Week One: Tetra Tech DPK in SF
This summer, I’m working for Tetra Tech DPK as the Global Law and Development Fellow at their home office (HO) in San Francisco. Last summer, as an intern for Open Development Mekong in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, I gained some experience working in the field. This summer will provide me with a glimpse of the domestically-based HO work that supports, and is essential to, international development and rule of law initiatives.
I arrived in San Francisco on Friday, May 11thand settled into my Airbnb which is in Sunset. I spent the evening walking around my neighborhood to get oriented and found some local restaurants and grocery stores. On Saturday, I started the morning running/walking through Golden Gate Park (which is a convenient half block from my house) down to Ocean Beach. I totaled 5 miles, familiarizing myself with only a portion of the park.
After breakfast, I met up with my sister, Kathryn, who lives in SF. We started our day with some fancier-than-average coffee art (see below). She helped me buy my clipper card which I’ll use each day to get to and from work. Then we did a test-run of my commute to Tetra Tech DPK, from Sunset to Market Street. Kathryn works just a few blocks away, so she showed me her office as well. Once we had the day’s “business” agenda taken care, we went to Fillmore for lunch and some shopping. Then we walked to Union and Russian Hill. It was a great day to get a little familiar with some parts of the City. Unfortunately, I came down with a cold on my travel day, so I cancelled my Sunday plans to lay low and give my body the opportunity to get as well as possible for my first day at work! But I still took a nice, short walk through the Golden Gate Park.
I navigated my commute and arrived at the Tetra Tech DPK office. I had to get some HR paperwork settled, and once that was completed, I settled into my office. For now, I’ll be supporting the USAID Promoting the Rule of Law Project (PRLP) in Myanmar and the USAID ProVoces project in Mexico. So far, I’ve been reading background information like project contracts, annual reports, quarterly reports, bi-weekly reports, budget spreadsheets, and the like to get familiarized with the projects.
PRLP in Myanmar:
The PRLP project started in 2013 and is slated to end September 2018. The primary goal of the project is to promote and protect the rule of law and civil liberties in Myanmar as it transitions to democratic governance. PRLP’s two primary objectives are: 1) promote more effective, accountable, and accessible justice sector institutions; and 2) increase legal literacy, access to justice and participation of marginalized populations in target regions.
One of the challenges the judicial system faces in Myanmar is public trust and confidence, particularly within the context of an ethnically diverse country with marginalized populations. Women are among the marginalized populations, so PRLP works to expand women’s access to justice and legal aid. In the last year, PRLP has added Trafficking in Persons (TIP) as another critical issue to tackle.
PRLP has engaged various Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and government leaders, supported the Government with short-term advisors and data-collection efforts, implemented case management techniques and technologies, held various judicial, legal and administrative trainings, and provided legal aid and information to the public and marginalized populations.
ProVoces in Mexico:
ProVoces began in late 2017 and is slated to run through 2019. Increased killings, disappearances and violence against journalists with little investigation and prosecution in Mexico spurred ProVoces. ProVoces’ three primary objectives are to: 1) increase commitment to operate and sustain systems of protection of human rights and prevent violations against human rights defenders and journalists; 2) improve prevention of human rights abuses against human right defenders and journalists; 3) improve investigation and prosecution of crimes committed against human rights defenders and journalists.
I don’t know yet what my specific tasks will be for each project, as I’m still getting oriented to the projects and training with Tetra Tech DPK processes and systems. More next week as I get more involved with project and HO operations!
