On May 31st 2012, Glocal held its first ever end-of-year event. In true Glocal style, and befitting the ground-breaking work undertaken by our students on their internships, we organized a full afternoon of networking and lectures held at The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University.
The day started with an organizational fair, including a wide-range of organizations from across Israel, such as the Jerusalem Aids Project, the refugee organization ASSAF, and Sidreh, a Bedouin women’s organization. Each NGO set up its own table, a platform which provided them with the opportunity to showcase their range of projects and initiatives, while meeting our students, staff and wider network of development scholars and practitioners. For the next phase of the day we moved into the conference room to listen to a panel on the connection between the theory and practice of development. Each speaker brought their own unique perspective to their talk, creating a panel that was nothing less than eclectic in scope.
The first speaker was the new Israeli ambassador to South Sudan. The ambassador delivered a talk that not only discussed the current state of development in the world’s newest country, but also reflected on the theory and practice of state-building and its connection to development. Not sure until the last minute he would make it, the ambassador arrived straight from the airport literally bringing the field with him! The next two speakers both focused in different ways on how to bring the community into development work. Drawing on her own experiences, Amal Alsana-Alh’jooj, Co-Director and Founder of AJEEC-NISPED, delivered an impassioned view of the importance of participatory community engagement in development work. The last speaker, new Glocal faculty, Dr. Maureen Malowany (showcased in page 6 of this newsletter), picked up where Amal had left off- discussing the importance of bringing the community into health and disease assessment.
The third and final part of the event was the student poster session. These posters were inspired by student experiences in the field and the innovative projects which resulted from their work with local communities. Each student’s poster was a representation of their internship experience- and together the posters told a story revealing the successes, challenges and surprises engendered by community development work. The poster session provided a unique opportunity for students to present their internship experiences to a wider audience, discussing their work and receiving feedback from a diverse group of academics and development professionals. All in all, Glocal’s first ever year-end event was a huge success. Not only did the event provide us with an opportunity expand our network of partners and contacts in Israel, but it also enabled us to reflect on the achievements of the program – celebrating the graduation of our first ever cohort of Glocal students!
Glocal Staff
