Compton Mentor Fellow. She works to develop outreach programs for HIV/AIDS prevention and education in urban settlements outside Windhoek.

Scott Beck (IDSC/BA/MA '05) worked with Cultural Survival in Cambridge, Massachusetts, promoting the rights, voices, and visions of indigenous peoples worldwide. In addition to learning about indigenous issues and the operations of a non-profit, he coordinated the 25th annual Cultural Survival Summer Bazaar, which featured international crafts and performances.

Zenia E. Dacio-Mesina (IDSC/MA '05) interned as a researcher for Boston-based Small Planet Institute, which raises awareness about the concept of "living democracy" through a variety of media. She researched organization profiles for an upcoming book about living democracy by SPI's co-founder, Frances Moore Lappé.

Stephanie Daniels (IDSC/M.A. '05) interned with Development GAP [D'GAP] in Washington, D.C. She conducted research for an assessment paper of the World Bank's structural adjustment, poverty reduction and civil society participation policies, and environmental and social standards, as well as changes in operational policy. She also assisted D'GAP's coordination of the Alliance for Responsible Trade, particularly around issues of agriculture and trade in the Central American Free Trade Agreement and Andean Trade Agreement negotiations.

Kendra Fehrer (IDSC/BA/MA '05) worked as an educator in a community school near Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the Movement of Unemployed Workers [MTD ] La Matanza. She taught kindergarten and developed radical pedagogy with the educational commission of the MTD, which runs a community center with after-school tutoring, and educational facilities for adults and children.

Kendra Fehrer (IDSC/BA/MA '05) and Jennifer Smith (IDSC/MA '04) worked with Amy Mosher (CDP/ MA '04) as research assistants with the Clark University-based Worcester Educational Partnership [WEP], a high school transformation initiative. The research is a four-year longitudinal study that examines the impact of small learning communities on high school students. The WEP team conducted interviews, led focus groups, worked with student researchers at Worcester's eight public high schools, and analyzed the qualitative and quantitative data they gathered.

Zach Feris (IDSC/MA '05) interned in Ecuador with CARE International, through the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID]. He organized trainings for local technicians and staff with the Shuar Indigenous Peoples' Federations of the Ecuadorian Amazon [FICSH and FIPSE], ECOLEX, and CARE. The trainings covered basic theory, methodology, and use of Global Positioning Systems [GPS], as well as the integration of GPS data into GIS to map ancestral lands. He also created the "Guide to Basic Theory and Methodology of GPS and Integration of GPS Data to GIS" in Spanish for USAID/Ecuador and CARE International/Ecuador. He combined his internship with qualitative research on post-conflict development along the border between Ecuador and Peru.

Sara Krosch (IDSC/MA '05) worked as a gender analysis and communications intern with USAID in Eritrea. She conducted interviews and field visits with NGOs, such as CARE, Mercy Corps, Catholic Relief Services and Population Services International. She evaluated and reported on the status of their gender programming. She also published the Mission's first newsletter, highlighting projects across their portfolio. Sara also interned as a Community Vision News Production Assistant with WCCA Television 13, a public access TV station in Worcester. She improved her digital video skills, learned non-linear editing to help produce weekly news programs, and produced participatory documentaries, as well as short educational and promotional video pieces.

Julie Morin (IDSC/MA '05) interned for Burma Borders Project's Social Action for Women [SAW], a Burmese women's organization in Mae Sot, Thailand, which works with people who have fled poverty, unemployment, and violent military oppression in Burma. She taught English to SAW members and researched and wrote proposals for SAW projects. SAW operates two safe houses for women and children and educate factory women about reproductive health issues.

Tamirat Mulu (IDSC/MA '05) worked with USAID/Ethiopia as a field monitor. He monitored the Ethiopian government's Resettlement Program, which resettled farmers living in a food insecure region in the north and east to the more fertile lands in the west and northwestern regions of Ethiopia.

Maria Amalia Pesantes (IDSC/MA '05) interned with the Latin American Health Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. She evaluated the impact of "Comadres," a program aimed at reducing infant mortality rates among the Latino community in Boston by offering culturally and linguistically appropriate prenatal and postpartum care to low-income Latino women in Boston.

Andre Guy Soh (IDSC/MA '05) interned with Oxfam-America's West Africa Program on the Control Arms campaign. He reviewed activities of partner organizations in Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea-Bissau. He also researched issues stemming from the illicit transfer of light weapons and small arms, such as violence against women and children, trends in violent crimes, and the tendency to relapse into violent conflict.

Robyn Long (IDSC/MA '05) worked as an intern at Grassroots International (GRI) to strengthen GRI's advocacy work for its eight partner organizations in Palestine. She communicated with members, assisted the staff in power analyses, and drafted position papers.

Kendra Fehrer (IDSC/BA/MA '05), Amy Mosher (CDP/MA '04) and Jennifer Smith (IDSC/MA '04) worked as research assistants with the Clark-based Worcester Educational Partnership (WEP), a high school transformation initiative in Worcester. The research is a four-year longitudinal study examining the impact of small learning communities on high school students. The study aims to harness the students' perspective in order to inform and guide the small school change process. Throughout the last year the WEP team conducted interviews, led focus groups, and worked with student researchers at each of Worcester's eight public high schools. In the summer the interns analyzed qualitative and quantitative data gathered during the year.

Saeed Bancie Abubakari (IDSC/MA '04) worked as a consultant with TRAX Programme Support in Ghana. He led a mid-term evaluation to assess TRAX's project on Promoting Low External Input Sustainable Agriculture in Northern Ghana and Savannes Region, Togo.

Thin Thiri Aung (IDSC/BA/MA '04) interned with California-based Heal the Bay, which focuses on the health and safety of Southern California coastal waters. She educated the public about ocean pollution and organized a system used at beach cleanups to estimate the amounts and types of ocean pollution. Thiri also worked with Burma Border Projects [BBP]. She researched grants, created a database of foundations and donors, and organized files. BBP is a non-profit, charitable foundation established to support and augment existing relief efforts for Burmese refugees along the Burma-Thailand border.

Chafi Bakari (IDSC/MA '04) interned at the United Nations Office of Project Services in the African Division I, which oversees projects in eastern, central, and southern Africa. He worked on project analysis and implementation, particularly demilitarization, demobilization, and rehabilitation projects in the Republic of Congo.

Stephen Browne (IDSC/MA '04) and Jessica Grillo (IDSC/M.A. '04) interned with Fundacion de Apoyo Infantil [FAI] in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. They facilitated workshops for children and women in rural communities on the cycle of water, composting, and the separation of garbage for reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Carrie Conway (IDSC/MA '04) did a short-term consultancy with United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) at the headquarters in Geneva. She worked with the Evaluation and Policy Unit on a review of UNHCR's role in promoting refugee and returnee livelihoods.

Pranita Pradhan (IDSC/MA '04) interned at the Lutheran Community Services Refugee Legal Assistance Project in Worcester. She worked with an asylum lawyer on the case of a refugee from Uganda who is applying for asylum and researched issues of female genital mutilation in Africa, specifically among the Baganda in Uganda.

Ruth Allen (IDSC/MA '03) interned for Habitat for Humanity as a volunteer coordinator. Her duties included recruiting volunteers for work on projects and events, coordinating the work of committees, and communicating with the Greater Worcester community about Habitat's mission to provide housing for low income families. She also worked as office manager and designs the website.

Jeremy Casterson (IDSC/MA '03) interned in the publications office for the UNEP State of Publications Office for the UNEP State of the Global Environment in Nairobi, Kenya. He wrote, edited and researched for their publication, Global Environmental Outlook. Jeremy also redesigned web pages, the Outlook Support System, and the State of Environment link of UNEP.org. In addition, he wrote GEO-for-Youth materials, including the text for movie clips on CD-ROM for children.

Dennis Ryan Russell (IDSC/MA '03), as an intern with the Near East Foundation in Morocco, evaluated the organization's Appropriate Technology Center, and its focus on apiculture, improved cook stoves, and irrigation pumps. Promoted permanent Project Coordinator, he assisted villages to enhance their organizational capabilities through trainings, forming local development associations, and promoting women's development activities.

Lisa Meierotto (IDSC/MA '03) researched a proposed dam in Mali for Cultural Survival in Boston, with Ryan Russell and IDCE Professor Bill Fisher. They then wrote a report on the possible impacts the dam might have on downstream communities and presented this report to the African Development Bank and the US Department of Treasury. Afterwards, Lisa continued working with the director of Cultural Survival to assist him with the project.

Therese Maineri (IDSC/BA/MA '02) volunteered for Consolata Youth Rehabilitation Program (COYREP) in Nairobi, Kenya where she assisted in marketing goods produced by youths who live in the urban slums.

Jessica Jimenez (IDSC/BA/MA '02) worked in the Communications Department of El Grupo de los Estudios sobre La Mujer (The Group of Women's Studies), a non-profit organization in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her project consisted of researching and collecting information about monitoring human rights of Oaxacan women.

Jason Forauer (IDSC/MA '02) interned with TOSTAN, an American non-governmental organization based in Sengal, to monitor and evaluate their basic education programs that focused on human rights and women's health issues. Jason gathered data and wrote reports for donors, as well as monitored a micro-credit program for TOSTAN.

Masafumi Nakanishi (IDSC/MA '02) worked as an intern in the villages of Djekiti in southeast Ghana, worked with the Ghana Organization for Volunteer Assistance (GOVA) to conduct grass-roots trainings to build leadership and community mobilization skills through the PAPPA approach (Policy Analysis for Participatory Poverty Alleviation).

Naomi Matsumoto (IDSC/MA '02) worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Japan/Korea in the regional office in Tokyo, Japan. She was a part of the refugee protection unit of the organization, which assisted in identifying refugee status. She also researched the domestic legal issues concerning Chinese, Sri Lankan, and Burmese asylum seekers in Japan.

Kristen Miller (IDSC/BA/MA '02) interned for the Women's Forum in Stockholm, Sweden, where she identified consultants for short-term development projects sponsored by the European Union. Kristen also updated the web page and networking page, and helped prepare projects proposals for the Forum's International Department.

Ennette Tawah (IDSC/MA '02) monitored projects for the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) in Ghana. She helped CEDPA partners such as the YWCA, the YMCA, Muslim Family Counseling Services and the Ghana/UN Student's Association to design gender-sensitive programs. Ennette's work focused on adolescent reproductive health, and she helped to launch a campaign for the White Ribbon Alliance, which is dedicated to safe pregnancies and healthy babies.

Satoshi Morita (IDSC/MA '02) was a summer intern with the United Nations Development Programme's Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries. He wrote, reviewed, and wrote summary reports on projects supported by the Japanese Human Resources Development Fund in Africa and Asia involving South-South cooperation, particularly conferences and trainings in leadership, business management, entrepreneurship, and regional development.

Naoko Takata (IDSC/MA '01) was an intern with the UNICEF Program Funding Office in New York. Naoko was responsible for analyzing Japanese donations to UNICEF and creating proposals for potential approaches in order to maintain and increase Japanese funding. She explored areas where Japanese interests intersected with the interests of UNICEF to locate windows of opportunity for Japanese contribution. These areas included polio eradication, education, water sanitation, AIDS, land mines, and women and development.

Yoko Saika (IDSC/MA '01) was part of a Gender and Development Team in the Partnership and Participation section of UNICEF in New York. She attended the Beijing +5 conference and assisted in reporting on this international women's forum. Yoko also collaborated on the drafting of a proposal to strengthen the UNICEF Gender Focal Point Network and wrote a paper on lessons learned through gender mainstreaming in the development programs of 11countries.

Kate Lazarus (IDSC/MA '01) was an intern in the Global Development Initiative at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which enables countries to produce their own "National Development Strategy (NDS)" through a participatory process. For the NDS, she monitored the political and economic situation in Mozambique and Albania, worked on the Guyana Rainforest Foundation, wrote issues briefs for President Carter, and researched new development strategies that promote greater participation, local ownership and partnerships.

Paul Burgess (IDSC/MA '00) worked in the highlands of western Guatemala as a technical specialist for the Washington-based Partners of the Americas, which oversees a range of technical exchanges between the US, Central and South America. He trained the staff of Agua del Pueblo, a local non-governmental organization, in a basic methodology for water source protection and improvement, using Geographical Information Systems, Participatory Rural Appraisal and a Global Positioning System. Paul and his colleagues met with local water committees in remote villages to identify communities with both a need and a desire for a watershed protection program.

Bushra Barakat (IDSC/MA '00) was an intern in the Middle East/North Africa Region of the Human Development Division at the World Bank. She was responsible for reviewing projects implemented since 1990 that focused on health, education and social protection to determine how they addressed gender in the project design. Bushra's final report will contribute to a gender strategy for that region.

Makoto Ueda (IDSC/MA '00) was a research intern with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) in Bangladesh, where he researched gender issues in rural development at the government and grassroots level. His research centered on the methods Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) uses to address the poverty of women. During his internship, Makoto conducted office research, interviewed women and staff at field sites and participated in gender trainings.

Atsuko Nonoguchi (IDSC/MA '00) was an intern with Oxfam America in Cambodia. She researched and compiled newspaper coverage pertaining to development issues in Cambodia. Atsuko also assisted the Urban Sector Group (USG), a local NGO, to work more effectively toward integrating gender consideration into their activities. She conducted several visits to their field sites to interview women on their gender roles, gender needs and access to and control of resources. From the data gathered, she conducted a gender analysis with the staff of USG to promote greater gender integration in their programs.