For my Leadership In Action Project, I will be advocating for marginalized communities in Myanmar, Tunisia, Palestine, Nepal, and Afghanistan by supporting the pro bono legal aid of the International Legal Foundation. I write to you today from New York City, where the International Legal Foundation is headquartered, and where I am beginning my LIA by working under Leah, the ILF’s Advocacy and Communications Director, to help the ILF-supported communities in each of these countries!
On my first day, I arrived at the ILF and met the Executive Director, Jennifer, and our HR Manager, Meghan. My first week included lots of introductions to the International Legal Foundation to familiarize myself with their work, to be the best advocate for their communities of service! It also included a Zoom meet and greet with my ILF cohort, where I got to meet the impressive and passionate other college students who will be accompanying me along this journey.
My first week, I took on two big projects related to the ILF’s Tunisia and Myanmar campaigns. The ILF primarily serves communities by opening and operating public defenders' offices in nations including Tunisia and Myanmar, to ensure legal defense and uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)’s longevity. Therefore, in my first week, I went through many reports, including data retrieved from clients supported by the ILF by these offices. In Tunisia, the reports primarily concerned support for children impacted and overly criminalized by the legal system. In Myanmar, I was tasked with fact-checking, proofreading, and ensuring ILF supported accuracy for a campaign primarily surrounding the criminalization of gender (and disadvantaging of women) in the country.
Ostensibly, these two communities, as well as all of the ILF’s supported communities, are quite different from my research last summer (which revolved around the impacts of polarization in New York City through a neighborhood-level analysis). However, there are many overlaps. For example, just as United States Federal policy and phenomena are creating community-level rifts that disadvantaged populations of concern in my independent research (as notably marginalized communities had the largest gaps in community vitality from polarization increases), the same can be said about the ILF and its work. Trump’s cut to USAID grants (the ILF’s predominant funding source) has significantly impacted prospective clients in need of legal defense in Tunisia, Myanmar, and around the world. Without funding, the ILF’s public defender’s offices cannot operate and hence -- in the same way -- macro policy intrudes, and disadvantages into micro-level lived experiences. This is why I’m excited to help the ILF grow its in-community and in-country networks, hopefully leveraging my fundraising background to pioneer a new fundraising strategy.
Here is a seal awarded to the ILF from the Supreme Court of Nepal for their pro bono advocacy -- one of many artefacts in the ILF New York headquarters that speak to the international capacity and global impact of their services!
And of course, when I got home from the ILF, I was able to keep enjoying NYC -- a city that I love. Prior to Columbia University Graduation, I joined some seniors in their graduation celebrations -- enjoying an all-you-can-eat omakase restaurant in Brooklyn. Here’s a pic!