I have always been passionate about human rights and humanitarian problems, specifically in Latin America. Therefore, before beginning my undergraduate degree at Ď㽶ĘÓƵ, I decided to major in Political Science and pursue a minor in both History and Social Entrepreneurship to learn more about the ways in which certain communities are impacted by certain problems and also to learn about tangible solutions to the pressing humanitarian issues people face. For this summer, I decided that I wanted to dig deeper into human rights issues beyond the classroom by interning somewhere that dealt with these problems first-hand, and I ended up having the wonderful opportunity to remotely work for the United Nations High Comissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ecuador as a Communications intern.
The UNHCR in Ecuador seeks to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced persons, as well as assist them in their adjustment to Ecuador upon arrival. Before beginning the internship, my goals were to learn more about the UNHCR, the role of social media and communications in the organization, and their contribution to helping refugees through communications. I began my internship by taking four different modules that taught me about the public information unit and forced displacement and refugee populations; afterwards, I was able to jump into the main tasks and projects I would tackle for the rest of the internship.
My tasks included managing the UNHCR Ecuador Instagram page, which included content creation and social media planning. I would curate the Instagram feed and create content on Canva and Tiktok that would be uploaded to Instagram. My team taught me that our social media channels were used to promote inclusion of and solidarity with refugees in order to decrease xenophobia and discrimination of refugees amongst Ecuadorians. One of the highlights of my internship was being able to create a Reel to talk about and promote a children’s book about forced displacement written by Venezuelan refugees named “Las Aventuras de MAFU.” I was especially proud of this Reel as I was helping to promote this beautiful book inspired by the children’s own experiences to over 2,700 users on Instagram.
Additionally, I was in charge of creating a press review that would be sent out every morning to important stakeholders within the organization and partner organizations. This press review included Ecuadorian news that pertained to topics that affected or had to do with refugee populations in the country, as well as any national context that was relevant to the unit. Through this task, I had the opportunity to learn about Ecuador’s political, economic, and social context, as well as earn extensive knowledge on the refugee situation in Ecuador. I also supported the unit with the creation of the Weekly Report, an internal document used to highlight the contributions and impacts across all 10 field units and offices.
While working remotely was a challenge as I was not able to meet my team personally or work directly with refugees, I was very fortunate to work alongside a motivated team that was driven to help refugees. Additionally, my experiences allowed me to learn more closely about Ecuador, a country with one of the largest recognized refugee populations in Latin America. Overall, I am extremely thankful to have had this opportunity to work in the UNHCR to promote its mission in Ecuador. Thank you to George Currie for the opportunity to receive funding from the McDonald Currie Fund, my team at UNHCR, and the Arts Internship Office for all their support and making this opportunity possible. I’m looking forward to applying my knowledge and hopefully get the chance to work with refugees in the future.
