Global Programs

Kyra Murphy, Learning from Her Supervisor at National Security Network

Kyra Murphy, MPA/MAIR studnet
Kyra Murphy


Kyra Murphy is a joint MPA/MAIR student who after interning in Washington, DC is now Head Intern at the National Security Studies Program at the Maxwell School under Col. Smullen.

My first experience living and working in Washington, DC could not have been more rewarding. This past May I relocated to the DC area for the opportunity to work as a graduate policy fellow with the National Security Network (NSN). The professional experience, lifestyle, and general atmosphere of Washington in the summer collectively cultivated a time that I will never soon forget.

As a graduate policy fellow for NSN I worked very closely with my supervisor, the head policy analyst within the organization. Due to the similarities in our national security focus, I spent the majority of my time researching and preparing internal policy memos regarding the Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi border and currently volatile regions. Delving into U.S. foreign and defense policy on Islamic State (IS) and the geopolitical relationships in the Middle East allowed me both the time and the resources to investigate some of my interests more fully outside of the classroom settings back in Syracuse.

One of the most integral parts of my experience with NSN was the exposure to the high level practitioners within the national security industry in Washington, DC. Due to the connections and relationships that both my supervisor and others in the organization had throughout Capitol Hill, I was provided many unique opportunities that most graduate summer interns do not get to benefit from. One of the assistants to the Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States gave me and my three fellow interns a private tour of the West Wing of the White House late one Thursday evening. Additionally, due to the Executive Director of NSN’s personal professional experience in the State Department I received a special tour of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms located on the upper levels of the Harry S. Truman building located in Foggy Bottom, as well as the executive level halls in which Secretary of State John Kerry’s Office resides.

The exposure that NSN and the DC area provided me this summer in professional experience, networking opportunities, policy analysis, and professional writing skills have been invaluable to my graduate experience at the Maxwell School. An internship or fellowship opportunity in Washington, DC is not something that any Maxwell graduate student should ever pass up!

West Wing , White House, Washington, DC

 

Alex Jorgensen, Learning the Theoretical and Practical Side of Stewardship

Alex Jorgensen, MAIR student
Alex Jorgensen, MAIR/MSPR (Public Diplomacy) student

Alex Jorgensen is a Public Diplomacy student pursuing both a Master’s of International Relations at the Maxwell School and a Master’s of Science in Public Relations at the S.I. Newhouse School. He participated in the Singapore Summer Practicum.

Stewardship Asia Centre: A new thought leadership center in the East

This summer I had the opportunity to work at the Stewardship Asia Centre in Singapore. Stewardship Asia Centre (SAC) is known as a thought leadership center that looks to inspire businesses: family owned, state owned enterprises, investors, and nonprofits; to employ SAC practices with the long term in mind. This means that they conduct their business thinking about stakeholders as opposed to simply shareholders. Stakeholder theory is a broad theory, but in short it means that a business takes into account the environment, the community, the customer, and the shareholder or investor. This differs from the way many companies conduct themselves because most companies are looking to make a short-term profit that brings quarterly gains and keeps their shareholders at bay.

It is a widely held belief that this type of short-term profit chasing is what led to the Great Recession when mortgages were repackaged with high grades despite the fact that the homes were owned by people who could not afford the loans. This real estate bubble combined with the failings of the Lehman brothers and Arthur Andersen has led to sweeping changes and a Western focus on Corporate Governance. While corporate governance is seen as the first champion of long-term profitability, it still only focuses on a companies shareholders and is not as important to private corporations, nonprofits, and institutional investors who may see it as a checklist. Corporate governance serves as a list of boxes to check for public companies so that investors can claim ethical investment, but fails to see the larger picture that stewardship encapsulates.

Stewardship is a function of management. According to SAC, “Stewardship is the management of assets to which an organization has been entrusted so that they hand them on in better condition.” Good stewardship has a direct relationship with long-term return on investment. While good stewards may experience short-term pain, the long-term goals and core values of an organization drive them through temporary setbacks, into enduring prosperity. SAC spells out four elements that foster stewardship for companies:

  1. Conservatism in financing
  2. Sensitivity to the operating context – leaders are aware of the external world around them
  3. Cohesion and company identity – salient through all employees
  4. Tolerance for experimentation and outliers, which allows them to stretch their conception of what is possible.

These four elements create long-term vision and core values that empower employees to feel valued and become loyal to leadership in place. Stewardship as a business concept is new and only has been implemented with regulations in two countries, Britain and Japan (with failed attempts in Malaysia), Singapore is looking to be an early adopter of stewardship as it serves a lot of the philosophy of the Eastern world and lends itself to long-term profitability. Companies that have championed stewardship in the eyes of Stewardship Asia Centre include: Black Rock Investment, the Tata Group from India, and Singapore’s own government practices.

This internship taught me the theoretical side of stewardship and the practical side of running a start-up thought leadership center. Through sitting in on policy development, speech writing, curating content, press release writing, and event planning I learned practical ways to run a successful thought leadership center.

Welcome Address by Hsieh Fu Hua, Chairman, Stewardship Asia Centre & UOB

Welcome Address by Hsieh Fu Hua, Chairman, Stewardship Asia Centre & UOB

Tulia Gattone, Working on the Mine Ban Convention in Geneva

Tulia Gattone is a  MAIR student in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

This summer, myself and ten other Maxwell students moved to Switzerland for the Geneva Summer Practicum. It has been an incredible life-changing experience. I will definitely recommend this Global Program to any future generation of students.

As part of the Practicum, I interned at the Implementation Support Unit (ISU) of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. The ISU is the Secretariat to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction. The Unit is mandated to provide support and advice to the State Parties to the Convention. It also communicates and provides information about the Convention status, keeps records of formal and informal meeting and liaises with other international organizations.

Working with the ISU is a truly enriching opportunity. I had the pleasure and honor to meet an incredible amount of representatives of State parties, international organizations and NGOs. Also, I attended international conferences on disarmament and carried out research in the field of mine action.

In addition to the internship, the Practicum comprises a series of lectures taught by Professor Schleiffer, whose experience and knowledge is truly inspiring. The class is highly debate-based and is constantly enriched by presentations of speakers of the highest caliber. This year we even had a lecture at the Geneva Town Hall in the world famous Alabama room where in 1872 an arbitration tribunal posed with a peaceful agreement an end to a conflict between the United States of America and Great Britain.

Work and school apart, Geneva is incredibly beautiful and it is a city that has so much to offer. I was sincerely amazed by the story, the culture and the high sense of respect of the Swiss people. In addition to the cheese and chocolate of the finest quality, Switzerland’s welcoming attitude will make leaving hard for everyone.

For more information about the ISU, check the following links:

www.apminebanconvention.org/

http://www.apminebanconvention.org/implementation-support- unit/overview/

Tulia Gattone in Gornergrat (3,100 m), Switzerland
Tulia Gattone in Gornergrat (3,100 m), Switzerland

Celina Menzel, Gaining Valuable Experience in the United Nations in New York

 

UN Headquarters, New York City, USA
UN Headquarters, New York City, USA

Celina Menzel  is a dual degree MAIR/Atlantis student in Syracuse University.

From May to July 2015, I did my internship at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations in New York.

Since my internship took place in the development section of the Division of Economic Affairs, my own responsibilities evolved around development-related topics such as:

  • Health, including emergency responses to Ebola and other epidemic diseases, non‑communicable diseases, HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health and rights, antimicrobial resistances, etc.
  • Migration, including refugee and IDP issues such as the Syrian refugee crisis
  • Food security and nutrition, particularly interventions by WFP and FAO
  • UNICEF interventions, particularly humanitarian action and emergency responses as well as long-term development measures
  • South-South Cooperation and Triangular cooperation
  • Reforming Peacebuilding and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, particularly the role that social services and dialogue may play
  • Support to Haiti and the ad-hoc advisory group
  • The Post-2015 Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including their implementation in countries affected by conflict and crises

My daily responsibilities mostly included participation in different sessions and events that were held at the UN Headquarters or organized by the member states and then report back to the Permanent Mission and the Headquarters of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. For example, I attended sessions at the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Executive Board of UNICEF, and different thematic Side-Events. Moreover, I took part in informal negotiations concerning draft resolutions as well as in different conferences (e.g. the Ebola conference in July) and conducted my own research on various topics that were of interest to me.

I personally feel like I gained a lot of knowledge and new skills during this internship. So far, the focus of my studies was mostly on conflict, security and post-conflict reconstruction. One of the reasons why I chose this internship position was that I wanted to expand my focus and learn more about long-term development in post-conflict settings because I believe that it is important for sustained stability and peace. Therefore, it was very valuable for me to deal with topics that I did not know that much about before. Moreover, I learned a lot about the daily work at the Permanent Mission and the United Nations Headquarters, the decision-making processes, the way interventions are designed and implemented, the importance of sufficient political will, etc.

In conclusion, my internship was very insightful for me. I gained a lot of knowledge – content-wise and skill-wise – and gained valuable experience. Particularly the relation to my supervisor, her supportive and encouraging conduct towards me, her eagerness to show me every facet of her work, and her willingness to entrust me with real responsibilities allowed me to have a very productive time during my internship.

Celina Menzel at a UN Headquarters staff BBQ
Celina Menzel at a UN Headquarters staff BBQ

Keome R. Rowe, Managing Costs to Welcoming VIPs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing

Keome & Ambassador
Keome Rowe and Ambassador Max Sieben Baucus

Mr. Keome R. Rowe is a graduate student in the department of Public Administration and International Affairs. He will be on campus in Syracuse during the Fall Semester of 2015.

This summer I had the pleasure to serve as a Charles B. Rangel Fellow at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China. Since President Obama’s “ Pivot to Asia” announcement the U.S.-China relationship is one of the most important bilateral relationships—if not the most important. As an MPA/MAIR student I wanted to see the internal and external workings of the U.S. Mission to China from the management, political and public diplomacy section perspectives at the Embassy.

Management Section

I did a cost-benefit comparison of housing for diplomats, analyzing the conversion of landlord furnished housing to U.S. government furnished housing to judge which one had cost savings for U.S. taxpayers. This required me to do a series of interviews with diplomats, embassy staff, Chinese landlords and property management companies in Beijing to gather data. The skills I learned in public budgeting, policy implementation, Public Administration & Democracy and Public Organizations & Management came into great use. After analyzing my data, I presented my analysis and policy recommendations on cost effectiveness to the Minister Counselor for Management. Several of my recommendations will be implemented this fall! This particular project gave me the opportunity to see a specific aspect of the management section’s function at the Embassy.

Public Diplomacy Section

I teamed up with the State Department’s historian to thumb through countless pictures of past presidential bilateral meetings and create month long original content for the State Department’s social media accounts for Chinese President Xi Xinping’s first official visit to Washington later this month. This project allowed me to create original and informative content for the more than 2 million Department of State’s social media followers.

Political Section

Perhaps the most high profile project was helping the V.I.P. teams in the management and political teams prepare for the visit of National Security Advisor Susan Rice. I helped the advance team here at the Embassy and the Secret Service prepare all details for her visit. I also prepared most of the logistics and presentations for the visit AND was present for her arrival at the airport alongside Ambassador Baucus.

Conclusion

I learned that being a diplomat is never a dull moment! One day I could be conversing with Chinese landlords on property issues, visiting with members of U.S. Congress and/or officially receiving high profile foreign policy leaders!

Keome Rowe on the tarmac welcoming National Security Advisor Susan Rice
Keome Rowe on the tarmac welcoming National Security Advisor Susan Rice

To learn more about becoming a Charles B. Rangel Fellow, visit the program website.

Emily Fredenberg Assists UNDP with Health & Development

The following entry was drafted by Emily Fredenberg, a dual-degree MPA & MAIR student.

Emily Fredenberg – UNDP Health and Development Unit

This summer, I had the opportunity to intern with the United Nations Development Programme, within their Health and Development Unit in Geneva, Switzerland. As an intern, my work was divided between the unit’s focal point on non-communicable diseases, tobacco control, and the social and economic detriments of health, and a team specialist on UNDP’s partnership with the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

Much of the work UNDP performs in-country specializes in government capacity building. At the headquarters level, the unit’s partnership team with the Global Fund serves an advisory function in that it provides technical support to UNDP country teams executing Global Fund grants. At country level, UNDP is selected as a principal grant recipient by the Global Fund in instances when a country does not have the capability to implement the grant themselves. As principal grant recipient, UNDP works simultaneously to implement a grant, as well as to build a country’s capacity to carry out Global Fund grants themselves. Currently, UNDP is principal recipient to Global Fund grants in 26 countries.

The UNDP Health and Development Unit in Geneva also specializes in non-communicable disease (NCD) policy. Much of this policy involves joint-programming initiatives with a number of other UN agencies and programmes, most prominently, the World Health Organization (WHO). UNDP and WHO are currently pursuing a joint NCD Governance Programme initiative. This programme is designed to enhance government capacity across government sectors by looking at NCDs more broadly, not only within the health sector. Such sectors include ministries of education, finance, agriculture, trade, and tourism with the ultimate goal of various ministries within a government working collaboratively to address the growing problem of NCDs. The Geneva team also works closely with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in assisting countries to successfully implement and execute the framework.

Throughout the summer, my work was quite varied within the unit. I had the opportunity to attend the World Health Assembly, as well as several other thematic units at various UN agencies pertaining to health in development. I conducted targeted research with NCDs in capital infrastructure projects, examining ways large capital projects can affect the incidence of NCDs as well as solutions to mitigating the side-effects of such projects. I played an integral role in planning a South-South Triangular seminar with the FCTC, where countries in need of technical assistance implementing the FCTC framework could receive expertise from other countries willing and able to provide such. Additionally, two evenings a week I attended a class, as part of Maxwell’s Geneva Summer Practicum. During class, we often had presentations from various guest speakers of UN agencies, government missions, as well as NGOs.

My internship with UNDP certainly allowed me to get a fuller understanding of the intricacies of the UN system, and to develop my research, writing, and strategic planning skills. All in all, I had an amazing summer with the United Nations in Geneva. Geneva truly is a great city to spend the summer in, and I’m quite grateful for the experience I was able to have there.

Emily Fredenberg (left) and fellow intern at the World Health Organization in Geneva
Emily Fredenberg (left) and fellow intern at the World Health Organization in Geneva

Sarah White Harnesses Mobile Health Interventions with WHO

The following entry was drafted by Sarah White, a dual-degree MPA & MAIR student.

Sarah White – WHO, Non-Communicable Diseases department

I spent this summer in Switzerland interning with the World Health Organization (WHO) and studying as a part of Maxwell’s Geneva Summer Practicum. Being in Geneva allowed for personal access and insight into the inner workings of a large UN organization as well as exploring ways the international community comes together to tackle some of the biggest issues we face today.

As an intern at the WHO, I worked on a small team within the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) department. Our team works jointly with another large international organization, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), on mobile-based health interventions designed to reinforce healthy habits and decrease the likelihood of NCD risks. Lots of these programs are focused on helping people quit smoking as tobacco use directly leads to health, economic, and social losses in every county no matter how rich or poor. You can find examples of these programs on the Be Healthy, Be Mobile website.

Mobile-based health interventions are new, exciting territories for health providers and governments. As technology continues to progress, the Internet becomes more accessible, and service costs decrease, there will be even more opportunities for mobile interventions. Yet the definitive proof is still yet to be found. Part of my internship this summer has been to identify best practices for these programs, figure out ways we can convince governments of their cost-effective benefits, and create a guide that will supplement their recruitment policies by using social media outreach.

Besides learning about the new ways technology is changing the way we think about behavioral health interventions, being at the WHO and in Geneva allows me to learn about many other organizations I had little interaction with before. The WHO constantly has talks from experts on different health challenges. The interns here also organize their own talks from experts and other interns to share what they are working on.

Perhaps the best part of the Maxwell class is this kind of introduction and exposure to the different work done by organizations around Geneva. Coming from the private sector I did not know much about international organizations and their roles in influencing global priorities. During this summer, we had Q&As with over 10 different organizations in Geneva. In today’s culture of “leaning in,” many of our guests included women in high positions, which was not only inspiring, but allowed us to ask candid questions about their experiences becoming leaders. You just can’t get this kind of access every day.

My summer in Geneva taught me a lot about the type of organization I wish to work for in the future, the kinds of leadership to look for, and challenged me to think critically about why and how we do the work we do. Many thanks to Professor Schleiffer, my Maxwell family, and the Cramer Global Programs for making this summer a reality!

Sarah White in front of the Matterhorn.
Sarah White in front of the Matterhorn.

Language Learning II: The How

Earlier this year, we talked about what language one should study for a career in public policy, as well as why learning a second language is useful.

By this point, those of you who have started another language should be on your way to fluency.  However, it is important to keep the following tips in mind as you continue your bilingual journey.

1) Keep practicing

Second-language acquisition requires a lot of rote repetition.  If you remember back to your elementary school days, you engaged in a lot of sentence construction and vocabulary learning exercises.  Since the process is similar, you’ll have to spend time practicing, find what works for you and be consistent.

2) Try to hear different accents and dialects

Formal language instruction is often used with the standard dialect, which will work well in formal settings, but often fail in more unique ones.  Knowing modern High German is useful in the business climate of Frankfurt, but is not always the best training for understanding farmers in eastern Bavaria.

Test your listening as often as possible, this could be through listening to online podcasts (usually the national radio station of that country will have language podcast) or streaming other entertainment.

3) Practice Speaking

Without speaking practice it is difficult to achieve fluency in a language.  So, try your best to find places where you can speak with other people at different levels of language knowledge.  In Maxwell, you can find the Moynihan Institute’s Language Tables, or search out other students who are native speakers of a language.  Also see if there are local cultural authorities (such as the Turkish Cultural Center) that may hold events where the language is spoken.

4) Read children’s books

One of the best ways to develop reading fluency is to, well, read.  However, if you’re studying French, don’t immediately reach for Proust’s “À la recherche du temps perdu.” That approach may simply frustrate and discourage.  Instead, begin with “Babar Le Petit Elefant” and move through “Astérix le Gaulois” before reaching for the harder material.

Despite this:

5) Challenge your technical understanding

If you want to use your language professionally, you need to understand the way in which field-specific terms are expressed.

If you are working on analyzing the construction of refugee camps in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, it would be useful to know the terms for water-borne pathogen. So make sure that while you are developing basic fluency that you are also learning vocabulary that will be beneficial to your career.

6) Don’t be Afraid

One of the major challenges in learning a foreign language is being worried about making mistakes.  Don’t worry, you will, so become comfortable with being misunderstood or embarrassed, the more mistakes you make initially, the more proper improvement you will see.

 

Language Learning I: The Why

Language Learning I: The Why

In conversations with alumni and employers, they often comment on the need for foreign policy professionals to know a second or third language. While this seems self-evident for professionals looking at working overseas in a non-English speaking environment, there are significant reasons why US-based practitioners would need to know a second-language.

There is field-specific importance given to particular languages.  For example, if one were to work in official development assistance programming in Mozambique, a working knowledge of Portuguese would be essential, and in many cases a necessity for employment.

This carries over to headquarters positions.  Search for Common Ground is recruiting an International Grants Officer that requires English and French fluency.

2) It is worth an additional salary bonus

Several economists have posited that there is an average 2% salary increase associated with knowing a language.

Over the course of a 40 year career, the Economist calculated that a professional could earn between $51,000 and $128,000 in additional salary due to language knowledge.  Given that salaries in the public policy have been consistent with inflation over the past several years, this is a significant bonus.

3) It can make you a better analyst

Recent studies have shown that bi-lingual learners have a heightened ability to monitor an environment.  While this has specific effects in monitoring a surrounding, it is not a far leap to think that this increased situational awareness would easily transfer to monitoring program effectiveness or working as a threat analyst.

4) It can help you multitask

Very few of us work in environments where we can concentrate on one task at a time.  Recent studies show that learning a second language improves the brain’s ability to concentrate on simultaneous tasks.  In an environment where staffers need to continuously increase their productivity, this is invaluable.

5) It can make you a better writer

Many of us last thought about grammar and vocabulary in our native tongue during our elementary school years.  By having to learn these rules anew in a second-language makes us more cognizant of the the full capabilities of language.  This makes us more easily able to write clearly and concisely for all audiences.

Professional Travel(lers)

Robertson Foundation Fellows Allison Carter Olsen, Tracie Hatch and Justin Gradek at the White House.
Robertson Foundation Fellows Allison Carter Olsen, Tracie Hatch and Justin Gradek at the White House. Photo Courtesy Justin Gradek

Professional Travel(lers)

The public administration and international relations careers that each of you may pursue could potentially require you to travel professionally.

Even though some of you may have extensive travel experience as tourists, exchange students, or international volunteers, I thought I would share a few tips from my recent travels over the past few years.

1) The cheaper flight is not necessarily the less expensive option.

Flying from a non-hub airport like Syracuse often means that the flight is going to be more expensive than one would like, particularly in comparison to flying out of a major international airport such as New York – Kennedy.

However, one should take into account the cost of getting to that alternate airport (it can cost anywhere from $100 to $300 to get from Syracuse to JFK and back, depending on transport and need for hotel), as well as the cost of the ancillary expenses for that flight (one of the marks of really affordable flights can be a late flight out of one city and an early one out of the next, so there might be a hotel room needed).

Professional travel budgets have been under pressure over the last several years, so do take a look at BBC America’s “Ten Tips for Cheap Airfares from the U.S. to the U.K,” but when you are looking at the flight, also calculate the cost above (as well as the cost of your own time).  It’s important to think about what your time is worth as:

2) You always have less time than you think

A conference weekend in Washington, DC is a great opportunity to spend Friday engaged in meetings, and Saturday and Sunday at the conference.

“Land at DCA on Friday at 7, first meeting at 8:30 off K Street, second at 9 on Dupont Circle, then to Main State by 10.” It sounds like a great itinerary designed to maximize face time and get a lot of good information.

However, one must remember to build in travel time between sites.  Despite your best efforts, it will take you more than five minutes to get from the State Department’s C Street Headquarters to USAID’s premises in the Ronald Reagan Building, even if you take a cab.

Also, it is likely that meetings will run long, your meeting partners will be delayed, or you’ll get engaged in a good conversation.

Despite this, make sure you:

3) Plan your days well

If you’re looking to meet with a number of people (such as on a networking trip), have an idea on who you want to meet with ahead of time, set a time and a location and most importantly get a phone number in case you are running late.  Depending on the city or their transportation systems, you might not be able to send an email to your contact if they are already on the way or have not joined the Smartphone set.