Advocates for Peace
Each year, as the spring semester winds its way to a close, Fletcher students prepare to head out across the globe to put their knowledge and skills to work in the field. From Nairobi to New York, Montevideo to Moscow, Fletcher’s finest find themselves in an array of meaningful internships—work that may help forge their career specialization.
For the past several months, a handful of Fletcher students have been working toward a goal that sits at the core of The Fletcher School’s founding mission: to improve the standard of living of the world’s most underserved populations. Serving as “Peace Fellows” with The Advocacy Project—a nongovernmental organization that aims to produce social change by helping marginalized communities claim their rights–they partner with advocate organizations to bring about positive change.
In their role as Peace Fellows, Fletcher students from the class of 2010 Kate Cummings, Ted Mathys, Jessica Varat, Adam Welti, Kan Yan and Rachel Brown have traveled to the far reaches of the globe including Kenya, India, Peru, Liberia, Nepal and Israel.
While they may be working in different locations and in various capacities, one thing remains the same – they are leveraging lessons learned at Fletcher to make a difference in the lives of others.
How did you spend your summer vacation?
Kate Cummings – Kenya
“I have been supporting four different organizations connected to Vital Voices since my arrival in Kenya - all of them directed by women leaders. Umoja Uaso is an all-women's village in the heart of the patriarchal Samburu tribe. While in Umoja Uaso, I assisted the women in determining fair prices for their traditional jewelry and created a product catalog for their sale internationally. Shortly after this, I started working with Ripe for Harvest – a youth mentoring program that pairs university students with teenagers. I assisted the program's director, a rural poverty reduction advisor for the European Union, by facilitating strategic planning workshops for city councilors. I have since moved on to work with Empiris - a women's group in rural western Kenya that provides microfinance loans to female entrepreneurs in Maasai-land. I will begin working with Kakenya Ntaiya shortly. She is the first Maasai woman to go to college in the US. Kakenya recently returned to her village and is currently creating an all-girls school that will empower young women to follow their dreams.
“More than anything, Fletcher opened my mind to the intricacies of such general issues as poverty and wealth and corruption. These words seem simple in books alone but, in the real world, there are so many ways to be poor, rich, well-intentioned and at the same time corrupt. I feel that I began to learn the real-life complexity of these issues while at Fletcher. There are so many ways of understanding one another, and Fletcher has given me the perspective to be able to appreciate the myriad experiences that are possible in this world.”
Ted Mathys – Delhi, India
“The mission here (with the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group) is creating sustainable environmental and social justice for India's urban poor. The operational mission is to empower informal waste pickers, waste recyclers, and junk dealers who take recyclables from the street and landfills in many of India's megacities and sell them up the chain to survive. I am currently blogging and creating videos about Chintan's work as a part of the Advocacy Project’s “first service of media advocacy”.
“I've really been challenged to think across a broad spectrum of issues here, spending some days on the back of a motorcycle going to an organizational meeting in the middle of nowhere or tromping around landfills. On other days I spend time in the office plowing through some of the very same articles on climate change that I encountered at Fletcher. Moving back and forth among hard policy types and environmental justice activists is something for which Fletcher has prepared me well.”
Jessica Varat – Lima, Peru
“I am currently working with the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF), a group of internationally renowned forensic anthropologists that aid in the search for and recovery of the disappeared in Peru. Most of their cases involve those that were forcibly disappeared by the military during the internal armed conflict of Perú (1980-2000) and generally include the recovery (exhumation) of bodies, as well as the analysis of the remains. The analysis is used to determine the cause of death and to officially identify the person. There are over 15,000 disappeared in Peru. I am here because I believe that the work EPAF does on behalf of the family members of the missing serves an important humanitarian purpose within the framework of post-conflict reconciliation and healing.
“I've found that my first year at Fletcher provided me with ample academic preparation – specifically in the areas of conflict resolution, rule of law, post-conflict reconciliation processes, and international law – to understand the situation in Perú. At the same time, however, nothing really prepares a person to understand the process of losing a loved one, having no idea where they are buried and not having access to their remains. However, I find myself constantly referring to Professor Babbitt's conflict resolution theory classes (specifically the psycho-social sides of conflict) when trying to wrap my head around how and why people commit such horrific acts of violence. I also think back to Professor Glennon's International Legal Order class which provided me with the ability to better understand the subject as it applies to enforced disappearances.”
Adam Welti – The Republic of Liberia
“I am working with Skills and Agricultural Development Services (SADS) – a Monrovia-based NGO dealing with communities near nature reserves and proposed protected areas – in the rural areas of Liberia. SADS aims to educate people and provide them with skills training to help reduce the reliance on subsistence-level agriculture and move towards other means of income generation. Currently, the agriculture practices in many rural areas involves slashing and burning of rainforest in order to plant crops. My work with SADS has included conducting an environmental awareness assessment in several communities near a proposed protected area (PPA) in Lofa County. This assessment has helped to identify core issues that will be included in an upcoming environmental education campaign. Now, we are working to develop an environmental education curriculum which may serve as a pilot program for the Liberian Ministry of Education.
“My experience at Fletcher helped me to see my work from a more holistic level. While our mission here in Liberia focuses on the grassroots level, it is helpful to see how international policies related to climate change or biodiversity protection, often look good on paper, but can be challenging to implement on the ground. As I have come to learn in Liberia, without adequate governmental assistance, it is almost impossible to implement activities at the grassroots level. Additionally, if locals don’t understand the importance of protecting these last remaining tracts of Upper Guinean Rainforest, for example, then deforestation will continue—increasing climate change. To be successful, there must be communication and cooperation between international leaders, governments, and local communities.”
Kan Yan – Nepal
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I am currently filming a documentary about child labor and the campaign working to eliminate it in Nepal. For the past several months, I’ve examined the lives of children who are rescued from abusive labor situations, their education in a transit home, and their re-integration into their families.
“Learning about critical research on the delivery of aid at Fletcher definitely cast new light onto the way money and resources are transferred and dispersed. My political economy of development class at Fletcher provided insights into Nepal’s current situation and outlined where the development community’s energies are best spent.”
Rachel Brown – Jerusalem
“In my role with the Alternative Information Center (AIC) I research and write about the work of social justice movements within Israel and how they connect to the occupation and the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I am focusing specifically on the struggle of Mizrahi Jews – Jews of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry – for equal socioeconomic and political rights and recognition, the role of Israeli and Palestinian women and the feminist movement at large in the peace movement between Israel and Palestine. I’m also examining the issue of migrant workers and refugees from Africa in Israel. Often social issues within Israel proper are treated and analyzed separately from the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the occupation, yet the two realms are interconnected
“At Fletcher I am studying Conflict Resolution. I have a particular interest in the reconciliation processes. My theoretical coursework has prepared me well for the interviews and informal conversations I have on a daily basis that deal with conflicting narratives, negotiation processes, and what "justice" should and can look like. My Fletcher experience has taught me to approach one issue through the lens of several disciplines, which has been extremely helpful while writing analyses of the current conflict.”