I've been back in New York City for a few weeks, and I'm still processing my eventful summer with the UNFPA Egypt Country Office. It was the experience of a lifetime, and again, I cannot thank UNA-NY's Summer Scholars Program for their generous support. I will attempt to distill some major takeaways from the summer:
1. Linking Micro- and Macro-Level Work
One of the main reasons I decided to apply for this opportunity was to better understand how both micro and macro-level social impact work can support each other in achieving lasting change. Most of my experience before this summer was individual and community-based. I have always loved providing direct service at this level, but this summer widened my perspective on all that can be achieved when community-based efforts link up with large entities like government and mass media. Now that I have both the micro and macro perspectives, I can better visualize the impact I want to make in the future both locally and globally.
2. Behavior and Social Norms Change is Complex, Long-term Work
I was privileged to learn from global experts about how to effectively influence behavior and social norms change. Doing it effectively and sensitively requires a long-term, multi-tiered and culturally-nuanced vision. For an issue as culturally-entrenched as FGM, you need organizations at all levels and from every sector working towards shifting cultural beliefs and practices. The emphasis of this approach on thorough formative research really stuck with me and fits well with the person-centered perspective that I have been learning throughout my MSW program. Trusting that the people you intend to ally with are experts in their own lives and can provide powerful solutions to the issues they deem important is absolutely essential to generating authentic change. Imposing values and interventions from the outside, while seemingly simpler and faster, not only doesn't work, but often backfires.
3. Even Huge Organizations like the UN can be Adaptable
Prior to this summer, my impression of huge organizations like the UN was that they are far too big to be responsive to quickly-shifting trends in society. I assumed that creative freedom was the domain of smaller, community-based initiatives. However through the UNFPA I learned that positive relationships between large organizations with greater resources and connections, and smaller organizations that are more closely attuned to cultural shifts, creates a symbiotic relationship that unites these strengths. The efforts I saw through both the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM and the Y-PEER Network to incorporate sports, music, art, theater, social media and other popular cultural channels proved that it's possible for larger, more traditional organizations to stay in touch with rapidly-evolving trends. Each UN agency in each country will be different in their approach, but my experience with UNFPA Egypt demonstrated this adaptability.
1. Linking Micro- and Macro-Level Work
One of the main reasons I decided to apply for this opportunity was to better understand how both micro and macro-level social impact work can support each other in achieving lasting change. Most of my experience before this summer was individual and community-based. I have always loved providing direct service at this level, but this summer widened my perspective on all that can be achieved when community-based efforts link up with large entities like government and mass media. Now that I have both the micro and macro perspectives, I can better visualize the impact I want to make in the future both locally and globally.
2. Behavior and Social Norms Change is Complex, Long-term Work
I was privileged to learn from global experts about how to effectively influence behavior and social norms change. Doing it effectively and sensitively requires a long-term, multi-tiered and culturally-nuanced vision. For an issue as culturally-entrenched as FGM, you need organizations at all levels and from every sector working towards shifting cultural beliefs and practices. The emphasis of this approach on thorough formative research really stuck with me and fits well with the person-centered perspective that I have been learning throughout my MSW program. Trusting that the people you intend to ally with are experts in their own lives and can provide powerful solutions to the issues they deem important is absolutely essential to generating authentic change. Imposing values and interventions from the outside, while seemingly simpler and faster, not only doesn't work, but often backfires.
3. Even Huge Organizations like the UN can be Adaptable
Prior to this summer, my impression of huge organizations like the UN was that they are far too big to be responsive to quickly-shifting trends in society. I assumed that creative freedom was the domain of smaller, community-based initiatives. However through the UNFPA I learned that positive relationships between large organizations with greater resources and connections, and smaller organizations that are more closely attuned to cultural shifts, creates a symbiotic relationship that unites these strengths. The efforts I saw through both the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM and the Y-PEER Network to incorporate sports, music, art, theater, social media and other popular cultural channels proved that it's possible for larger, more traditional organizations to stay in touch with rapidly-evolving trends. Each UN agency in each country will be different in their approach, but my experience with UNFPA Egypt demonstrated this adaptability.
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