Introduction
Join a dedicated team leading USAID’s efforts to promote, fund, and support the protection of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect in both the physical and digital worlds.
What you'll do
Violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect against children occur everywhere across the globe, in all communities, and carry life-long negative consequences. Nearly one billion children, more than one-half of all children in the world between the ages of two and 17, are victims of physical, sexual, or emotional violence each year, including bullying. Exposure to violence, particularly when such exposure is repeated or chronic, can significantly affect a child’s brain development and function and cause life-long consequences. Fortunately, targeted interventions for the world’s most-vulnerable children can not only mitigate, but also reverse, the negative impacts of violence. Researchers and practitioners have made great strides in understanding and operationalizing evidence-based strategies to prevent and respond to violence against, and the abuse, exploitation, and neglect of, children.
Digital ecosystems also offer great rewards for children and youth. However, they may also compound risks and result in harm that can profoundly undermine well-being across a lifetime. USAID defines digital harm as any activity or behavior that takes place in a digital ecosystem and causes pain, trauma, damage, exploitation or abuse directly or indirectly in either the digital or physical world, whether financial, physical, emotional, psychological or sexual. USAID’s Children in Adversity team leads both the “protecting children from digital harm” work stream of USAID’s Digital Strategy (2020-2024), and also coordinates implementation of the “Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity – A U.S. Government Strategy for International Assistance 2019-2023. Working around three core pillars - 1) Build Strong Beginnings; 2) Put Family First; and 3) Protect Children from Violence - the team leads USAID in striving to protect children from violence in both the physical world and the digital ecosystem.
An effort is being mounted to elevate the agency’s response to violence against children, and to facilitate USAID missions to be able to prevent and respond to violence against children. An intern will be of great value in helping to support this effort. The following activities are envisioned: Support rolling out the agency’s “roadmap” to protecting children from digital harm. Support facilitation of the agency’s digital youth council; Conduct research on relevant topics and develop knowledge management materials; Liaise with USAID technical specialists to draft and edit communications materials (blogs, fact sheets, etc.); Create social media content; Event planning for Digital Harm Symposium scheduled for 2024; Ability to pursue own projects of interest, provide communications recommendations, and contribute creative ideas for how the team can highlight and expand USAID’s child protection work, and Other activities as relevant.
What you'll learn
Editing and Proofreading, Writing, Research, Marketing, Event Planning
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Virtual Student Federal Service, you must:
- Be a U.S. citizen
- Be a high school graduate enrolled in a degree-seeking program in an accredited college or university
- Be an Undergraduate, Graduate, or Doctorate Student for the duration of the internship/academic year
- A student is an individual who is enrolled in a degree-seeking program in an accredited college or university
- An individual is still considered a student if he/she has been out of school, between semesters or school years, for not more than five (5) months and has plans to return to school within five (5) months or less
- An individual enrolled in school and receiving credit toward their degree for participating in the Student Internship Program is also considered a student
- A student must be returning to school immediately following the internship in order to qualify for the program. In addition, the student must attach an official or unofficial transcript to their application confirming current student status.
- You are eligible to apply for this program if you have not yet completed your registration at a college or university for graduate or post-graduate studies (including law school) or are awaiting an admissions determination for graduate or post-graduate studies (including law school). However, if selected for an internship, you must provide proof that you have registered, or have been accepted for enrollment for studies in the semester or quarter immediately following the internship before you can begin your internship.
Who we are
USAID’s Children in Adversity Team, within the current Inclusive Development Hub of the Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI), coordinates the whole-of-Government response to Public Law 109-95, the Assistance for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children in Developing Countries Act of 2005, and houses the U.S. Government Special Advisor on Children in Adversity. The Special Advisor leads U.S. Government Interagency Partners in their implementation of the Advancing Protection and Care for Children in Adversity Strategy. The Center also oversees the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF), which finances programming for vulnerable children worldwide and works actively to identify opportunities for collaboration across sectors. Visit https://www.childreninadversity.gov/ for more information on this important work.