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Recent Internships at Cornell in Rome

World Food Program
Many Cornell in Rome students have interned with the World Food Program (WFP). Recently, one student was placed in the Policy, Planning, and Strategy Division. He had a strong interest in quantitative methods and developed a vulnerability index measuring the response of developing countries to the current financial crisis. The results of his efforts were successful enough to be adopted in WFP’s monitoring activities. Another student worked on WFP food security logistics, and was offered a position in the field at the end of his internship.

 

In the past our interns have been involved in various divisions at the WFP. The Official Development Assistance service is research oriented, while other services are concerned with the logistics of food distribution. Work done by the Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit is mainly concerned with the logistics of delivering food aid. The Nutrition Service: Policy, Strategy and Programme Support Division (PDPN), instead, is more focused on research and producing correlations between social parameters and nutritional issues. An internship with Policy Strategy and Programmed Support Division (PDPE) involved the collection and analysis of economic and social data, participation in on-going projects concerned with improving indicators linking economic environment/food aid with nutrition/health (inequalities, trends, country clusters), and assessing the economic and social impact of NW operations.

 

"The work of an intern so easily can get lost in the grand scheme of the organization that one feels like they have not contributed anything meaningful. That is not at all the case at WFP where they have done a great job of involving me and making the work I do feel valued.  That it is in Rome, with all its history, culture, vibrancy, and food — the entire mise en scène — makes this semester the defining experience of my academic career." Andrei Parvan, CIPA student, WFP intern

 

Food and Agricultural Organization

Students have interned with the Research and Extension Division of the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department. This proved to be an exciting experience, involving considerable research and intellectual work. One student was interested in water scarcity and was placed with the coordinator of the U.N. led project on Water Scarcity at the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome.

 

Land and Water Division of the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department
A student, whose background was in resource management, completed an internship that allowed her to acquire a larger vision of these concerns seen in a global perspective on natural resources management.

 

Global Information and Early Warning System Service, Commodities and Trade Division
This internship required skills in quantitative and spatial analysis. The chief activities concerned country and regional studies and analyzing factors which constitute critical conditions for food systems. The resulting studies were distributed through the FAO and WFP information services to reduce the threat of critical food and health conditions. The general activities of the service, and the internship, can be summarized as follows:
  • Monitoring and report writing
  • Early warning, which also involves making information available to specific agencies and to the public
  • Assessment, which may involve joint FAO - WFP project

 

"My initial project at FAO was the development of methodology for the measurement of essential climate variables, which will be submitted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and then disseminated among the range of research institutes, networks, and agencies that monitor climate change. Sophie Mintier, FAO intern

 

International Development Law Organization
This was mostly a research based internship, performing background research on topics relating to IDLO’s activities, and writing up the results in a format which served the organization’s needs. The internship permitted considerable autonomy within a very supportive organizational framework.

 

"During my first week as an intern at the International Development Law Organization, I attended a policy dialogue with the government of Sudan and the United Nations Organization of Drugs and Crime. The internship has provided exciting professional opportunities that have facilitated my understanding of international law."—Derrick Clarke, CIPA student, IDLO intern

 

Foreign Trade Office
This is an official state body focused on promoting Italian trade in the world. The internship involved carrying out studies of commercial flows between Italy and selected countries in the Mediterranean and investigating domestic and European strategies aimed to enhance the volume of international trade.

 

City of Rome

Department of Civil Protection

The internship for the Department of Civil Protection required a strong background in quantitative analysis and skills concerning spatial analysis. These interests were put to work in organizing raw data pertinent to the needs of the central office of a civil protection service serving some three million Italian citizens.

 

Department XIX – Sustainable Growth and Periphery

Student interns worked with Rome’s most prominent expert on participatory planning, analyzing projects for the development of a peripheral area characterized by the high incidence of public housing. The internship involved working with various divisions of the City of Rome and gathering material needed to make a public presentation on possible outcomes different approaches to local development. 

 

"I'm doing neighborhood and public participation research. I am working with my adviser to generate an options report regarding ways the cittadini locali can be involved in the planning process for neighborhood redevelopment. My end product will be a presentation given to stakeholders and municipal government employees." Joshua Lathan, M.R.P. student, City of Rome intern

 

Studio Mottura
Studio Mottura is a private consulting firm with an extensive portfolio of private and institutional clients. A CIPA intern, who was a finance major, completed an internship that was structured to provide her with a hands-on understanding of the way financial systems operate in Italy and in Europe.