9-5 blues

As requested, here's the deal with my internship:

It came down to two options by late March. One option was to intern with UNICEF from the end of May to the end of July. They couldn't give any specifics about what I would be doing, but it was likely to involve child development programmes in rural India. Working with UNICEF would have looked good on my resume, but I'm not convinced that I would have been doing much more than making copies or logistical planning for some big research project. Either way, child development never has been my area of expertise. I decided not to continue pursuing option one.

The second option was with a much smaller NGO located here in Delhi. It is close to JNU campus and much of the work they do in this area. After a really good interview on the Thursday before Holi, I was offered a position with them. The organisation is the Centre for Social Research. (As is the case with many NGOs, I think someone forgot to do one if the less-important tasks like re-registering the domain. Last I checked it wasn't operational). CSR is working for women's empowerment through a number of different programs. And they offered me an excellent proposal for my internship.

I am working independently, preparing a final report for one of their larger empowerment projects that just concluded in the holy city of Varanasi. The project has been running for nine years, and it included a micro-finance program, non-formal education, goatery program, a healthcare program, and other programs to facilitate women's empowerment. My responsibility is to evaluate the process of implementing and sustaining this project, and decide whether it was effective.

The internship is not only interesting, it also is helping me to focus my thesis topic. I'm not sure what angle I'm going to take yet, but my topic will likely centre on the effectiveness of empowerment programs by international NGOs. This will give me a basis for much of that research, as I am considering what exactly is constituted by "empowerment" (more on this in another entry).

So, as requested, those are the basics. I work 9.30-17.30 Monday through Friday, and it is strange to be back in the work routine. Oh, and the office is air-conditioned.

Flown by mariposa at 01:14 PM on May 24, 2005