"As a student I have done many internships with the aspiration to get some work experience, but none has been as enriching or as unique as my just concluded Rapid Results Initiative - Summer 2006 internship in Sierra Leone, where I worked in Makeni Town Council and Bombali District Council.
During my internship, I was impressed to witness how the councils I worked with found innovative ways to create income generating activities for communities through the implementation of RRIs, especially for community members who are traditionally excluded in development projects - such as women. RRI teams engage communities to take part in labor intensive activities, which do not require specialized skills, to create sustenance and provide communities with a source of income. For example, while implementing a Gravity Water project, the Bombali District Council RRI team instructed the contractor to buy stones for construction from the village where the project was being set up. Women and children were mobilized to gather stones and became the main beneficiaries of this initiative as they sold stones to the contractor. One girl, approximately 12 years old at the time, got involved in collecting and selling stones to pay her school fees. The chairman was so impressed by her determination that he took on the responsibility to pay for her education. She is now in high school. This close interaction of councilors and community members is unique to the RRI process."
My Background
Sharon Makoriwa is the 2005 Oprah Winfrey scholar at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, pursuing her Master of Public Administration degree in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy, with an International Development specialization.
Sharon has had a longtime predilection for development. She has worked with various public interest organizations and civil society groups.
Before pursuing her MPA, Sharon was a Program Assistant at the Ford Foundation and was a consultant to the United Nations Offices in Nairobi. After her studies, Sharon has an interest in working in the international sphere to create opportunities for the realization of socio-economic development in African countries. Her approach is from a rights-based angle and she believes investing in women is a key way to achieve sustainable development. She subscribes to Mahatma Gandhi's maxim: educate a boy you teach a man;
educate a woman, you educate a nation.
