Week 10: Nostalgia, Chocolate Club, and UNDEF Grant Compliance
At work this week I wrapped up the various projects I’ve been working on lately.
I submitted my Indonesian Advisement of Rights document for review! This was an interesting project, and hopefully the team in Indonesia will be able to use it for training and Advisement of Rights campaigns. 
I spent the first half of the week finishing the narrative report for Tunisia. UNDEF, who gave IBJ a bunch of money, asks for three detailed status reports throughout the project. During our Tunisia project, we have had to make several changes due to the reality on the ground. A lot of these changes have to do with Tunisian lawyers being suspicious of the app we proposed. In the report, I had to explain these key pivots and how they related to the specific target indicators IBJ chose for the project. This was tricky, because in some cases, the pivots meant that some of the target indicators are irrelevant. It was also a process to track down all of the supporting documents and organize them in the Annex section. The report was due on Thursday, and I was glad when we submitted it.
Midway through the week, I was also asked to check on what the UNDEF’s requirements are for subgrants, i.e., the money IBJ gives to lawyers on the ground to fund their casework. I had to check whether the money can be given prior to casework being completed, or whether it has to be given as reimbursement. The EU apparently has very strict rules on this, but according to my research, the UN does not.
Outside of work this week:
- As usual, I went to the lake most afternoons this week. The weather was nicer though, so it got cooler faster at night, which was MUCH appreciated.
- I did my final walks around Geneva. I went to Old Town, my favorite part of the city, and wandered around for a while on Friday. I visited Pages and Sips and got my favorite dessert at the Italian restaurant on the hill.
- At work, the remaining interns have participated in “Chocolate Club,” which we should have been doing earlier. Basically, every day someone brings a bar of chocolate for everyone to try and we rank them on the whiteboard at the office. The goal is to find the best bars of chocolate to bring home for family and friends
- On that note, my last tasks were to buy postcards and chocolate to bring home, and pack up my room at the foyer! I headed to the airport early this morning for my flight back to Williamsburg, just in time for classes to start on Monday.
And that’s a wrap on the summer in Geneva! Thanks for reading!