The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

This is the second year of the Colombia IFP, based in Bogotá, a major capital city in Latin America, with close to 7 million people. This location offers a challenging setting for students to engage with urban and national issues. While the knowledge and study of the local situation in Bogotá has been limited by its national setting, the city is a great site to work with international, local, and government organizations on urban and cultural issues, development and poverty. Students participating in this program will carry out their internships with the following organizations:

Fundacion Buen Gobierno Fundación Buen Gobierno, created in 1994, works on elevating public policy debate, promoting the meeting points between the public and private sector and carrying out research and practice in order to improve governance in the country at the national, regional and municipal level. The Fundación publishes the magazine Revista del Buen Gobierno, four times a year, which is distributed among mayors, governors, council members, and other high ranking and democratically elected leaders. The internship entails working closely with the person in charge of the magazine, deciding on the cover story and central theme for the magazine's August issue. The general guidelines for the central theme should revolve around the following issues: strengthening democracy, improve democratic and social liberties, as well as regional development, promote public policy and compare good and bad practices amongst regions or countries. The internship is open to 3 students. (http://www.buengobierno.com)

Escuela de Artes y Oficios Santo Domingo The ESCUELA DE ARTES Y OFICIOS SANTO DOMINGO is a private, not-for-profit institution which has trained artisans since 1995, for the purpose of dignifying and preserving traditional Colombian crafts through specialized education as a viable alternative for the economic and social development of the country. It is determined to become a successful school with national and international prestige through its constant search for excellence. It aims to be a meeting point between the knowledge of the artisans and its practical application. It offers programs for transmitting crafts by promoting activities that efficiently guide the work of artisans so that they become more competitive in the national and international markets, generate small businesses and therefore artisans improve the quality of life.

The internship involves conducting research in order to establish a means of measuring the economic and social impact the Foundation has on the artisans and their families. The Foundation is interested in carrying out research similar to the one carried out by Aid to Artisans (for an example of their work visit http://aidtoartisans.org/where/past_project.php?n_id=64, specifically the case study for Peru). The internship is open to 2 students. (http://www.escueladeartesyoficiossantodomingo.org)

Agencia de Atraccion de Inversion The Agencia de Atraccion de Inversion is a newly created agency dedicated to promoting investment in Bogotá.

The internship entails extensive research on subjects such as: identifying promising sectors, preparation of sector briefs, analysis of target companies and businesses and benchmarking, and presentations of findings. This internship is open to 2 students with sector analysis capacities.

Barrio Taller Barrio Taller is a private entity, constituted in 1990, promoting urban projects with the specific goal of developing Habitat Policies and Programs in the peripheral areas of the city. It offers architecture, urban and social services. Barrio Taller develops plans, programs, projects, studies, consultancy related with "habitat popular" and urban development. It partners with communities and inhabitants of "barrios populares" in order to improve their housing conditions.

Barrio Taller is going to start a consultancy project for the City of Bogota (specifically with Metrovivienda), establishing "Centros Habitat", as part of the local housing policy. These Centros would serve as spaces in which the inhabitants of the barrios populares may find alternatives to housing deficits, both quantitative and qualitative. This process should lead to the formulation of a Habitat Pact in the locality of Bosa (SE part of the city, and one of the territories with the highest poverty indicators) and the implementation of participatory planning exercises.

This consultancy project should be closing by mid 2007, and Barrio Taller is interested in carrying out a study of the process, looking into its "hits and misses" and offering a basis for implementing similar processes in other localities in the city. This internship is open to 2 students. ( http://www.barriotaller.org.co/)

Additional information on Barrio Taller: Barrio Taller (pdf, Spanish)

PNUD Colombia UNDP Colombia is interested in working with GPIA students during the 2007 summer. The organization is proposing the following areas: development and poverty, fostering democracy and young political leaders and development in conflict.

The development in conflict component will work with REDES (Reconciliación y Democracia), a peace building strategy promoted by UNDP that fosters the creation of spaces for dialogue and consensus, as well as innovative approaches to crisis prevention, early warning, reconciliation and development of sustainable human development in conflict zones.

The focus on fostering democracy and young political leaders supports strengthening of political parties by working with youth and young political leaders organizing municipal workshops and national level meetings. (http://www.pnud.org.co)

In the summer 2006 Bogotá program, students participated in a series of lectures provided by key experts, policy makers, and researchers and the former mayor of the city, Antanas Mockus. Students worked with the Advisory Office on Region and Competitiveness of the Planning Department supporting research on the economic and competitive situation of the capital cities of the Andean region as well as on the relationship between Bogotá and its surrounding territory. Students had the opportunity to travel to the surrounding municipalities in order to better understand the complicated dynamics of the city and its territory.

The 2007 Colombia IFP will give the students the opportunity to integrate their GPIA classroom education with practical fieldwork on the ground. The students will work in teams with the different organizations on the ground.

Information Session: Wed., Nov. 8, Room 609 at 6pm

Language Note: Spanish proficiency required

Faculty Coordinator: Lisa Guáqueta (summer@gpia.info)

Tentative Program Dates: June 4 - August 3