Week 2
My work in week two was very similar to my work in my first week, however much more in depth. In my first week I worked on a grant proposal which required synthesizing information from reports and writing a smaller much more concise report. In my second week IBJ decided to go in a different direction with the proposal and wanted to make it written in a different tone, one that focused on anecdotes of the work that we had accomplished. While the new version of the proposal that I wrote had less data and information, the message was much more powerful. The new version which used stories and images of some of the feats that IBJ has accomplished over the past two years to show the need for more funding was a much more persuasive way of getting the information across. It was a difficult task to make judgement decision on what to cut down but eventually I was able to come up with a version that is nearly ready to submit.
The majority of my work this week revolved around finalizing IBJ’s subgrant policy as well as coming up with a travel and entertainment policy. Because IBJ gets funding from many sources Gabrielle and I had to make sure that the policies that we enacted were specific enough to pass an audit by multiple states with varying standards. These policy projects have two main aspects to them. The first part is to come up with a comprehensive document that explains the standard operating practices, the rules that people both in the home Geneva office and the many locations around the world have to follow, as well as the self-imposed limitations and restrictions on how IBJ acts. In order to draft this document I had to look at the US Code of Federal Regulations and see what the legal requirements were that IBJ had to follow. Second I had to look at an audit that IBJ had done before I arrived by the Swedish government (one of the places they receive funding), and confirm with employees in the office. There has to be a balance in the way these policies are written, not only do I need to keep in mind the legal obligations IBJ has, but I need to make sure the policies that we propose are ones that the staff members of IBJ will be able to follow. The latter part requires an understanding of how they currently do business and figuring out how those practices relate to different government standards.
The second set of documents I work on for compliance work are the creation of various forms for employees to fill out. These forms are the way that the day-to-day employee is going to make sure that IBJ has the requisite records and complies with the various laws. These forms are a visualization of how the general policy will be implemented. For example if the policy states that we will require various formation before we can approve a travel expense, then the form will lay out the different areas of information and provide the employee with a space to record that information. The completion of the Sub-Grant Policy and the Travel and Entertainment Policies were similar in process, although the details and the nature of the work was quite different.
Towards the end of the week I received a mini-project for an upcoming grant proposal that we had to submit. I needed to figure out the number of lawyers in the world and additionally, the number of legal aid lawyers in the world. This project required me to look at various bar associations around the world and get statistics directly from their websites. I also found valuable information through the United Nations.
Monday, May 22, was a national holiday in Switzerland. My second week and I already had a day off and wanted to make the most of it. I woke up early and took the train to Lausanne a town a little over an hour away. The train ride was beautiful, with Lake Geneva on one side and the Mountains and farm land on the other. When I arrived in Lausanne the first thing I noticed was that the town was very hilly. I walked down by the lake and there was a giant park. I spent the day playing beach volleyball and basketball with some locals and then exploring the town. There were so many narrow winding roads it was surreal.
On Saturday May 26th, I joined Gabrielle, her roommates, and some of our coworkers to go to the vineyards. It was the annual wine festival in Geneva. For $10 we were able to explore 9 vineyards and drink as much wine as we could. Wherever we looked the vineyards went on endlessly. Each of the different buildings where the tastings were at were very different. For example one was a giant loft like barn while another was in a cellar surrounded by barrels that were 10 feet high. After the wine tasting we headed back to Geneva (surprisingly it was only 20 minutes away) and went for a walk along the lake.
On Sunday I went for a run to explore Geneva. I wanted to see how far north along the river I could get. I was surprised to find that after just a couple of miles there was a zoo open to the public. The zoo had a bunch of animals I wouldn't’t expect to be in a zoo such as deer and goats. There were also more exotic animals such as ostriches.
After two weeks I can say that I am confident about my navigation skills around the city and am starting to feel comfortable and used to living here. I’m very excited to see what the rest in the summer has in store.