Fellow Hasnain Nazar traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a sixth-month internship with Sisters in Islam (SIS), an NGO committed to promoting the rights of Muslim women in Malaysia. SIS’s international department, Musawah, works to help improve Islamic Family Laws in nations with primarily Muslim populations. Hasnain studied these laws, as well as the role of women and the dynamics of family systems in Islam, to prepare for his internship with the organization. SIS gave Hasnain the opportunity to work in multiple departments, and he was able to assist with work ranging from general IT needs to compiling research reports on family law.

In addition to that, Hasnain built a database for the NGO and transferred all of their data to a Centralized Network System (SDN-private cloud). The NGO used different platforms of social media to convey their message but didn’t particularly use them properly, so Hasnain aided them in making those tools as efficient and up-to-date as possible while simultaneously building them a new website. For each department, Hasnain offered consulting tips and trained others in database use, as well as website maintenance, to ensure sustainability of the projects which were implemented.

Advancing Sustainable Communities via Ancient Japanese Farming Practices began as a project to assess the success of Japanese sustainable farming in the context of rapid industrialization. The aim was to understand what factors, especially the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), had allowed these small farms to prosper, despite the encroachment of cities and spread of industrial agriculture, with the aim of being able to apply these techniques to other locations, especially rapidly developing nations.
Neil’s project uncovered a number of small and medium sized farms, whose owners had struggled to bring back the traditions of sustainability. While many of their methods are rooted in ancient practice, the most successful farms surveyed also employ modern ICT in order to manage a complex network of customers, distributors, and land holdings. The project involved travel to an array of locations with varying use of ICT. Neil visited farms in Ogawa-machi, Kazenoko, Ogawa and Fujinomiya, documenting their systems of inventory and harvest. He also explored marketing techniques, delivery, the origins of traditional farming methods, and social ties between organic farms.

Neil found that farms effectively employing ICT serve as a lesson to their peers in Japan and throughout the world, and all of the locations visited would benefit from expanded use of these technologies, such as an inventory management system and greater web presence.

Fall 2008

New Delhi, India

Fellow Dmitry Kogan, arrived in New Delhi late June through the Education Abroad Program (EAP) in pursuit of a suitable infoactivism internship. After careful research and an intensive Hindi language program, Dmitry found Butterflies, an NGO whose aim is to empower street children with the skills and knowledge to protect their rights and develop themselves as respected, productive citizens.

Dmitry helped bring ICT to Butterflies by teaching these children basic computer and work skills, quite a feat with children who have little or no experience with computers, and even more so with such a communication barrier. “Without a doubt this has been a long hard road,” Kogan said, “I conduct all the lessons in Hindi. However, with each day my Hindi improves and so does my relationship with the kids.”

Summer 2009

Bangalore, India

Namaskara! In June 2009, I traveled to Bangalore, India to work with the Technology for Emerging Markets Research (TEM) group, part of Microsoft Research India.  The TEM group is a multidisciplinary think tank that recognizes the limitless potential for development through the careful implementation of ICT and scientific research.

The internship has been an extremely rewarding and incredible learning experience. Currently, I am working on a research project that looks at understanding how to improve the quality of education in rural and low-income urban communities. I am doing a comparative study of English education in five schools, ranging from those where the quality of education is lacking, to schools in which students become fluent English speakers. The goal is to gain some sense for how good English education is in different environments. It also tries to understand what school investments are needed and teaching capacity required to teach and learn English at a high level.

As an extension of my research, I embarked on a two-week immersion program with the George Foundation’s Shanti Bhavan school. I volunteered and taught classes while observing the impact made through the Foundation’s immense investments in the school. By the end of this year, I will be done with my internship and will return to the United States to begin studying for the GRE. I plan to find a way to incorporate the knowledge and skills I acquired during this incredible internship to my career in a way that is useful, meaningful, and fulfilling.

Dmitry received the Sociology of Race, Class and Gender Award by the Sociology department at UCSC for his research with street and working children in New Delhi, India.

Fellow Maira Sutton, traveled to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for her six-month internship with Sisters in Islam (SIS), an NGO committed to promoting the rights of Islamic women. Maira worked in their Legal Unit on various research reports on family law and international child support agencies. “I was helping them plan and conduct their Mobile Legal Clinic, a workshop conducted in KL and surrounding communities to provide legal women and Muslim families with their legal rights,” she said.

On the technical side, Sutton also worked on their new Joomla! website, built a research a database for their CourtWatch program, and trained their legal interns to ensure that they can update the database on their own. “They kept me extremely busy with all the various projects,” said Maira, “but I cannot express how much fun I had with these incredible, fun, passionate women, as well as the amazingly rich, multicultural city of KL.”