Week 6: Conference Call with Bosnia
This week, I had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with Bosnia to see how the home office at NCSC engages with its field office. This call was about the Student Law Practicum Program. This project is a series of clinical programs with law faculty that work to create practice based learning in high schools and in colleges. The NCSC field workers continuously build relationships with law faculties to strengthen these clinics. Tim and the NCSC field workers discussed the policy design for expanding this program to two new law schools. It was very interesting listening in on how business is conducted between the home office and the field office. Additionally, the call briefly discussed ongoing programs to give us interns background information on the type of projects that are being implemented in Bosnia. Right now, NCSC is implementing mock trial programs in high schools to strengthen the local youth's understanding of the legal system. The discussion about the mock trial program was particularly interesting because one of my first assignments at NCSC during my first week was to edit a final progress report on the mock trial program. It has been a great learning experience to see every step of program implementation at NCSC, from speaking with field workers to editing final reports.
Similarly, Tim also tasked me with editing a technical proposal for a new project that will be implemented in Malaysia. A technical proposal is essentially a narrative that outlines the purpose of the program, the objectives, and the proposed activities. Additionally, I got to read the Request for Proposal for the Malaysian project to gain a general understanding of this project's goals and objectives. The purpose of this project is to strengthen the judiciary of Malaysia, specifically by reforming the Judicial Appointments Commission. Along with editing the technical proposal, I researched NGOs in Malaysia that might be helpful in creating the problem statement for the technical proposal. Next week, I will be meeting with Tim to discuss how to draft the logic model and the monitoring and evaluation plan for the project.
While I love working on the legal assignments, it has been an amazing opportunity getting to be apart of every aspect of what NCSC does from program management to general counsel work. Having the ability to see how a program is created from the beginning stages to final reports has allowed me to understand how NCSC completes its mission in improving the rule of law and justice sectors around the world. I am grateful for the wide range of experience I have gained at this internship, and I cannot wait to continue to work on a variety of projects in the coming weeks. (I can't believe I only have a few weeks left!) Next week is a shorter week because of the holiday, and I will be spending most of it back home in Illinois. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my family, and especially, my dog!