humanitarian work

Jena Daggett, Humanitarian Assistance at DOD

Jena Daggett is a recent alumni of the joint MA International Relations and MS Public Relations (MAIR/MSPR) degree between the Maxwell and Newhouse Schools.

Jena Daggett

For my Spring 2018 semester, I interned in Colorado Springs at the headquarters for NORAD and the United States Northern Command . I was placed within the J9 Interagency Directorate in the Civil-Military Cooperation Division. My role was as a Humanitarian Assistance Analyst working with Mexico and The Bahamas.

In this role, I worked directly with different partners, especially the consulates and embassies, to facilitate humanitarian assistance projects in under served communities. My role as an action officer began in the conceptualization phase (discussing and researching needs in different communities across the two countries) and continued through the evaluation phase, with many steps in between necessary for success.

My first project concerned a prosthetics oven in Tijuana; the donation ceremony included several Mexican and American leaders and has already helped to impact individuals with physical disabilities in that state, who previously did not have access to medical prosthetics for missing limbs. A later project heavily utilized my second degree for Public Diplomacy, in that the press release I drafted was used in several Mexican outlets following collaboration between the Coast Guard, Department of Defense, Department of State, and local non-governmental organizations in Mexico.

The experience I gained throughout this semester has truly been eye-opening and exceptional. I did not have a strong understanding of this component of the DoD’s work and am thrilled I was able to apply the skills I gained at Maxwell and Newhouse to help improve our nation’s strategic relationships.

NORAD & USNORTHCOM

Joint MAIR/MSPR degree from the Maxwell and Newhouse Schools

The Newhouse School

The Maxwell School

Mia Mazer Gains Significant Humanitarian Experience at InterAction

Mia Mazer is 2018 graduate of the Maxwell School, where she earned a joint MPA/MAIR degree. This past fall she interned at InterAction as part of the Maxwell-in-Washington fall program.

This fall I set out to Washington, D.C. to complete coursework through the Maxwell-in-Washington program and intern at InterAction, an alliance of over 190 NGOs working in the humanitarian and international development sectors. InterAction serves as a convener, thought leader, and voice in the community, representing and advocating for legislation, policies, and practices that impact its members’ work at the international, regional, and national levels. The organization’s mission is to be a leader in the global quest to eliminate extreme poverty and vulnerability, strengthen human rights and citizen participation, safeguard a sustainable planet, promote peace, and ensure dignity for all people.

I worked for the The Humanitarian Policy and Practice (HPP) Team which is dedicated to providing leadership and support for InterAction members that are active in humanitarian response and advocacy. Humanitarian organizations within the InterAction alliance provide services, materials and logistical aid to affected people in crises. InterAction supports the work of these members by providing a forum for consultation, coordination and advocacy on emergency response. Apart from providing immediate response to emergencies, many NGOs engage in activities to improve the overall response of the international humanitarian system. InterAction engages at various levels with United Nations agencies, various policy bodies of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the U.S. Government, NGO consortia and individual international NGOs on cross-cutting issues and country-specific situations. The HPP team’s work is organized across the following four work streams: humanitarian policy, humanitarian practice, protection (inclusive of results-based protection, gender-based violence, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, and NGO security), shelter and settlements.

As an HPP Intern, I gained invaluable experience while supporting the humanitarian policy, humanitarian practice, and protection work streams. I conducted research, drafted summary notes and reports, and attended and reported on Congressional briefings and hearings, working group meetings, and member events to inform InterAction’s humanitarian policy and advocacy work.

My work allowed me to gain a better understanding of the linkage between international policy and programming in the humanitarian field as well as core elements of the global humanitarian architecture. I also gained a tremendous amount of knowledge on various technical, thematic, and regional issues pertinent to the humanitarian field, including some of my own interests, such as the intersection of humanitarian assistance and gender issues.

This experience helped define my goal of pursuing a career in policy and advocacy in humanitarian assistance and/or international development. My work often informed my contributions to class discussions in both classes I took on global sustainability and public policy and African conflicts. Living and working in Washington D.C. allowed me to connect with numerous Maxwell School alumni and other professionals working in my fields of interest and begin to cultivate a meaningful network which will be there for me when I graduate.

Mia Mazer Works on Youth Health in Rural Nicaragua

Maxwell-in-Washington Programs

MPA/MAIR Joint Degree Program at the Maxwell School