UNICEF Tanzania reflections

This past summer, I served as an intern for UNICEF Tanzania as a Haas Center African Service Fellow. I helped to build a national social media campaign around violence against children called Ukuti Ukuti, filmed a United Nations documentary on early childhood education in Zanzibar, and assessed the impact of UNICEF programs in inland villages in Tanzania. Perhaps my most fulfilling experience was designing and launching UNICEF Tanzania's first-ever Girl's Empowerment Forum, partnering with other UN organizations to gather 50 primary school student-leaders to ask live questions of a panel of national policy makers and NGO leaders.

I had the opportunity to talk about development barriers with the leader of the opposition party in Tanzania, Professor Ibrahim Lipumba, PhD '83, who was also a co-founder of Stanford's African Student Association in the 1980s. I also heard harrowing stories of leadership from Peter Temu, former economic advisor to the president of Tanzania, and listened to Romana, a young student, tell me how she single-handedly shifted gender norms in her rural village in the mountains of Iringa.

Having imbibed the Swahili culture and worked among the some of the most dynamic people I have ever met, I am energized about the future of East Africa and how I can play a role in its rise.