CWC offers internship programmes for individuals of
various disciplines from all over the world. These internships are
tailor-made to match the qualifications and expertise of the applicant
organisational requirements. The programmes are usually three to six
months in duration. However, this varies according to the time available
to the intern and the requirements of the project. In addition to the
assigned projects, interns also have the opportunity to take part in the
programmes of CWC, including field programmes. This enables them to work
closely with children and their communities within their socio-cultural
contexts. Interns are also given the possibility to participate in
capacity building programmes if there are vacancies on issues related to
Children’s Rights, their Participation and Protagonism.
We have had 18 interns this year from 7 countries.
Hema Ramakrishnan, Australia interned with us for
two months to compile a handbook on Law and Accessing Justice for
children and youth. The end product is a well-researched, easy to read,
concise child-friendly handbook. It is a mix of local specific
information on helpline numbers and legal aid clinics and general
information such as rights of juveniles, responsibilities of the
authorities and grievance handling mechanisms. It is a one-stop source
of information for young persons in conflict with the law (or who may
wish to be informed of the law) and for the activists working with them.
It will be published as a handbook distributed extensively in all CWC’s
field areas and also made available to children, young persons and
organisations who wish to use it.
Jennifer Shortall, Canada, worked with us for over 5 weeks to
understanding the role of our Regional Resource Centre, Namma Bhoomi,
Kundapur in the empowerment of children. She conducted interviews and
discussions with graduates of Namma Bhoomi, their parents and members of
the community. The study findings have been integrated into curriculum
design of Namma Bhoomi.
Miriam Kramer, Norway, spent a month
consolidating and finalising the Makkala Panchayat Protocol developed by
children. She spent considerable time with the children verifying the
information they had developed, wrote an introduction and spliced
together the all the bits and pieces into one coherent and comprehensive
protocol. This has been published in English and Kannada and has been
widely distributed and used.
Annapurna, India a graduate of the Manipal
Institute of Communications, spent one month with CWC as part of her
course requirement, first drafting and then creating a template for
display boards about CWC’s work and programmes.
Poonacha, India, spent four months with CWC. He
spent one week as a translator for child and youth participants from
Bhima Sangha and Namma Sabha to the International Week programme
organised by FORUT in Norway. Thereafter, he assisted in the
documentation of the process involving children’s active participation
in developing Five-Year Plans in 56 Panchayats of Kundapura Taluk.
(See Page —— for further
details).
The following interns had short stints at Namma
Bhoomi. Some taught English, First Aid and Karate to the children
while others were involved in setting up the bio-diversity park that
included clearing shrubs, digging pits and planting trees:
Lani Giffin, Canada
Baptiste Pingualt, France
Yuh Okazawa, Japan F. Richard, France
Er Hisano, Japan
Christina Kotroni, Greece
Florian Ibrugger, Germany
Pamela Tsai, Canada
Charpin Aurelie, France
Julie Dumas, France
Andrea Koppi, Germany
Arian Volkmann, Germany
Hiroaki Nishihata, Japan
The following are the names of some of the Interns
who have enriched our work through their internship in the past years.
They have left behind a lasting impact and many of them continue to be
associated with CWC in more ways than one. Several of them have also
directed their friends and relatives to take up their internships with
us, to volunteer time and to offer assistance. Our heartfelt thanks to
them: