Saturday, April 11, 2015

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: International


                  The first international organization that fosters the well being of children and families in our field is Save the Children.  Save the Children is an organization in which people can sponsor children to give money to ensure their health and education, people can help fundraise for the children, and people can advocate on the behalf of children for bills and laws to help improve the lives of children and their families (www.savethechildren.org, 2011).  My interest was peaked when researching this website because of the work people do and the fact it is mainly run on volunteers.  This helps with overhead costs to maximize the amount of money that goes to help the children.  Also people can choose which child they want to sponsor.  This organization appealed to me because of the fact that the organization is raising money to help the children meet their basic needs, which allows them to learn.  The jobs advertised are for skill-based volunteers in areas such as fundraising, public policy, finance, and social media.  Although skills and experience are not listed because they check applications against the positions available, they do list expectations of the volunteers such as committing to work at least two days a week for a minimum of 14 hours (www.savethechildren.org, 2011). 
                  Another organization that I researched is one that I have experience with but wanted to know more about, Stop Hunger Now.  Stop Hunger Now is an organization that packages meals to ship all over the world to feed children and their families (www.stophungernow.org, 2015).  Their goal is to end world hunger within our lifetime.  They also provide life saving aid to other countries such as helping them with clean water.  Stop Hunger Now asks organizations to donate money and in turn they bring food to the organization.  Then volunteers work together for two hours carefully packaging the food to be shipped both national and internationally.  I have been a volunteer to package the food and it was a rewarding experience.  My husband and son also helped and it was a great experience to teach him the value of helping others and that other children in the world are not as lucky as he.  Like Save the Children, the majority of jobs are volunteers and specifics of being a volunteer are not listed.  I did think it was interesting during my research that the organization was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is about 20 minutes away from my house.  Knowing that it is so close and that I am finishing up my schooling, once I graduate I am going to check into more opportunities to volunteer with this organization (www.stophungernow.org, 2015). 
                  The third organization I looked into was UNICEF.  I have seen the commercials on television and seen some of their fundraising efforts but honestly I had not researched them.  UNICEF works to promote children’s survival, protection, and development (www.unicef.org, n.d.). UNICEF seeks to meet children’s basic needs in order to meet their educational needs, which they also work towards.  One of the job listings peaked my interest because it is similar to what I do in my current job.  The job is for an Early Learning Education Specialist.  This job consists of providing technical assistance to early education through assessments and monitoring.  Education requirements include an advanced university degree in education, child development, or related field.  Other requirements include at least 8 years of experience at the national or international level in education, excellent communication skills, and fluency in English with proficiency in another United Nations language preferred.  The big difference I noticed between this job listing and my current job is the emphasis on global development.  It makes sense because this is an international organization but it also reflects the realization that we are all connected together.  This is a concept that is emerging and UNICEF is a leader within this concept (www.unicef.org, n.d.).  

References

Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org. 
 
Stop Hunger Now.  (2015).  Retrieved from http://www.stophungernow.org.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org

1 comment:

  1. Hi Myra
    I enjoy reading your blog . I enjoy reading about stop hunger now that good organization that fight hunger around the world. So many children go hunger around world and in the country .It good to know that there are organization help children and families. Thank you sharing

    ReplyDelete