Placement Report
Florencia Edgina S3605051
Programme: BA International Relations and International
Organisations (IRIO)
Address: Peizerweg 51b, Groningen, 9726 JD
Telephone: +31655916337
Email:
florencia.edgina@gmail.com
Placement Organization: Women Political Leaders (WPL),
Brussels Office
Placement Supervisor: Lucia de Luca, Managing Director,
Patricia Cepeda, Communications Coordinator (Direct
Supervisor)
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Preface
As part of the BA International Relations and International Organizations third-year elective, I pursued a placement combined with a university minor during my first semester of my senior year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my study plan for the academic year of 2020-2021 was completely re-organised. When my minor abroad was cancelled due to safety restrictions, I opted to do a placement to gain more practical knowledge and learned more about workplace environments to help prepare me for my future career. In the end, this became one of the best choices I have made during my studies due to the opportunity and knowledge that I have received from my experiences.
As I was late in applying to the job market and was unsure whether I will have the opportunity of pursuing a placement. I applied to several International Organizations in Europe that focus on areas of studies that I am interested in. I applied to Women Political Leaders (WPL), an NGO based in Brussels, at the end of June after hearing about the internship opening in LinkedIn and their website. I was immediately attracted to the opportunity as I have always been deeply passionate about women empowerment and representation in politics and am eager to learn the working structure of a global organizations and its events. I applied by sending in my CV, motivation letter, as well as examples of policy briefs, writings and visual designs that I have done for my organizational work as I was applying for an internship in the project management division. I was offered an interview at the end of July in which I described my passion on the issue of women empowerment and emancipation in the political field as well as answered questions regarding my previous work, study and organizational experiences. I received the news that my application was accepted afterwards and a contract was signed between the University and WPL starting from the 19th of August until the 6th of November.
In doing this placement, my personal learning objectives were:
-
To learn and gain a better understanding of the working and structure of an International Organization such as WPL-
To gain a practical experience of working in a multicultural, multidisciplinary and international team-
To research and gain a better knowledge on women emancipation, women’s role in advocacy and international politics-
To gain up an up close and personal experience of participating and preparing for an international forum (Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders 2020)-
To build up valuable networks with influential women and women leaders in the international politics field-
To improve my research and event management skills that will be necessary in future working experience-
To improve my language skills (French, Spanish and English in a professional working environment)With this report I will describe my experiences, outcomes and competencies that I have gained from this placement opportunity. Attached in the appendices are one concept note as well as a newsflash that I have written.
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Table of Contents
Preface ... 1
Table of Contents ... 2
Introduction (Executive Summary) ... 3
Placement Organization (Women Political Leaders) .... 3
Description of Placement ... 4
Evaluation ... 8
Bibliography ... 10
Appendices ... 10
Appendix 1 ... 11
Appendix 2 ... 13
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Introduction (Executive Summary)
Women Political Leaders (WPL) is a non-profit international foundation that encompasses the global network of female politicians with the mission of increasing both the number and influence of women in political leadership positions worldwide.1 The organization regularly hosts events and research all with the aim of advancing women leaders’ networks and participation. With three other interns, I was given the opportunity to aid the Brussels team working remotely from home. I was allocated to the project management team as a project management assistant, specifically under the supervision of the communications team, whose main task is to provide support with the outcome products (newsletters, website, articles, social media, etc) of WPL’s events.
My tasks mainly consist of being a content writer of products in preparation of, during, and after an event. This consists of writing website articles and social media posts to promote the event, writing concept notes, researching topics, as well as writing speakers’ invitations. I am also involved directly in event planning, logistical and technical support, documents’ translations as well as internal meetings and coordination.
My placement in WPL has been an overall enriching and exciting experience. My working supervisors and colleagues have been very supportive and I have always been treated as a part of the team, including being given an active role that allowed me to grow and learn. This allows me to fulfil all my targeted learning objectives. Not only have I learned new hard skills necessary for my future careers such as operating the Salesforce and Beepro softwares, I have developed invaluable communications skills through the extraordinary experience of working firsthand and interacting in a multicultural team preparing for an international event. I have gained a better understanding of the protocols, communication language of interacting with high-profile leaders, working colleagues and people from different backgrounds in a professional way. Through daily practice of writing official documents aimed for different goals, I have improved my writing and research skills and gained a better grasp of communicating in context through writing. Thanks to the international nature of the organization and the diversity of the team, I have also improved my language skills (in French and Spanish) through communication with team members and translating documents. My internship has most of all allowed me to learn more on women’s roles in all sectors of societies around the world and the glass-ceiling barriers that they constantly face. It has further inspired me to continue advocating and advancing women’s rights and political participation in any sector of area I choose to specialize in in my future career.
Placement Organization
Women Political Leaders (WPL)
Women Political Leaders (WPL) is an independent, international, charitable and post-partisan foundation established with the aim of creating a more inclusive society and advancing the role of women in politics.2 As a global network of female political leaders both at national and international level, WPL members currently comprise of around 9,000 female politicians from Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers, Parliamentarians from national parliaments, European Parliament and other international organizations. The organisation holds forums, conferences, talks, as well as conduct studies. The foundation is based in Reykjavik, Iceland with an office in Brussels, Belgium.
1 “Women Political Leaders: Advancing Society,” Women Political Leaders (WPL), last accessed November 5,
2020, https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/.
4 | P a g e In collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organisations such as the EU and the WB, WPL hosts regular summits, forums, webinars, and talks worldwide centralising on the topic of women empowerment in six policy areas: Leadership and Governance, Digitalisation and Technology, Sustainable Development Goals, Peace and Security, Economics and Finance, and Health.3 Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the office has been closed down and all activities are moved online.
Each year WPL partners with the Government and Parliament of Iceland to host its biggest annual international summit, the Reykjavík Global Forum. It brings together women leaders from all sectors worldwide: politics, business, tech, science, media, etc to discuss and share ideas and solutions on how to further empower women’s role in society. insights and experiences. The Reykjavik Global Forum 2020 is set to take place on 9-11 of November virtually with the title: Advancing Society.4
In addition to creating a platform for female parliamentarians, WPL partners with other organizations to launch relevant reports such as the study “The Female Political Career”, produced by Yale University and the London School of Economics, designed to understand the hurdles women face in launching and sustaining successful political careers.5
The Placement
I. Introduction to the placement and the day to day workflow
I joined the Brussels team with four other interns, each allocated to different sections of the organisation. As part of the project management team under Lucia de Luca, Managing Director, I was specifically assigned into the communications team, under the direct supervision of Patricia Cepeda, Communications Coordinator. I work closely in a team of three, with several others joining nearing the date of the Forum 2020. The team mainly communicates through whatsapp groupchat and through a new application, TeamWork, to manage the online working situation. This allows team leaders to
3 Ibid.
4 “Forum 2020,” Reykjavík Global Forum, last accessed November 7, 2020,
https://reykjavikforum.global/forum-2020/.
5 “WPL Studies,” Women Political Leaders (WPL), last accessed November 7, 2020,
https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/studies/.
5 | P a g e monitor the progress of each person’s project and deadlines, assign tasks to specific person, and utilise the online chatting function. Thus, my work was always monitored and any problems encountered was always addressed straight away.
All works and projects are stored in one main drive that is accessible to everyone. The workflow has not been disturbed by the online format, as the tasks are well-organised, and assigned clearly with specific deadlines. Communication with my supervisor and other co-workers is very active minutely through chats or online meetings during working hours (9am to 6pm). The day is usually filled with various online meetings, sometimes organised by my supervisors or by myself and other team members to coordinate the workflow of the project.
Due to the small number of the team, everyone is familiar with each other, and the working environment has a nice dynamic. I immediately feel welcomed. Besides regular meetings where we discuss work and projects, the team, along with the supervisors and directors, also hold working meetings or virtual offices, where everyone joins an online room to work on our own tasks together in silence. Through this, each problem that arises can be directly addressed, and the managing directors are easily reached. The team also holds online team building meetings, usually through coffee breaks each week. During these sessions, games and quizzes were also held frequently, to increase the familiarity between one team member to another.
An example of my online working schedules in a week with planned meetings and check-in II. Working process, tasks, and outputs
I joined the team originally as a content writer. However, the tasks that I received often varied and encompass a broader spectrum of work. I was thoroughly grateful of the opportunity that the organisation gave me even just as an intern, I was trusted with the same responsibility as others and was encouraged to set my own pace, pitch ideas, work on the projects creatively, even represent the organisation externally and collaborate independently with different members of the organisation. During my placement, I have had the opportunity to collaborate in preparing these events:
6 | P a g e • Power Parity (Webinar of WPL and Women20): highlighting the exemplary role female political leaders – as well as female health and social workers – have played during the COVID-19 pandemic.6 • Instagram Lives with WPL Board Members: this series consists of interviews with distinguished women political that offered their perspective and expertise to help dissect current global challenges at WPL Instagram channel.
• The 2020 Concordia
Annual Summit: WPL
participates in the Concordia summit with the theme Advancing inclusion & representation in government, and Re-building healthcare systems in light of the current pandemic.
• WPL in SDG Action Zones: WPL participates in the UN’s SDG Action Zone conference in the session “When Women Lead.” addressing how to concretely remove barriers for female leadership.7
• Visibility Initiatives: WPL launches the visibility initiatives to spread awareness to women empowerment.
• Women leading politics and development Global Parliamentary Forum: The World Bank, IMF & WPL co-hosted the session Women Leading Politics and Development on the second day of the Global Parliamentary Forum.8
• Women rising for democracy: WPL and the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organised a high-level panel discussion featuring the participation of women leaders who have upheld democratic ideals with guests such as Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Opposition leader, Belarus (2020).
• The Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders 2020: The Forum is the space where women leaders discuss and share ideas and solutions on how to further advance society, increase gender equality and promote and positively develop the number of women in leadership positions.9
My tasks consist of:
1. Preparing event products:
6 “Power parity: getting to a new normal in political representation,” Women Political Leaders (WPL),
September 2, 2020, https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/event/power-parity-getting-to-a-new-normal-in-political-representation/.
7 “When Women Lead,” SDG Action Zone, last accessed November 7, 2020,
https://sdgactionzone.org/class/when-women-lead/.
8 “Women leading politics and development,” Women Political Leaders (WPL), October 13, 2020,
https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/event/women-leading-politics-and-development/.
9 “Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders 2020,” Women Political Leaders (WPL), November 9, 2020,
7 | P a g e Most of my main work consists of preparing the products in preparation of, during, and after an event. This includes, writing speakers’ invitations, writing press releases, writing speakers’ guiding questions (if the event is a talk-show, webinar, or a Forum), writing topic and concept notes of the events, writing social media posts announcements and live during the event, as well as writing website’s announcements.
This has enabled me to obtain a vast amount of new knowledge, especially in drafting concept notes, researching topics, or writing speakers’ questions. Working with a media specialist in the team, I was usually provided guiding articles from the previous media monitoring upon the topic to write. I then conducted my research, analyse, summarize and write a relevant topic/concept note/speakers’ questions based on the theme. Furthermore, this opportunity has vastly expanded my diction and writing skills, especially as I learn to write within specific concepts targeting different audiences. I was allowed to find my own style in writing, albeit all works have to be reviewed and proofread by the managing director and a certified proof-reader in the end. The skills I gained from my BA in writing academic papers truly helped albeit at the beginning, I received a lot of corrections as I have only ever had experiences in writing for academia and non-published related content. However, with time I began to learn the different writing styles required targeting the different products produced. This experience has taught me the small, crucial details in working in an international affairs environment, such as the importance of the order of speaking for high-level speakers, as well as each country’s code of conduct in addressing titles.
2. Involved directly in event planning:
Besides providing content for the events’ products, I was likewise actively involved in the organisation and planning of the event. This includes, managing the technical and logistical aspects of the event (monitoring webinars on zoom), scheduling meetings for members of the team, as well as other tasks such as updating and finding list of possible speakers for the events, coordinating mass email send-outs, helping to prepare visual designs and email templates with a co-worker, and many others.
These tasks allowed me to develop my practical skills. In the beginning of the internship, all interns received a training in Salesforce (company’s database management), and beepro (email templates builder) which are thoroughly used during the internship. This prepared me for the upcoming job market. As I am often encouraged to propose events ideas, this also helps me develop my creativity and expanded my knowledge area.
3. Document translation and languages:
Oftentimes, I was also asked to prepare the outcome products, not only in English but in WPL’s other working languages: French and Spanish. This has greatly aided my language skills, especially in formal foreign language
8 | P a g e writing. In the end, the document is always reviewed and approved by a native speaker member of the team, allowing me to learn from my mistakes and develop. Furthermore, although the official language of the organisation in English, conversations in informal situations and team meetings often utilises Spanish or French, thus allowing me to improve my oral language skill.
4. The Reykjavík Global Forum 2020
By October, all the organisation´s work centralises on the upcoming annual Forum. This is the busiest time of my placement and during this period, the team receives 3 new members to help with the process. The work for the Forum is diverse, specifically focusing on the Partners and Speakers of the Forum. This consists of producing products (social media posts, toolkits website articles, etc.) for the partners of the Forum, writing daily social media content on the programme and speakers of the Forum, writing newsletters, newsflashes, and other editorial pieces on the Forum, as well as reaching out and maintaining contact with the Conversationists/ speakers of the Forum. During the Forum I took notes and wrote publication products as requested.
This experience has been especially new as I was assigned to liaise with external parties for the first time. I monitored the organisation’s email and maintain contact with the speakers and their team. This has proved to be an invaluable learning opportunity for my professional communication skills. The event itself has been an unmissable experience, featuring Conversationists and leaders from all sectors of society worldwide, such as Hillary Clinton, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Caroline Wozniacki, Former Professional Tennis Player, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, and many others.
Evaluation
I. Learning ObjectivesThe placement with WPL has thus helped me fulfill all my learning objectives that I set out in the beginning.
• To learn and gain a better understanding of the working and structure of an International Organization such as WPL: Through this internship I have gained a crucial knowledge of the working environment, specifically, the code of conduct in the International Affairs world that I would not received solely from my theoretical research or university studies. I learned invaluable lesson on the working structure behind IOs. The biggest lesson I have learned is on communicating my point effectively and accordingly whether to the manager, a co-worker, or even VIPs, as well as in addressing others. • To gain a practical experience of working in a multicultural, multidisciplinary and
international team: With colleagues from all around the world and different time zones, I have learned to adapt, communicate, and work with people with different backgrounds and working style. Since WPL’s activities involve a broad spectrum: research, holding events, working projects, communications, and advocacy, I have had the opportunity to discuss with multidisciplinary experts and have gained a better understanding on the importance of an all-round knowledge to work in International Affairs.
• To research and gain a better knowledge on women emancipation, women’s role in advocacy and international politics: As an NGO, all our team members are deeply passionate about the subject of women emancipation and leadership. Thus, they often share
9 | P a g e news and articles, on the topic of women’s rights. Through my research and daily work, I have also acquired more knowledge on the topic.
• To gain up an up close and personal experience of participating and preparing for an international forum: Reykjavík Global Forum 2020 takes place on 9-11 November. During the date of the Forum, I was actively involved, in preparing promotion materials and monitoring the sessions. All in all, it was an enriching and exciting experience to witness women leaders around the world come together to discuss solutions to build back a better, more inclusive, sustainable future.
• To build up valuable networks with influential women and women leaders in the international politics field: During my internship, I was asked to help monitor and response the organisation’s main email and social media. Through this, I was in direct communication with women leaders and their team or assistants. I hope that in the future I would be able to expand my network even more during my working years.
• To improve my research and event management skills that will be necessary in future working experience: Through the placement and also by observing my other co-workers and supervisors, I have gained more new knowledge on organising international events and coordinating interdisciplinary work. Through content writing, I have also developed my research skills, specifically on a more non-academic, media-related and public-oriented research and writing. More importantly, I am now proficient in softwares commonly used in the office such as Salesforce and Beepro.
• To improve my language skills (French, Spanish and English in a professional working environment): Although the working language is still English, my working environment allows me to be surrounded by Spanish and French, especially in correspondent language and informal conversations between the team. This allows me to put into practice in a professional context the language skills I have gained from my BA and I improved my writing and listening skills of the two languages immensely.
All of this acquired skills aid me not only in the research part of my study programme, but also in working and communicating better with fellow students in a project. With this real-life hands-on practical experience, as well as further intensified knowledge on women’s rights, empowerment and women’s role in leaderships and politics, I hope that this will contribute positively to my thesis work as well as other group projects in the upcoming year. More importantly, I hope that this will prepare me in entering the job market and my career in years to come.
II. Contributions to the Organisations
Under the guidance of my supervisor, me and our team have managed to spread more awareness on social media and the media about the crucial importance of women’s role and inclusivity in the recovery process of COVID-19. I sincerely hope that the words and messages of empowerment that I have written can help the organization create an impact, especially in these times where women’s leadership is needed more than ever.
III. Future Orientation
This placement has opened my eyes into the joy and excitement of working for an International Organisation. Moreover, I am now very open and looking forward to work for Non-Governmental Organisations, especially for a cause that I truly believe in such as women empowerment. I aim to
10 | P a g e make an impact on a larger scale, and hope that in whichever career path I choose in the future, I will incorporate the cruciality of women empowerment and women’s rights.
Bibliography
#Girl2leader. “Lead Like A Girl!.” Last accessed November 8, 2020. https://girl2leader.org/.
Reykjavík Global Forum. “Forum 2020.” Last accessed November 7, 2020. https://reykjavikforum.global/forum-2020/.
SDG Action Zone. “When Women Lead.” Last accessed November 7, 2020.
https://sdgactionzone.org/class/when-women-lead/.
Women Political Leaders (WPL). “Power parity: getting to a new normal in political representation.” September 2, 2020. https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/event/power-parity-getting-to-a-new-normal-in-political-representation/.
Women Political Leaders (WPL). “Reykjavík Global Forum – Women Leaders 2020,” November 9, 2020, https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/event/reykjavik-global-forum-women-leaders-2020/.
Women Political Leaders (WPL). “WPL Studies.” Last accessed November 7, 2020, https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/studies/.
Women Political Leaders (WPL). “Women leading politics and development.” October 13, 2020,
https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/event/women-leading-politics-and-development/. Women Political Leaders (WPL). “Women Political Leaders: Advancing Society.” Last Accessed
November 5, 2020, https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/.
All pictures are taken from the WPL website: https://www.womenpoliticalleaders.org/, or the Reykjavík Global Forum website: https://reykjavikforum.global/ as listed above
Appendices
The appendices contain:1. A concept note written for a webinar interview with a politician: Dr. Jewel Howard Taylor 2. The Forum 2020 with writing and visuals prepared by me (example of media content
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Live with Leaders: Challenging convention through conversation
Chief Dr. Jewel Howard Taylor
October 12th, 09:00 AM CET October 12th, 08:00 PM NZDT About the Instagram Live Series
Women Political Leaders is launching a new special series: Live with Leaders: Challenging convention through conversation. The series will be broadcast live on WPL’s Instagram channel (@wpleadersorg) and will be moderated by Helen Clark, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999 - 2008), Chair of WPL Board, Co-chair, WHO Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (2020), Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (2009- 2017).
The interviews are set to feature distinguished women political leaders who are working to build a better future for women and, consequently, the world. The line-up includes former Presidents, Prime Ministers, Members of Parliament, and a sitting Vice President. Each woman political leader is also a member of the WPL Board and will offer her perspective and expertise to help dissect current global challenges.
Amidst a global crisis, the esteemed conversationalists will inspire hope for a better tomorrow and will offer concrete examples of how to build power for a more sustainable, more equal future for generations to come.
About the speaker
Chief Dr. Taylor serves as the Vice President of the Republic of Liberia. Her Excellency is an active stateswoman with a strong voice advocating for equality between men and women, affordable and quality education, a fair and transparent justice system, the improvement of accessible health care systems, improved women’s economic and political participation and an accountable public service system.
Her Excellency Chief Dr. Howard Taylor has previously served as a former Ranking Member of the Liberian Senate on several strategic committees including the Women's Legislative Caucus; Education; Judiciary; Defense; Internal Affairs and Gender Committees. Chief Dr. Taylor is a strong pillar of the Christian Community; a believer in women’s economic and political empowerment, multiparty democracy, freedom of speech, Human Rights and the Rule of Law. She remains a strong voice for change and progress and is an icon for African Women, especially Liberian Women.
12 | P a g e About the topic
Women and the pandemic - where are the voices?
Access to healthcare & women’s roles on the frontlines of the pandemic; why are women not recognized for their work as leaders and why do they continue to be excluded from decision making spheres?
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only brought harsh consequences to the world’s well being and economy, it has also revealed persisting structural inequalities within our societies. One of the most prominent of this is the widening equality gap between women and men as women are disproportionately affected during the pandemic. As the global economy plunges into the deepest recession since the end of World War II, drastic measures taken to contain the shock have undoed hard-won progress towards equality between men and women.10
How has women been especially affected?
Global lockdown and school closures shifted paid to unpaid care, forcing women to leave paid work and educational pursuit as they became unable to manage them alongside the increased economic burden.11 Furthermore, more women globally work in the informal sectors (education, healthcare,
food, etc), which have been severely impacted by the lockdown.12 Across the globe, women earn less,
hold less secure jobs with less safety nets such as health insurances and thus are the first to be cut during companies lay-offs.13 Lastly, as the world calls for global lockdowns, violence against women
has significantly increased during the pandemic.14
Women’s roles are crucial in the pandemic response and recovery. Despite this, women are still rarely compensated equally or have access to places where they can determine the policies that will help shape their lives in times of this crisis. WHO states that in 104 countries women constitute approximately 70 % of health workers who are on the frontlines in the fight against Covid-19, but earn 11 per cent less than men with similar responsibilities.15
This pandemic has reminded us more than ever the need to address inequalities in our political and socio-economic spaces. It is also a golden opportunity to demonstrate the world’s need for a new kind of leadership with a gendered perspective, and build back a better, equitable society with policies that impact women. Researchers have shown that countries led by women are performing better than
10 https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/covid-19-economic-crisis-women-latin-america-gender-parity/ 11 Ibid 12 https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/women-during-pandemic-1502910069.html 13 https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/report/policy-brief-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-women/policy-brief-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-women-en-1.pdf 14 Ibid 15 https://www.thestatesman.com/opinion/women-during-pandemic-1502910069.html
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those headed by men, with lower death rates and infections.16 A seat at the table makes all the
difference. Including women in crisis policy making improves the quality of a decision. What can we do about it? How can we start the change towards a more women inclusive society? This conversation will be the perfect platform to address these issues.
(Run of shows and other confidential excerpts are cut out from this document)
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