Women’s Rights Volunteer Programs: There are many different ways to help women develop across the world and the two biggest strategies for this are to focus on upholding women’s rights in accordance with all existing international laws and to provide women with as much access to quality education as possible to improve their situation.

If you have a background in law or education, then it might be easy to find a job working in these fields, but if you have no experience, you might need to do some internships or voluntary work when starting out. Volunteer programmes will typically include speaking to activists, meeting with proponents of women’s rights to learn from them, and going into a community to teach women in areas with little access to education.

Which organisations can I take a programme with?

The United Nations typically leads the way on these types of programmes, but securing a role with the UN is very competitive and very few places are available. The UN’s Generation Equality movement has increased worldwide exposure to the dynamics of the #Metoo movement of women unhappy with the status quo, who are determined to affect positive change.

Beyond the UN, there are plenty of international organisations which offer programmes in this area. These tends to be intergovernmental organisations but non-governmental organisations can also provide alternative: there is often less bureaucracy involved with NGOs so that volunteers or interns can more directly see the impact of their work.

Where to do one?

If you are considering a volunteer programme like one of these, and you currently live in a ‘Western’ country there will likely be some opportunities to do it in your home country. However, if making a difference is important to you, you have to consider where you can make the most impact. Additionally, doing one of these programmes overseas can help develop professional skills which employees value (more so than doing an internship in your home country).

There are lots of organisations doing valuable work all over the world, in South America, Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. The Middle East offers an interesting place to do this type of work in a society which has tended to be male-dominated in the past, but with signs that this is beginning to change.

How long should you do it for?

This aspect depends entirely on your own ambitions, goals and availability. If you have the time and resources, you could take a whole summer between studying to make a big difference and really connect with a community through an extensive internship programme. However, for people who are already committed to a job or to a full-time study programme, a shorter, intensive internship or volunteer programme might be more viable – say a week or two.

The length of time does not necessarily indicate the quality of the programme, so however long you do it for, it is important to remember to take time and find something that works for you. Once you have found the right programme, a good organisation will you give you flexibility in the length of your programme the maximise the benefit for you.

The Women’s Rights volunteer programme in Palestine

The Excellence Center in Palestine offers women’s rights volunteer programs all year round over flexible dates.  The Center partners with the Palestinian Ministry of Education in Ramallah to offer outreach programmes in local girls’ schools in the vicinity of Hebron. The Center also has links with prominent lawyers and activists working in the field of women’s rights in Hebron, who are great points of contact for the women’s rights programmes.

Programmes here involve daily interviews with prominent activists and visits to law courts and municipalities. If you want to focus more on the education side of the internship, you will be given your own class to teach and will go into local girls’ schools as well. It is a really fulfilling programme and also involves a lot of instruction from senior contacts both within the Excellence Center and outside to develop professional skills.

Hebron is traditionally considered a somewhat conservative city, but here to the role of women is starting to change. Women have more scope to control their own lives and their careers especially but there is still much progress to be made. This is why doing a programme here is so crucial: there is so much scope for engendering lasting impact – girls tend to outperform boys at school and university level, so they need as much encouragement as possible to empower themselves and realise their full potential.  

The Excellence Center provides lots of support: coming to the West Bank alone can be quite a daunting prospect, especially as a woman, but the center does everything to give as much guidance in advance of how to get to Hebron and how you should prepare for your trip.

Program’s reviews

The volunteer and internship programs at the Excellence Center in Palestine including the Volunteer in Women’s Rights Program in Palestine has more than;

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Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact at Rafat@excellencenter.org

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