There are many international organizations that
support the welfare and protection of children.
The following are three that I found that were of interest to me and to
my challenge topic.
International Foster Care Organization 
This
organization is a world-wide nonprofit & charity organization that is
volunteer-based. The mission of this
organization is to find family based solutions for children who are in out-
of-home care (International Foster Care Organization, n.d.). Their aim is to support family based care by
providing information to people and organizations of different nations and they
do this by organizing conferences and trainings that are international
(International Foster Care Organization, n.d.).
Their belief, like mine, is that foster care should be a team effort
between the children, foster care families, social workers, placing agency,
birth parents, and others who are contributing to the well-being of the
child. They also run under the philosophy
that the care should be child-centered and family-focused while providing
support through consultation, networking, publications, and assistance for all
those involved.
This
organization is run by an elected board that consists of 15 members from around
the world. They do not allow any more
than two members on the board from any one country which allows for the
organization to represent all of the many diverse countries of the world and
their children and families. Due to the
fact that this organization is run by volunteers, there are not any jobs
available but they do accept volunteers and expert trainers and
consultants. For a fee you can become a
member which entitles you access to all of the services and publications that
they offer. Members are given access to
discussion lists where they can become a part of a global foster care network
allowing them to exchange thoughts and ideas with others (International Foster
Care Organization, n.d.). This
organization accepts volunteers from any country but if a person would want to
become a volunteer he/she would have to write to them and tell them what he/she
could offer them. There is also the
option of applying to the Training Bureau or in assisting with the making of
the website or magazine. This company is
also looking for professionals who can share expertise from around the world at
their Training & Development Bureau (International Foster Care
Organization, n.d.). This part of the
organization works in exchanging information among different countries and
consists of children who have been in care and experienced foster care
parents. If someone would like to become
a member of the training and development team they would also have to apply to
become a member of this Bureau.
I think that becoming a member or
volunteer of this organization would be beneficial to the challenge that I am
working on. In order to do this I would
have to write to them and tell them what I feel I could offer their
organization. I believe that my master’s
degree in teaching diversity and all of the knowledge that I have gained in
this program would be very beneficial and could make me an asset to their
program. Knowing about and or being a
member would also provide me with resources that I can share with foster families
that I would be working with and maybe they would want to become members or
part of the Training and Development team.
This is an organization that I would use in my training workshops and I
would provide information from it on the day/night that I hold the
trainings. Although there are not
monetary job opportunities through this organization, there are opportunities
to become a part of an organization that is making beneficial social change for
children and families all over the world.
Save the Children
Save
the children is an organization that is dedicated to changing the lives of
children in the United States and around the world by working with other
organizations, partners, and governments (Save the Children, 2013). Save the Children is an organization that is
there when disasters strike and provides food, medical care, and education to
help children and communities get through the devastating effects of these
disasters. Some of the issues that they
help deal with are poverty, disease, natural disasters, civil wars, illiteracy,
and hunger (Save the Children, 2013).
This
organization was of interest to me because there are so many devastating events
in the lives of children all over the world and often times these places do not
have the means to help themselves. Save
the Children and the people who work for them are committed to helping these
people and children and are great advocates for their safety and
well-being. Since this is why I went
into the field of education, this organization and its efforts appealed to
me.
Save
the Children is an organization that has many ways to become involved. If you do not want to have a job with them,
you can be a volunteer, help fundraise, or spread the word. Some of the ways that they listed to become
involved, were to join the network and receive the newsletter, participate in
Advocacy Summit in Washington and take action against current issues that are
affecting children, help to promote Foreign Assistance reform, learn about
legislation and campaigns that are available, and by writing to elected
officials or editors and speaking out for children (Save the Children,
2013). They said that you can spread the
word about their organization by sending an eCard to introduce the organization
to someone, follow them on social networks, and but a banner on websites and
blogs that provide links to the Save the Children website. A final way to become involved would be to
become a fundraiser. They actually give
you steps on different kinds of fundraising you can do and how to go about
it. These are many different ways to
become involved with this global organization and all very worthwhile.
There
were two job openings available that interested me. The first was an Emergency Child Protection
Senior Specialist. This person is
responsible for leading child protection assessments, working with team leaders
to develop child protection plans, supporting fundraising, identifying child
protection staff needs for emergency programs, identifying training and learning opportunities, ensuring that the organization’s work is
implementing other agencies and governments, and working as a spokesperson with
the media when required (Save the Children, 2013). In order to fill this job, I would need a
master’s degree in Social Work, Human rights, International Relations,
Developmental Studies, or similar field experience, ability to identify gaps in
child protection, knowledge of inter-agency standards and guidelines in
relation to child protection, experience in monitoring and evaluating programs,
experience in building and training, ability to write clear assessments and
proposals, excellent communication skills, high skills with spoken and written
English and skills in other foreign languages, and political and cultural
sensitivity (Save the Children, 2013).
Although this list is extensive, it sounds like a job I would really
enjoy because I know that I would be working towards the protection of
children.
The
second job that they had posted that I found of interest, was Early Childhood
Development Specialist. This position
focuses on the area of early childhood care and development. Since this has become my area of expertise,
this job appealed to me greatly. The
responsibilities of this person were to provide programming, implementation,
monitoring, and evaluation support to country offices, assist in the analysis
of strengths and weaknesses and develop plans to improve effectiveness, assist
in the making of peer mentoring support, help to strengthen Save the Children’s
program portfolio with proposal development, monitor new developments, and
regularly review and implement programs that will provide best practices and
innovations in the Early Childhood Development field (Save the Children,
2013). The requirements needed for this
job is a master’s degree in early childhood development, education, or a
related field (which I will have soon), three to five years of prior experience
in developing/designing programs, experience with developing countries,
materials development experience, great communication skills and willingness to
travel (Save the Children, 2013). I
would definitely have to gain some experience to apply for this job but it
sounds like a job that I would enjoy.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 
The
third organization that I chose is UNICEF.
I chose this organization because it works very hard globally (in over
190 countries) to improve the lives of children and help improve health care,
immunizations, clean water, nutrition, education, and emergency relief (UNICEF,
2012). This organization not only works
for these things but works to protect the rights that all children should have. UNICEF works closely with government leaders,
celebrities, corporations, civic figures, campus groups, churches, teachers,
and anyone willing to help advocate for the safety and protection of children
and their rights(UNICEF, 2012). I became
a teacher because I want to make a difference in the lives of the children that
I come into contact with. This
organization interested me because it also strives to make a difference in the
lives of as many children that it can reach with the help of advocates.
Just
like Save the Children, UNICEF has many ways that people can get involved in
its efforts. One way is to get email
updates that will fill people in on the current issues affecting children
around the world. Another is to become
an advocate and volunteer by telling legislators about children’s needs and how
they can address them and by educating , advocating, and fundraising (UNICEF,
2012). One other way is to join a
monthly campaign to give money that will be used to minimize the expenses that
are incurred and to help deliver all of the services that UNICEF provides
around the world.
In
reading through the job listings that they had available, I saw two here that
also interested me. One was called a
Major Gifts Officer. This person would
help to manage the portfolio of high donors, help with getting more people to
donate major gifts, provide correspondence with major gift contributors, work
closely with internal business groups, maintain records, and be a part of any
other special projects or responsibilities that may arise (UNICEF, 2012). The qualifications needed for this position
are a bachelor’s degree and 5 years of work related experience, self-motivation
and a success record in fundraising, strong work ethic, be a team player,
excellent communication and written skills, strong commitment to international
relief and to the UNICEF mission, technologically proficient , and flexible to
travel as necessary (UNICEF, 2012). This
job sounds appealing to me as raising money and or giving gifts is how this
organization stays running and therefore is very important to the
children.
The
second job I found of interest was Global Programs and Field Manager. Some of the responsibilities with this job
included developing materials for departments, knowing the programs and
initiatives of UNICEF, serving a lead role in developing training for staff
members, managing events and meetings, operating day-to-day focal points for
departments and regional offices, supervising interns and giving tasks to them,
helping to develop a budget, and perform any other duties that are asked
(UNICEF, 2012). The qualifications for
this job included bachelor’s degree but Master’s degree in social sciences or
related field is preferred with a minimum of 5 years related experience,
ability to work under pressure and a deadline with multiple projects, excellent
communication, writing, organizational, and diplomatic skills, display an
interest in global issues, knowledge of the United Nations and UNICEF,
experience with technology, and core values of trust, respect, innovation, and teamwork
(UNICEF, 2012). I would really be
interested in this job because I feel that I have most of the qualifications
with a lack of diplomatic skills. This
type of job would certainly help to expand my global and diversity awareness
and would help with my goal to change the world for children and families.
References:
International Foster Care Organization. (n.d.). Mission
statement. Retrieved from http://www.ifco.info/
United Nations Children's Fund. (2012). About.
Retrieved from http://www.unicefusa.org/about/
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