Description

Join FSD for an amazing opportunity to work with healthcare services that need your support in Bolivia! The final date to apply for FSD's Fall 2011 session is January 1st.

About FSD and the Millennium Development Goals

Ten years ago, more than 100 world leaders joined together at the United Nations' Millennium Summit to form a global partnership with an ambitious goal: cut extreme poverty 50% by 2015. Declaring a set of time-bound, measurable targets that we know today as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations laid a blueprint for meeting human needs and basic rights for all.

With just five years from the 2015 deadline, hard-won gains such as getting children into primary schools and expanding access to clean water are being eroded by the climate, food and economic crises. Our failure to stay on-track carries real consequences: today, 25,000 children will die from easily preventable diseases--one child every three seconds (UNICEF). Right now, 925 million people do not have enough to eat and more than 1 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation and clean water (UNDP). Behind these statistics are real people and reaching all of them will require the combined efforts of individuals, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector.

FSD is doing its part through enhancing the capacity of more than 300 NGO partners around the world to address local health, social, environmental, and economic issues. Our asset-based approach to development leverages local resources before looking to external aid, emphasizes potentials rather than problems, and favors skill building over large financial awards. FSD is committed to the advancement of the MDGs through grassroots community action.

As an FSD Intern you will...

Work side-by-side with a Community-Based Organization specializing in one more of the following development sectors: health, youth and education, women's empowerment, microfinance, human rights, community development and/or environmental issues.

Receive intensive training in skills essential to sustainable development, such as: community asset mapping, needs assessments, collaborative project design, grant writing, and project monitoring and evaluation.

Gain grant writing and project management experience through designing and implementing a community-driven development project in partnership with your host organization.

Access the FSD Alumni Network upon your return home to connect with like-minded individuals who help one another to reach their academic and professional goals through networking and regional events. FSD Alumni have won internationally renowned scholarships, studied at prestigious graduate schools, worked for prominent international development organizations, and have even started their own grassroots organizations.

Highlights

Recent interns working in Public Health have...

Improve Maternal Health and Reduce Child Mortality
Spotlight on Hospital Puñata in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Bolivia has one of the highest maternal and child mortality rates outside sub-Saharan Africa, and the highest in Latin America. With 54 out of every 1,000 children dying before they reach their fifth birthday and 222 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, maternal-child health indicators are improving but still remain well below the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set for 2015.

Maternal and child health issues are even more severe amongst Bolivia's rural and indigenous populations. Prohibitive distance, cost, and a lack of doctors and nurses who speak Quechua or Aymara (national indigenous languages) prevent these Bolivians from accessing medical care. FSD partner, Hospital Puñata, serves a population of approximately 100,000, including Cochabamba's high valley population of rural farmers and surrounding indigenous communities. The hospital provides gynecology services, family planning, prenatal, postnatal, and postpartum care for mothers, as well as comprehensive medical and nutritional support for children under the age of five. An increasingly promising program, the hospital's maternal-child health campaigns target at-risk mothers and teach them culturally appropriate, affordable ways to care for themselves and their babies.

Qualifications

18+ Years Old

Experience abroad or working with other cultures

Intern Types

Languages

• English
• Spanish

Cost in US$:

Please visit our website for details

Experience Required

no

This Program is open to

American, Asian, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi, South African and Worldwide Participants.

Participants Travel

Independently

Typically Participants Work

Independently

Application Process Involves

• Phone/Video Interview
• Written Application

Typically The Application Process Time is

1 months

Post Services Include

• Alumni Network
• Exit Debriefing Abroad
• Job and Internship Network
• Re-Entry Debriefing at Home

Foundation for Sustainable Development's Mission Statement

Founded in 1995, the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) supports the efforts of more than 300 grassroots, community-based partner organizations throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America. FSD's programs provide multi-faceted support that relies on active community participation to mobilize lasting solutions. FSD programs include:

• Capacity Building: Our professional field staff provides on-site training and networking opportunities to more than 300 community-based organizations worldwide.
  
  
• Training Programs Abroad: FSD provides comprehensive training and immersion programs for interns and volunteers who seek hands-on development experience.
  
  
• Grantmaking: Donations and grants given to FSD are used to support sustainable projects led by our partner organizations.
  
  
• Engaged Philanthropy: FSD Giving Circles organize groups of donors who pool their time, talent, and resources to make international grants to our partner organizations.

• Year Founded

  1995