Week 8
The work done by NCSC is a crucial element in supporting the rule of law around the globe. But we would not be able to do any of this work without the support of our sponsor agencies, who pay the NCSC to carry out international projects in support of the rule of law. Last week, the NCSC submitted applications in response to two different NOFOs, one for a project in a country in Southeastern Europe, and another for a project in a country in East Asia. Both of these projects would be a great opportunity for the NCSC to use its experience and strengths to strengthen judicial institutions in these nations, and I hope that the U.S. government agencies select the NCSC to carry out their objectives.
Needless to say, last week was a busy one! The office was all-hands-on-deck to get the proposals out before the deadlines. The sense of camaraderie was palpable, especially when it resulted from after-hours work to make sure the proposals were finished and properly proofread. As part of this team effort, I participated by performing a variety of different tasks. These included, in no particular order: creating attachments for the proposals (letters of support, timelines, etc.), drafting language to go in multiple proposal sections, creating a chart of all the acronyms used in the proposals, and proofreading the final document for grammatical and spelling errors (this last one made me feel a uniquely-high amount of pressure to not miss any issues).
After the proposals were submitted, I had time in the week to continue to work with the NCSC’s intern in Bosnia to, in line with the project extension, update the work plan document for NCSC’s project in Bosnia to implement an improved legal educational system. I also was able to implement Moldovan ministry of Education (MoE) Learning Outcome standards into the NCSC’s Legal Reasoning, Research and Writing (LRRW) course that is being taught in Moldova; this task involved cross-checking the Moldovan MoE standards against each of the classes in the LRRW curriculum, and figuring out which outcomes fit best with which class (some classes aligned with multiple Learning Outcomes).
It was an intense week at NCSC, but a very rewarding one!