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My Work as an Intern at Global Action on Aging (GAA)
A. Inside GAA
I only learned in September what I would be doing over the next 7 months. I was assigned to be entirely in charge of the GAA Website. I was indeed the only intern to spend the whole week at the office until mid-October. Each Friday I had to renew the front page of the website.
During the week, I had to choose my articles on International or American newspapers' websites such as www.Nytimes.com , www.Washingtonpost.com, www.latimes.com, www.diewelt.de, www.lemonde.fr... Every morning, my first step was to log in the elderly online sections and look for new published articles. For most African or Asian articles, GAA kept a list written by the former interns of all the useful websites. That example can show you how strong the solidarity and the good spirit were in the office. Concerning the pictures, if they weren't in the articles, I could know for sure that I would find one in Google Pictures.
When an article was chosen, I had to copy it and write a summary of in English. This had to be 5-6 lines long and reviewed by Susanne Paul. She corrected it not only for language but also to check the politics of the article. This was for correcting the language but also for checking the policy of the article.
During the first month, my newsletter was filled with 15-20 articles, but progressively, I increased that number to 50-60 articles (9 pages on Microsoft Word: cf Annexe 2). I had to be careful to cover every section of our newsletter (each subdivided into US and international sections): health, pension (public and private), elder rights, and rural aging.
When I left GAA at the end of March, I left roughly (maybe 200) non-used articles in my files. Susanne used to call it my "library." If there were events at the UN or holidays, file of un-used articles that was our security for the newsletter which had to be sent every Friday night.
The most powerful pictures or the most critical articles were always posted on the front page. For the posting step, I learned to use WS FTP Pro. Every Friday afternoon, GAA looked like a newspaper office. There were debates about which position to put which article.
All the different GAA team points of views were very stimulating and interesting. That was the day I liked the most, and I wasn't the only one.
On the front page, seven articles could be posted with their pictures, ten or fifteen sometimes on the right side as top stories. The remaining 30 were posted and could be seen on the website. Each article had a different web address noted at the end of the summary.
From GAA, I kept twenty-one of the newsletters (more than 700 summaries of articles)
B. Outside GAA
While doing this regular weekly work, I had the chance to take part in International Events at the United Nations (UN) or even in New York. For these wonderful opportunities, I would like to repeat my gratitude to Susanne Paul.
1. October 3rd, 2002: The 12th Annual Celebration of the International Day of Older Persons at the UN
That was the first event I took part in, exactly one month after my arrival. The UN was celebrating the 12th Annual Day of Older Persons. The theme of this session was: "Meeting the challenges of Ageing: Where do we go from here?" This program was web casting live from the UN web site.
We had a message from Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Paul Hoeffel, Chief of the NGO Section, Department of Public Information, was part of the chair.
During the preparation for the event, a few days before it took place, I met a lot of people I would have the occasion to see again at future events: Carole Traynor, a dear friend of Susanne, and Judy Lear, a powerful feminist woman. I also had the pleasure to meet Mr. and Mrs. Denmark from the American Psychological Association, a very active couple in any event concerning old people. That was my first event inside the UN in the Conference Room 1 sitting in a country chair.
2. October 30th , 2002: Statement at the UN
If I had to tell the most appealing event that happened during these 7 months, I should tell this one. Susanne Paul had good relationships with the AFICS (the Association of Former International Civil Servants). And she spoke of her new French intern to them.
AFICS is a cross-organizational association of former international civil servants of all organizations of the UN family. Although its Committee and offices are based in Geneva, its members live in 90 different countries. It promotes the work of the UN family and encourages solidarity among former officials.
I was invited by the section based at the UN to talk during 15 minutes about the "New older generation vs. Young generation" in France. As a French young person, they wanted me to know how I viewed older French people and how I thought old people were considering us.
This was a whole morning conference of the AFICS at the UN hosted by Helen Geffen
Roht.
My statement has been posted on GAA website and can be seen at this address:
www.globalaging.org/elderrights/world/speech.htm
I will always remember that day and the chance I had to be a panellist in the Dag Hammarskjold UN Amphitheatre.
3. November 13th, 2002: Invited to a New York Citizens' Committee on Aging event
On the 13th of November, Susanne Paul and I were invited to a half day conference on the economics of aging as it impacts women. This was taking place in the centre of Manhattan (42nd Street) at the top floor of one building.
The New York Citizen's Committee on Aging was founded in 1960. It is a not-for-profit organisation. Its mission is to promote interest in and disseminate information about the concerns affecting the well-being of New York's aging community. Among the officers, Mr Lieberman is the Ph D President.
This event was very helpful for GAA to learn a bit more about the federal, state and local policy options to support the future for old women.
4. March 3rd , 2003: Statement at a UN side event called "Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Life Long Learning"
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held its forty-seventh session from March 3 to 14 (March) 2003, at New York Headquarters. One of the two thematic issues was: "participation and access of women to the media, and information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women"
I was invited by Judy Lear, UN Main Representative, from the Gray Panthers (Age and Youth in Action) to be a panellist during this 1.30 long meeting. I had to present the NGO I was working in and my personal experience as a young woman with ICT.
5. Inside the Security Council in the audience
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) which are accredited to, and in good standing with, the Economic and Social Council are eligible to have UN ID Cards. GAA offers to every long term intern this kind of possibility. I was able to attend Security Council and General Assembly meetings.
On the UN Website, there is the "Journal of the UN": Programme of meetings (private sometimes) and agenda of the day. I was in the CCUN building, when on February 14th Mr. de Villepin, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs was delivering his famous statement in response to Mr. Powell's "Old Europe" comment. When I was able to, I also attended meetings on the Iraq issue. That was a great moment, and a great memory of my stay in the diplomatic world to which I would like to belong one day.
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