As a full-time intern from Stanford University, I reported to work each day at the Washington, D.C. office of the International Rescue Committee from April to August, 2008. I was a part of the government relations and advocacy staff that liaises with the US government agencies, Congress, and other international relief agencies.
Creating ‘awareness’ and advocating on behalf of humanitarian programs takes much more convincing than one would think. The IRC’s DC office employs a small staff whose sole purpose is to understand the needs of those uprooted by war, civil conflict or ethnic persecution and lobby the U.S. government to help all of them—by whatever means possible. Our DC Advocacy staff has to meticulously understand and explain the myriad projects that we do on the ground in 25 different countries as well as our teams that respond to sudden emergencies and our domestic offices that resettle refugees in the United States. We work closely with all of these elements to see how we can get our programs recognized and supported so they run more effectively in areas of health, child survival, gender based violence, emergency response, post-conflict development, and governance. And if that wasn’t hard enough, we must work with government officials who are notorious for having a five second attention span for anything not CNN material. We’re talking a no-nonsense occupation here, people. My colleagues are working, quite simply, to SAVE THE WORLD.
All of this on their plates and somehow our people stay sane, knowing that little by little the coordination and advocacy that we are pushing for on behalf of the countries we work in, and most importantly on behalf of the people inside of those countries, progress will invariably be made. We are encouraged as situations change and things get gradually better. As ever so slowly, a battle for awareness or funds or equipment that initially seemed as steep as
The sad part: Right now is not exactly the best time to reflect upon the best state of the world. The world’s poorest people are only falling further off the deep end, and the international community increasingly seems indifferent to playing the role of the life guard. With the global economy trying to stay afloat, the bottom billion+ of people are only feeling greater hardship. The promising part: the solutions are closer than we actually think—especially in America.
The most important lesson I have learned, much to my surprise, is that the majority of our Congress people are extremely accessible and ridiculously ordinary. This is not to cause disrespect or shock to anyone, but mainly, our government is much more democratic than I ever thought it could be. This is mostly because anyone can go into a government office and talk to their senator, congressperson or their staff whenever they set up a meeting. This can happen in your hometown or here on the Hill. This fact completely changed my view about government being so detached from everyday life. We can do the convincing, people. Us. I’m 21 years old and have figured this out. I guess at this point in my life, I just feel like more and more people need to be retold it or to hear it for the first time.
What most foreigners do not understand about the US Congress (and possibly most Americans), is at the end of the day, these are the people that sign the checks to get things done in and outside of the world. They control the budget and make decisions about what programs and policies will be supported.
This is why the IRC has advocates on behalf of our humanitarian efforts in saving those who need it most. We get our hands dirty, while politicians speak on behalf of our dirty hands. From the humanitarian side, knowing the inside (legal) tricks of the political trade is important, because we need to know what leverage we have in government and what it is we can use to get the attention of a single Senator or the entire Congress. Some members of Congress care about nuclear warheads, others care about energy policy, healthcare, farmers, pets, or what have you. The IRC, in particular, seeks out Congress people and state officials that care about REFUGEES and the other victims of war who are left displaced, vulnerable and in need of help.
What does that mean for us? Well, as I see it, it means whomever is working in our office is doing the best to set up every meeting, attend every forum, basically be everywhere at once where people gather to debate US policy toward global hotspots, in order to prove to politicians that we are doing the best job in the whole world at protecting refugees and seeing that the world's most vulnerable have a place to turn. The IRC and many other NGOs and government supported organizations all have an interest in influencing the debate on humanitarian issues.
What makes theIRC different? The passion and the fact that we have a ‘no-stinkers’ policy. We are no nonsense. We are about what we do. We hire the best people. We are not trying to wow you with our ridiculously glorious logo or the fact that we work with the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. Oh, no,
I don’t say these things in order to portray the IRC as self-righteous or canting about our efforts. The idea is to speak on behalf of the people who are affected by the decisions Americans make in our daily lives. There are billions of ways we can make change just by speaking our minds about issues to government decisionmakers. It’s really that simple. Go figure.
Get involved. If it’s not starting at a monetary donation, it’s creating ‘awareness’—and from there, hopefully, information and involvement will spread like wildfire.
And why should I have loyalty to the IRC? I'm an unpaid college intern, for goodness sake. I thrive off information and educational work because I like it. Yep, call me crazy, but I think the IRC has some of the most educated, driven, experienced and well rounded people in
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