CWS Global Engagement Internships

Directorio Legislativo February 2, 2012

Directorio Legislativo was founded as an independent project in 1999. Today, the foundation works as a non-profit organization to strengthen the institutional role of the Argentine legislative branch at the local, provincial, and national levels. For this our organization works to inform the public on how legislative power can affect their daily lives and what role the public can play in demanding transparency and civil rights. Our initiatives seek to promote and defend public interest.

Our areas of work and projects are:
I. Legislative transparency:
- Directorio Legislativo, quienes son nuestros legisladores y cómo nos representan (Legislative Directory, Who are our legislators and how they represent us). Directorio Legislativo (DL) was first published in 2000 in order to spur public debate and to provide the necessary tools with which the public can monitor and influence the activity of its legislators. The publication contains basic information about the function of Congress as well as information about current congressmen and senators.
- Network of “Parliamentary watchdog organizations” in Latin America. Directorio Legislativo is leading a network of non profit organizations in Latin America that work towards the transparency and strengthen of the legislative power in different countries.
- Innovation in Congress Award. Directorio Legislativo believes that many members of Congress over the past few years have undertaken creative programs to better social and political conditions in Argentina. With the hope to encourage more of these initiatives this award is given every year to a national senator or congressman who spearheads an innovative project to resolve a specific social, institutional,  cultural, or economic problem.

II. Legislative monitoring and updates
Directorio Legislativo monitors and follows the legislative activity of the National Congress and the legislatures of the City of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Corrientes, Misiones, Santa Fe and the Parliament of Uruguay. This information is used to create reports and newsletters. These newsletters—which deal with various themes related to legislative power in Argentina over the past decade—are distributed to five thousand people in Argentina and abroad and are translated into English. The objective of the newsletter is to generate debate and ultimately consensus among distinct actors in society.

III. Consensus building
The Agro-Industrial Consensus aims to coordinate a consensus-building process to underpin the debate on agricultural policies. Argentina urgently needs to express the basic agreement shared by many agricultural organizations on key issues such as: institutional quality; fiscal framework; the regional economy; agriculture, and dairy produce.  The Consensus is currently being promoted in all provinces of the country, with a focus in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Santa Fe, La Pampa and Entre Ríos. The goal of this project is to discuss the “Consensus Document” with congressmen and senators.

IV. Institutional Development
This area main purpose is to help the organization grow and have a bigger impact on society, fulfilling the it’s mission and contribution to society. In order to achieve this there is a strong focus on fundraising, external and internal communications, institutional relations and serving as a liaison with other non and for profit organizations.

Advanced Project Description for 2012
The intern will work on the “Legislative Directory. Who are our legislators and how do they represent us?”, the Innovation in Congress Award, and Institutional development.

The intern will spend the first week learning about our different projects, and meeting with each project coordinator. During this week the intern will also be asked to read different newspapers and articles in order to gain knowledge about the Argentinean political, social and economical situation.

In the second stage of the internship, the intern is assigned different projects, some will be weekly projects and other will last the whole internship period. Since Directorio Legislativo is a small and hands-on organization, the projects will have a small percentage of administrative tasks that will also have to be performed as part of the internship.

In the third stage, the intern will complete her tasks with the help of the area directors and program coordinators and in close cooperation and contact with any other interns in the office.

The intern is expected to come to work into the office and to attend to different events during or outside office hours.

Desired Qualifications
Good knowledge of spoken Spanish, good organizational skills. Interest in government. Knowledge of Latin American politics recommended.

The ideal intern is capable of working in a changing environment (such as the political environment), and able to meet her own deadlines to reach objectives. She knows how to prioritize,and is a team player (preferring to work on a team). She is proactive, charismatic, and able to effectively communicate with high-level members of government.

Language requirement: strong spoken Spanish.