World Vision is a not for profit non-governmental organization. It has headquarters in 100 countries. Its main aim is poverty alleviation regardless of race, gender, religion, or ethnicity. It is a humanitarian organization that is focused mainly on children, but believes that children cannot fully develop if their surroundings are not conducive for them to reach their full potential. Communities are helped to deal with poverty and injustice, through tools such as agricultural training and education. They provide emergency assistance to people affected by natural disasters and civil conflict, and develop models for long-term solutions to poverty.

I am interning with World Vision Brazil at their headquarters in the capital city of the state of Pernambuco, Recife. After the organization was mentioned at a social justice conference I had attended in March, World Vision was one of the organizations I contacted to see if they would have me assist them over the summer. World Vision operates a sponsorship program that connects people to disadvantaged children around the world for support especially during their developmental stages and runs projects developing communities around the world. As seen in recent publications on the news surrounding the World Cup, inequalities in standard of living is no stranger to the nation of Brazil. Here in Brazil a number of World Vision´s projects are run in the favelas (poorer districts of many large cities).

My internship this summer focuses on the internal operations of the organization in the Pessoas & Cultura (People and Culture) department which deals with employees in the organization. During my first week I received a comprehensive guide book outlining the organization´s objectives and code of conduct, which I was to read and understand.

As well as everyday office work, I was handed my first project to assist in the planning of an organization event. As a mission based organization, my goal in this is to plan an event rooted in organizational values that will engage employees and their families. Planning this has given me great access to the city, in researching what would appeal to Brazilian employees. It has also provided me with drive to understand what justice is for children in order to make the event both enjoyable and educational. I have found that the city is very rich in history and cultural activity. The month of June has been set out as a month of celebrating saints, such as Sao Joao (St. John), where there are special meals, costumes and dances. Before I had arrived, I was notified that in honor of the World Cup this year, World Vision International had organized a mini World Cup football tournament, where children were the players and employees served as volunteers to run the tournament, it was a big success here in Brazil.

World Vision Cup Brazil´s Poster

It is engaging and educational operating professionally in Portuguese 8 hours of a day. Portuguese was a conversational language for me, but now my vocabulary and fluency is expanding daily. For the rest of the summer, I have been assigned more projects to develop, one which will deal with orientating incoming employees. I hope to visit a project, in order to get an experience of the organization´s field work. Being a part of the department, even for the short time so far has shown me its importance, for it was responsible for successfully creating an organizational culture that is both comfortable and conducive for work.