I am an ideal candidate to be a Nest Summer Fellow because I have interned for Nest for about 6 months now and I have come to be very familiar with the Nest organization, mission, workings, and goals. I have contributed to a wide variety of tasks and efforts that have given me comprehensive knowledge of Nest and have prepared me for additional fieldwork. One of my various tasks has been to update the Nest website by adding and editing loan recipients, product pictures, inventory quantities, etc. This experience would help me to connect the women I am working with to the Nest digital community. I have helped work events and fundraisers, written press releases and interviews, and done many additional tasks to assist Rebecca and Nest. In addition to my work experience with Nest, I have also been studying international development, political economy, globalization, global poverty, and African history at the University of California, Berkeley. I have come to be familiar with the issues encircling international development, especially the debates about microfinance. I understand the delicate nature of development, the implications of cross-cultural interactions, the NGO climate, as well as the political, economic, and social realms of development, including the ways in which they are all inextricably linked. I think this prepares me for the complexity of participating in an international poverty intervention. In addition, I volunteer at an elementary school in Berkeley working with disadvantaged youth. I help them with homework, play games on the playground, let them read to me, and try and restore their confidence and encourage them to continue with their education. In summary I have a great deal of experience working with Nest, learning about the academic issues in the industry and sectors that Nest works in, and volunteering/working in disadvantaged communities. I am young and ambitious, I am committed to the ideals and mission of Nest, I have the optimism and the energy to travel half way around the world and devote myself to Nest’s cause and I am confident I would be an excellent Summer Fellow for Nest.
