During my recent semester-long internship with Women Thrive Worldwide, I was impressed by the commitment, knowledge, and resourcefulness that its staff displayed as they worked to incorporate women’s needs and perspectives into every facet of the United States’ international assistance. Women Thrive has an immediate impact on multiple issues—trade, gender-based violence, agriculture— that are of strategic importance to women in developing countries across the globe. Their approach, which combines support for short-term relief measures with investments in long-term policy solutions for maximum impact, helps overcome the fiscal limitations and partisan debates of today in the interest of a more equitable tomorrow. Women Thrive is a smart, focused organization run by a talented and passionate staff.
I've been privileged to work with the impressive team at Women Thrive for almost 7 years. Women Thrive is innovative, strategic and fresh - relentlessly working to serve women and girls around the world. What I admire most about our model is that the women we seek to serve are our partners and consultants in figuring out what can be done better in ending poverty. I can't think of an organization that accomplishes so much with with limited resources.
For full disclosure, I am a donor and employee of Women Thrive. As an employee, I look forward to working with some of the brightest minds in DC working to remove barriers to women's economic opportunity, including violence against women. As a donor, I support Women Thrive's efforts to change policies that will impact millions of women and girls worldwide. There is no organization like Women Thrive. They are experts in making sure women and girls are included in policies, and they play an important role amplifying the voices of women and girls living in developing countries.
Women Thrive is not just an institution that speaks for the poor in the developing worlds, so that the US government can review its foreign assistant to unable them to reach their potential. The work goes beyond, empowering these women to know their rights and to advocate for themselves - and saying "we are the people who will change our countries, our communities" - don't take these opportunities away - we know we can alleviate poverty and offer our daughters and son the future they deserve. Standing with Women Thrive and standing with these women out there, transforming the world.
I was an intern with Women Thrive for a year. I was able to work in 2 departments with a number of smart, driven and passionate women. I was always treated as a valued member of the team and given the opportunity to learn and grow throughout my time there. Seeing everyone in the office work so tirelessly for the rights of women around the world, even when things weren't going their way was truly inspiring. I had such a wonderful experience with Women Thrive that even after being away for over a year I still keep in touch with staff members and follow their work closely.
During fall 2011, I had the privilege of interning at Thrive. Although I worked only in one department of Thrive, I received mentor-ship and support from all the staff. I always felt respected, appreciated, and that my work was a valuable contribution. I most admire the work environment at Thrive which promotes leadership among staff, respect, and a value for time. Thrive definitely appreciates all its staff- which includes a focus on interns. Brown bag lunches where my peers and I got to pick the brain of leaders and policy- including Ritu Sharma- was so rewarding. I received as very well rounded experience- seeing Thrive in action on the Hill or on panels- and I was encouraged to learn by attending the numerous talks around DC.
Women Thrive Worldwide is an extraordinary organization that has advocated successfully for women’s rights since 1998. Several of Women Thrive Worldwide's significant campaigns include advocating for the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the Access for Afghan Women Act of 2002, and President Obama's Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review.
As an intern, I saw first-hand the tremendous collaboration between Women Thrive Worldwide and its domestic and international partners. This organization is certainly deserving of the 2012 Women’s Empowerment Award.
I worked for Women Thrive Worldwide for over three years doing digital marketing and online partnerships. I cant say without hesitation that my colleagues were some of the brightest and driven non-profit professionals around. Here are what I view as Women Thrive's strengths: 1. An idealistic, but pragmatic, approach to change: From how we ran meetings to our policy positions, our values of promoting change within existing avenues for maximum impact imbued our work. 2. A commitment to changing the world by changing basic household economics. Women are more likely to spend their income on food and school for their children. This simple principle inspired us to help women around the world earn the incomes they need to pull their families out of poverty. 3. An understanding of our target markets: Women Thrive's Communications, Marketing and Outreach team remained very clear and focused on who are members are and what makes them tick. We used research and data to back up our assumptions and make marketing decisions. It's leader, Anu Palan's, vision and management skills allowed us to grow our individual members and coalition exponentially. 4. A top-notch global development policy team - Ritu Sharma, Seema Jalan, and Lara Pukatch are not only brilliant policy minds, they also know how to communicate and influence others towards our cause- whether those are donors, partners, or Senators.
I worked for Thrive as an intern, and it was a wonderful experience. The staff is made up of intelligent, capable, effective women whose enthusiasm and energy is inspiring. While I was there, the Thrive team went out of their way to make me feel included and involved, and always treated me like a colleague rather than "just an intern." The office environment was laid back, but extremely efficient, which made it easy to be productive. Women Thrive Worldwide is a great place to volunteer, and I would recommend the organization to anyone looking for an internship or a career in this field.
I worked as an intern with Women Thrive Worldwide between January and May of 2012 and I was greatly impressed with the organization. More than other small NGOs I've worked with, they get things done. They advocate 24-7 on behalf of women throughout the world, making sure decision makers in DC understand the necessity of investing in women, defending their rights and ensuring that they have a seat at the table in all foreign aid efforts. As an intern, it was inspiring to work with a group of such hardworking, smart and determined women. In an internship it can be easy to feel like you're just free (or cheap) labor with no real voice but my supervisor made sure that I felt included and that my contribution was valuable. I felt like what I was doing mattered both to the organization but also to women throughout the world.