Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP) internship – Luce Program (Kiyosato, Japan) January 12, 2009
Posted by cwslibrary in Asian studies, Japan, Japanese, Juniors, Luce, Summer 2009, advocacy, agriculture, community service, development, education, environment, sophomores.comments closed
Located in the Yatsugatake Highlands in Kiyosato, Yamanashi, Japan, KEEP is an economic and community development project rooted in Christian faith. The Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project (KEEP) began in 1938 as a Christian Camp and Leadership Center called Seisen Ryo. Incorporated 10 years later, KEEP was founded on four ideals: Food, Health, Faith, and Hope for Youth. KEEP introduced and encouraged dairy farming in 1947 as a viable solution for the local challenges of high altitude agriculture. KEEP continues promoting and teaching sustainable farming techniques to this day. Early projects at KEEP included establishing St. Andrew’s Church, a Nippon Sei Ko Kai parish (the Anglican Church in Japan); a rural health clinic; a community library; an experimental farm; an agricultural training school; and St. John’s Nursery School. Paul Rusch, KEEP’s founder, cast the vision of grassroots self-help community development and saw KEEP as a school for community leadership and democracy.
KEEP has grown to include environmental advocacy work and international outreach. KEEP provides a place for educational and cultural exchange between people of different backgrounds, languages, cultures, and religions to create and strengthen mutual ties dedicated to community development. KEEP has annually welcomed trainees and college interns from outside Japan since 1982. Students have come from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. In 1988, KEEP initiated a community development project in Tulgao, a mountain village in the northern Philippines, including agricultural, medical, and educational aspects.
KEEP aims to realize a sustainable society existing in harmony with nature. The initial activities envisioned by Paul Rusch have evolved over decades. But the mission has remained constant: to offer program participants and visitors alike a new perspective, a stronger spirituality, a deeper cultural understanding, a richer appreciation for the ties that bind all people, and an opportunity to learn valuable agricultural, environmental, and community building skills.
KEEP provides programming for all ages from preschool children to seniors. Both Japanese and international visitors can enroll in educational programs on the environment, farming, and cross-cultural understanding in day programs or overnight camps. Last fiscal year, more than 32,400 people participated in educational programs at KEEP. Over 130,350 people visited KEEP’s 3 museums. Approximately 1 million tourists visited KEEP during the year. The annual Paul Rusch Festival in October regularly attracts 50,000 fairgoers during the weekend. KEEP’s impact is not limited to Japan, but reaches worldwide as international visitors return home and share the knowledge gained at KEEP.
Internship Description:
Interns in the Environmental Education Department will assist KEEP staff with program development and implementation. Summer season is very busy in the Yatsugatake Highland with many people visiting our nature museums. Interns will assist museum staff and learn about KEEP’s approach to promoting environmental stewardship. KEEP offers visitors experiential programs to connect them with nature, thereby inspiring people to work to preserve and protect the environment. Duties will include assisting programs held in the forest and fields on KEEP property. Same sex dorm accommodations with other KEEP staff and interns.
Ideal Internship Qualification:
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Logistical: Japanese helpful, but not required. An interest and/or background in cross cultural work, environmental education, and non-profit work desired. Must enjoy working outdoors. Should be able to on hike on a trail of moderate level difficulty. |
Personality: Flexibility and patience will enhance an interns experience as you encounter a cross cultural working atmosphere. An eagerness to learn about Japanese work styles and an easy going approach to new situations helpful. Works well both in groups and individually. |
Poder Ciudadano – Wellesley in Latin America (Buenos Aires, Argentina) December 22, 2008
Posted by cwslibrary in Argentina, Juniors, Latin America, Summer 2009, Wellesley Internships in Latin America, advocacy, community service, government, nonprofit, political science, research, sophomores, writing.comments closed
Poder Ciudadano is a non-profit, non partisan organization. It was founded in 1989 as an initiative by a small group of citizens concerned about civic and social rights in Argentina.
The organization’s goal is to promote citizen’s participation in the governmental process, transparency and the availability of information and public access to information created by government entities. Poder Ciudadano’s belief is that transparent, public information strengthens democracy and local institutions.
Poder Ciudadano’s projects for 2009 will include Congressional elections, including report and analysis of campaign finance, candidate’s profiles and campaign issues. Poder Ciudadano will also work on two projects titled “Mapa del Régimen Político Democrático en las Provincias” and “Municipios Transparentes.”
Internship Description:
The intern will work as part of the Political Institutions and Government section of the organization. She will either author or assist in writing reports on political issues at the national level (campaign finance, political reform, among other subjects). She will also assist in projects and other publications as needed. Duties will also include research and analysis on topics related to municipal, provincial and national level politics.
Ideal Internship Qualification:
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Logistical:
Current Sophomores or Juniors Interest in Political science, law, education, sociology, anthropology or other areas in the social sciences. Knowledge of Spanish |
Personality: Motivated, self-starter Responsible Willing to work as a team in a small office Must bring her own laptop
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United Nations Development Program – Wellesley in Latin America (Costa Rica) December 5, 2008
Posted by cwslibrary in Costa Rica, Juniors, Latin America, NGO, Summer 2009, Wellesley Internships in Latin America, advocacy, community service, development, nonprofit, sophomores.comments closed
Information about the organization:
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. There are UNDP offices in 166 countries, working on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners.
World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. UNDP’s network links and coordinates global and national efforts to reach these Goals. Our focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of:
Crisis Prevention and Recovery
UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.
The annual Human Development Report, commissioned by UNDP, focuses the global debate on key development issues, providing new measurement tools, innovative analysis and often controversial policy proposals. The global Report’s analytical framework and inclusive approach carry over into regional, national and local Human Development Reports, also supported by UNDP.
In each country office, the UNDP Resident Representative normally also serves as the Resident Coordinator of development activities for the United Nations system as a whole. Through such coordination, UNDP seeks to ensure the most effective use of UN and international aid resources.
Internship Description:
Based on experience and qualifications, the intern will be assigned to work in one of our core areas:
Crisis Prevention and Recovery
Student will research information for the team as needed, and will create her own research project for the team to present at the end of the internship.
Ideal Internship Qualification:
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Logistical: Current Sophomores and Juniors Good writer Working knowledge of Spanish. |
Personality: Flexible Motivated Open minded Detail oriented Organized Self starter
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Organização das Mulheres de Cabo Verde (OMCV) – Anchor Point Internships (Praia, Cape Verde) November 19, 2008
Posted by cwslibrary in Africa, Africana Studies, Anchor Point Internship in Global Leadership, Juniors, Summer 2009, advocacy, development, economics, education, health, human rights, nonprofit, peace and justice studies, research, sophomores, women.comments closed
OMCV’s impact is felt at several levels as it providesmany services in addition to information about and training in women’s rights, including: literary programs and activities which reinforce literacy; offers skills training (e.g. sewing, typing, basic computer skills, commercial baking); promotes family planning (targeted particularly at 15 to 19-year-olds); undertakes health education, including education about HIV/AIDS; gives loans to women for income-generating activities; runs work day care centers for 4 to 6 years olds; and provides information about environmental issues. OMCV has planned exchange visits to Brazil and Portugal to study methods of transforming and training women about their rights.
Since March of 2000, OMCV has provided more than 400 loans totaling $214,458 to over 270 families, achieving a loan repayment rate of 99 percent. During the 12 months ending in October of 2001, OMCV collected $23,332 in interest and fees, against operating expenses of $22,555 — demonstrating steady progress toward operational sustainability. Its microcredit activities have also provided a credible platform to address its community development goals, such as literacy training, health promotion, and AIDS prevention counseling. The National Microcredit Steering Committee endorsed OMCV’s approach and the NGO has been actively engaged in legislative discussions about the role of civil society organizations in micro-credit
services.
Internship Description:
Cape Verde is an archipelago composed of ten islands. It is only slightly larger than Rhode Island, and located 385 mi (500 km) west of Senegal. The intern will work with the staff in the Praia office. Praia is a city of approximately 100,000 inhabitants.
The OMCV runs several HIV/AIDS programs, including prevention and education, psychological support for families, work with community leaders. One intern will work in the HIV/AIDS prevention and education area.
The second intern will work on the microfinance area of OMCV. In 1999, with support from the African Development Foundation, OMCV created a new microfinance department, and with ACDI/VOCA assistance OMCV began to unlearn bad lending practices and adopt new procedures that will lead to sustainability. Previously, OMCV had disbursed loans to urban and rural women microentrepreneurs at very low rates of interest and with an unsustainable level of loan recovery.
Ideal Internship Qualification:
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Logistical: Current Sophomores and Juniors All majors encouraged to apply—interest in women’s health, education, development, microfinance, sustainability, social issues, peace and justice, human rights, encouraged to apply.
Knowledge of Portuguese or Spanish preferred. |
Personality: Flexible Motivated Open minded Detail oriented Organized Self starter Patient Able to live simply |
Rubisadt Foundation – Anchor Point Internship in Global Leadership (Douala, Cameroon) November 18, 2008
Posted by cwslibrary in Africa, Anchor Point Internship in Global Leadership, Juniors, Summer 2009, advocacy, education, french, laboratory, nonprofit, research, science, sophomores, women.comments closed
Rubisadt Foundation, a non-profit association launched in 2000 by Doctor Florence Tobo Lobe, a scientist, a former senior lecturer and an independent researcher. A Wellesley College alumna class of 1969, Dr. Lobe holds a PH.D in organic chemistry from Paris XI University (Orsay). Dr. Lobe is a native of Cameroon where she dedicates herself in promoting girls’ interest in science & technology education.
The Rubisadt Foundation provides talented, high school age African girls with supplementary schooling and training with an emphasis on Science and Technology. Rubisadt’s teaching team is trained in “new” (western) methods and didactics to enhance the process of learning. Specifically, we encourage reasoning instead of copying, decision making instead of following, and students who are seeking to make a contribution. This pedagogy is particularly useful for helping girls successfully develop their skills in the pursuit of college level education, both locally and abroad. Rubisadt prepares its students to compete for jobs and projects in S&T implementation.
The target groups Rubisadt serves are young girls, 12 to 19 years, who are presently attending high school, displaying good performance and analytical ability, and a keen interest in science and technology. Additionally, we look for active parental participation (written commitment, attendance at monthly meetings, supporting study time and engaging in ongoing supportive dialogue with their daughters and the leadership program). Rubisadt offers supplementary education, as well as, other resources in order to reduce early drop-out rate from school and help girls build self-esteem, self assessment, and self learning.
To date, Rubisadt has trained and mentored over a hundred young girls with outstanding results locally as well as internationally. The most brilliant ones were accepted abroad at HEC and ESSEC (Paris), as well as Medical Schools in Cameroon, Yaounde’s ICAC, Benin, Mali, Management in Tunisia, and IUFM de Créteil (France).
Rubisadt’s belief is that the development of Cameroon will be achieved only when the gender inequality in access to education is removed. This equality will be accomplished when the majority of the population (women) will quantitatively and qualitatively be present in all the disciplines and cycles of educational attainment.
Internship Description:
After the intern is selected, she will outline for the foundation which fields interest her, which training levels she has and in which ways she wants to contribute, so that she will be able to lead both scientific and laboratory tasks upon her arrival in Cameroon. She will also help propose working didactic laboratory tools and working models from local material as well as/ or from rehabilitated waste products, stressing their application here.
The intern may also do research on the efficiency of the didactic tools, simulation games and new methods to be used here in regards to their local application. The intern will be also asked to report on the education gap and how this inhibits students’ understanding of scientific concepts.
Ideal Internship Qualification:
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Logistical: Background in Sciences, with knowledge of laboratory techniques. Students must have some knowledge of French.
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Personality: Independent Outgoing Creative Adaptability Organized |
Children Now – American Cities Program (San Francisco) November 14, 2008
Posted by cwslibrary in American Cities Program, Juniors, San Francisco, Summer 2009, advocacy, education, health, public health, research, sophomores, writing.comments closed
Organizational Mission:
Children Now is a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization working to raise children’s well-being to the top of the national policy agenda. The organization focuses on ensuring quality health care, a solid education and a positive media environment for all children. Children Now’s strategic approach creates awareness of children’s needs, develops effective policy solutions and engages those who can make change happen.
Current Campaigns:
Children Now is currently engaged in a number of important on-going campaigns including:
Working as part of the 100% Campaign to develop a 2009-2010 legislative or ballot campaign to ensure that all California’s children have health coverage
Working with a coalition of educators on statewide school reform
Working with early care partners to expand preschool and programs for infants and toddlers
Leading national efforts to improve children’s educational programming and messaging on food and nutrition
Internship Description:
This summer, the intern’s projects will include working with one or more of our policy teams on current campaigns. This could include research and writing, attending meetings and outreach to constituencies. Additional projects may be added contingent upon time and the particular interest of the intern. The selected candidate will be supervised by either Wilma Chan, VP of Policy, or the policy director for education or healthcare.
Internship Qualification:
A person interested in children’s issues, particularly in the areas of healthcare, education or media. The intern must be able to do research, have strong analytical skills, be a quick learner and be a good writer.

