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Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON Vol. 3, No. 6, November 1999
Meet some of the Interns James Milner James Milner from Toronto recently graduated with a M.Phil. in Development Studies. Throughout his studies, James concentrated on conflict-induced forced migration and was quite pleased to be selected for an eight-month internship with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in New Delhi, India. James is delighted with the range of responsibilities he has been given since his arrival in New Delhi. He has done a fair amount of work with individual protection problems and legal problems faced by refugees. In addition, James is involved with the planning and preparation for an international Judicial Symposium on Refugee Protection, to be held in New Delhi on 13th and 14th of November. He has been asked to write a number of speeches and papers for the symposium. He writes, “I feel as though all those years in the library are finally of some use”. James has this to say about his internship experience, “I have been in India for 1 month now, and it is amazing how quickly the time has passed. The work in the office is exceptionally interesting, and has clearly illustrated for me the differences between theory and practice. There is certainly a significant difference between studying refugee protection and trying to do something about it in practice. Clare Rodger Clare Rodger from Dunrobin, Ontario was placed in the Public Affairs unit of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland. Clare’s duties are quite broad, enabling her to gain experience in a variety of areas, from public awareness and educational activities to drafting and editing funding and donor reports. Clare has been able to draw upon her background in Political Science and a specialization in International Migration in fulfilling her tasks with UNHCR. Clare is responsible for, inter alia, providing project proposals to several of UNHCR’s national associations in Europe and North America. Following an assessment of UNHCR’s priority sectors and countries, Clare is then responsible for liaison with various country desks, both at HQ and in the field, in order to gather information to write and submit various project proposals. Clare is also coordinating a joint European Union/UNHCR pan European public awareness campaign on the integration of refugees. In addition, UNHCR has provided the travel and accommodation funds for Clare to conduct a needs assessment evaluation in the fmr. Yugoslavia. This was a ten day trip in which Clare had the opportunity to visit UNHCR’s Collective Centres for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and returnee population as well as meet with local and international NGOs active in the reconciliation process.
Matthew Seebach from London, Ontario, with a background in Journalism, was placed with the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Italy. This is Matthew’s first experience abroad and he has settled in very well. Within the Community Forestry Unit (CFU), Matthew’s duties as
Liaison Officer have provided him with the opportunity to correspond
with exceptional and interesting people working in forestry and participatory
methodologies from around the world. Some of Matthew’s duties include:
the development of a special children’s publication which will
be used in educating and increasing awareness of children about how
they and their communities can benifit from better forestry management. |
