Internships through the YCMES

The Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies regularly arranges internships for international students through various Yemeni organizations. The YCMES maintains close relations to local organizations, assists in the logistics of preparing both the student and the organization for a successful internship, and follows through on both sides to ensure quality programming. Internships vary according to the interest of the student, but the YCMES has worked with many different types of organizations. The YCMES is also expanding its relations to include NGO’s dealing with issues such as human rights, orphans, journalism, democracy, women’s advancement, poverty, education, health, children’s rights, water, the environment, and weapons reduction. The YCMES is also able to assist in internships within government organizations and ministries.

These service projects are designed for students to penetrate society from an NGO perspective. Student internships generally consist of clerical work with the objective of understanding their respective topic more, with numerous opportunities to join in on the activities outside of the office. The idea is not just to help out a local NGO, but to allow the student to fully grasp NGO work in Yemen from office work to implementation in the field. Over and above all of this, students are afforded an opportunity to enter into Yemeni social life through their work relations, often proving even more effective at Arabic language understanding.

1) Internships are only open to currently enrolled in the YCMES or YLC. First, registrar for the Arabic language program and/or semester/year-long study abroad program.

2) After securing enrollment into a YCMES academic program, email internships@ycmes.org to state your interest in the Internship Program.

NGO’s and other resources for student interns in Sana’a are difficult to judge from abroad. The YCMES has visited, profiled, and reviewed various NGO’s through its programming and has come up with a list of recommended and suggested service project sites. For students with interests not found in the list, please inquire with the YCMES office and the staff can do its best to find a suitable match.

The Democracy School, licensed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Work, is a non-governmental, non-profitable, and independent organization. The main objective of the Democracy School is to raise awareness in the community about the concepts and principles of Human Rights and Democracy Rights. Through forming groups, teams, and networks of youth, children and women, as well as organizing specialized training workshops, seminars, group discussions, election monitoring activities, and arranging field visits to document any human rights violations. The Democracy School works in partnership and cooperation with government institutions and international and local organizations to implement its projects. Since its founding in 2002, the Democracy School has worked on many initiatives to involve youth in government and elections, such as starting and maintaining the Youth Parliament in Yemen.

Students will intern with the Democracy School in projects of their interest. Interns are paired up with other young volunteers and employees, who speak a good amount of English, but the majority of the office works in Arabic. Students are frequently invited out of the office for field work and hands-on experience with the implementing the work. They are encouraged to propose their own events and activities, and has been rated the highest out of all the NGO’s from past interns from the YCMES

Youth Leadership Development Foundation

Girls World Communication Center & Youth Economic Development Center

Youth Leadership Development Foundation (YLDF) is a non-governmental non-profit organization, located in Sana’a capital city of Yemen. YLDF was founded to support youth in voicing their opinions and needs, and participating in Yemen’s development, especially underprivileged and female youth. Youth represent a wide base in the demographic pyramid of Yemen, yet they play a small role in decision making processes and have a minor contribution to the economy. Our vision is a Yemen in which skilled, well qualified and active young women and men play leadership roles in all domains of society and enable Yemenis to contribute to a better world. Our mission is “ to increase youth participation in social, political and economic aspects of society through education in vocational, communication, leadership and life skills in response to the needs of the community and labor market.”.

The predecessor of YLDF, Girls World Communication Center (GWCC), was established in 1998 as the first language Center in Yemen catering exclusively to girls. The center is the first institute in Yemen specialized in girls' training that offers currently a comprehensive development program, which includes language and computer courses, in addition to training in leadership, management, human rights, democracy, methods of scientific research, Training of trainers and others. The Center succeeded in establishing itself within the community as a learning center that provides an encouraging and safe environment for young girls. It continues to offer both fee-paying and scholarship girls the opportunity to learn in a safe and stimulating environment and to participate in all domains of the public sphere equally with males regardless of their social class or economic status. The GWCC also offers opportunities for students to gain valuable work experience within the business community of Sana’a.

Youth Economic Development Center (YEDC) initially was launched in 2005 in partnership between CHF international organization and YLDF with support from MEPI. The program aimed to improve skills and build capacities of 500 male and female young people to make them competitive in the labor market and enable them to face economic challenges. The center mainly serves Yemeni young males and females to become economically secure and socially established and thus able to participate in all domains of economic life in which merit and attitude transcend social status and gender.

Internship positions include English language teachers; administrative assistance with developing programs, proposals, and evaluation techniques; business/economic training leadership; IT support and development; and independent program creation for communications, exchanges of thoughts, and language practice.

The Sister’s Arab Forum was founded in 1998 in order to advocate women rights in Yemen. The NGO focuses on legal awareness and enlightenment of women in the human rights field through intellectual seminars, workshops, publications and public awareness initiatives. SAF produces newsletters and articles raising awareness on abuses, defends women’s legal rights, works with Somali women, and deals with female prisoner issues and other projects to empower women.

The students work in the office and are then invited to join activities, visits, and seminars when scheduled. Student-interns interested in journalism and human rights may fit best in this NGO. Most employees speak some amount of English, though a lot of conversation and work is done in Arabic.

IMPACT is an educational institute established in 2005, and licensed by the Ministry of Education. Believing that woman is the core of the society, IMPACT aims at building her capacity and inclusion in the fields of technology and knowledge. With the support of highly-qualified local and international expertise, IMPACT focuses on women empowerment through preparing and providing programs in various fields such as administration, technology, and information. Interns work on a variety of projects, but mostly focus on teaching English and other skills to Yemeni women.

This is not a local organization, but simply a facility that houses around 360 state-employed street cleaners. Commonly referred to as the al-Akhdam (the slaves), these workers are often mistaken as immigrants from east Africa, but are actually from the Tihama region of Yemen. They face a lot of discrimination and have been stuck in this economic status for over 45 years. Students who participate in this service project must be self-motivated and outgoing, as there is no organization that is providing direct social services. Conditions are poor, with rooms accommodating at times up to 15 persons. Students are more independent in their work, but can create programs such as teaching English to the children, strengthening women's technical skills, building infrastructure inside the facilities, or documenting the oral history of this group, also called the muhamisheen (the ones who no one cares for or feigns interest in).

The Al-Rahma home was established in 2001 to provide secure shelter and basic needs to Yemeni orphans. The facilities are in very good condition and the top care is given to the children of al-Rahma. The orphanage provides education, health care, and social/psychological rehabilitation. Students who volunteer will assist with activities that show attention and care to these children, and may also work with some of the administrative duties of running such an organization.

The Health and Culture Center (HCC) was founded in 1992 as a registered NGO in Sana’a to promote the health of the Yemeni community through cultural and health services. It began at a time when Yemen itself was moving towards democracy and pluralism. Since its establishment, the HCC has grown into a motivated, innovative, and pioneering NGO that is directed by a board of trustees, of which the majority are women. The HCC was established with a special interest in the psychological and medical health of artists and creative Yemeni personalities from the occupational point of view. It also embraced the challenges arising from a radically changing Yemeni society by offering a multitude of services aimed at providing a creative venue for Yemenis with special attention to marginalized communities such as women and youth. The center is now no longer capable of continuing all the programs it once had, and while running strongly despite financial limitations, it is now limited to only six programs: music lessons, women’s fitness facilities, mental health treatment, the newsletter Shuraka, CD series on various topics pertaining to Yemeni society, and intercultural exchange with expatriate and foreign visitor communities.

This organization, run by well-known Yemeni feminist Raofa Hassan, looks to develop Yemeni cultural identity. There is little literature provided, but the organization is mainly working to open a museum showcasing Yemeni culture and identity.

Online at http://www.peace-yemen.org.ye/
Dar Al-Salaam aims to handle issues related to resolving disputes, often those among tribes and/or families, by calling organization members, who include sheikhs and other volunteers. Dar al-Salaam seeks to settle disputes according to tribal traditions, while clearing up other problems before they run wild, as well as trying to contain other problems of a revenge nature. The organization has 3,200 members divided among 11 branches and all of them are volunteers. The organization receives government funding, about $2,000 annually, but it’s not enough to cover the problems resolved. Dar Al-Salaam Organization was established in 1997 under the name Dar Al-Salaam for Arbitration. It then intensified its activities and changed its name to Dar Al-Salaam Organization to Combat Revenge and Violence. Including 11 branches divided among nine governorates, the organization has settled 197 revenge cases and armed tribal conflicts. It also has conducted nine training courses targeting numerous tribesmen to inculcate them with values to help create a generation able to develop Yemen.

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is a nonprofit organization working to strengthen and expand democracy worldwide. There are three major programs that NDI works on in Yemen: the political party program, women participation progarm, and tribal conflict mitigation.

NDI's political party program assists Yemen's political parties to communicate effectively and to encourage open, constructive and inclusive debate. The Institute is assisting opposition parties to formulate proposed changes to the electoral law and is bringing together political leaders to discuss how to improve often acrimonious relations between parties.

Through the women participation program, NDI aims to increase political party and national support for women candidates and to prepare women to prove their capacity to run for and win office in electoral contests. NDI consultations with the Elections Commission led to the establishment of a women's department, with an equal voice in the decision-making process.

Ongoing tribal conflict has prevented government institutions from functioning effectively in certain areas of Yemen and hampered participation in the election and activities of local governing bodies. NDI's tribal conflict mitigation program assists Yemen tribal leaders in their efforts to resolve long-standing conflicts. The Institute is working tribal leaders to end revenge killings and promote development in their governorates. NDI's work includes research to gain insight on community opinions, tribal structures, processes and norms.

Much of the success of this internship has to do with the timing of NDI’s projects and the student internship. The language of work is exclusively in English and predominantly office and/or research work. Therefore, this NGO is suggested, but not always recommended by the YCMES and its students.

Other service-learning projects are available such as journalism internships at the Yemen Times and Yemen Observer or upon specific requests and interests, for example the Yemeni Center for Autism.