Reflections on a summer spent in Amman: WANA's social justice intern looks back at her time spent with the Institute

As I pack my bags to return to University in England, I have been invited to write a short opinion article reflecting on my internship with the West Asia-North Africa Institute. I arrived from Rabat, Morocco not knowing what to expect of my time in Amman or what my experience at the Institute would entail. As it turned out, my first impressions continued to be reinforced throughout my assisgnment: from the moment I arrived, I felt a wonderful positive atmosphere in the office and everyone greeted me with open arms, riveting conversation and a passion about their respective projects.

I was lucky enough to arrive just in time for a panel discussion on climate change and sustainable development organised by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University. The key speakers included HRH Princess Sumaya Bint el Hassan (the daughter of HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, WANA’s founder and chairman), French climate expert H.E Stephane Gompertz, the Secretary General of the Jordanian Ministry of Environment, the Minister of Transport, as well one of the brilliant research fellows at WANA, Dr Laylla Rkiouak.  A picture essay on the green economy of the region, by local artist Samer Kurdi, and commissioned by WANA was also launched during the panel. The panel discussion provided an apt introduction to working life at WANA; as during the rest of my stay I had the privilege of witnessing Dr Rkiouak prepare for her presentation at the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on sustainable development, in September 2015.

The work being undertaken by WANA is particularly interesting for me as it conjoins my personal interests with my field of study. Having grown up in Morocco and currently studying International Relations and History at the London School of Economics and Political Science, I am drawn to international and sustainable development, human security and social justice in the developing world, particularly in the Middle East. I was delighted to be assigned to work with Annalisa Bezzi, a research fellow with the Social Justice team, who was finalising a study on legal empowerment and access to justice in the WANA region.  My role was to assist Ms Bezzi map access to justice and legal empowerment in Lebanon, from the perspective of different vulnerable groups. I was fascinated to observe common threads between the experiences of vulnerable groups in the region: women, children and the poor are often discriminated against and their access to justice and legal aid is very limited. It was particularly interesting to compare what the justice system actually grants to these groups with the reality of the situation.

Last, but not least, with the refugee crisis continuing to escalate, and with Jordan currently having the third highest number of UNHCR registered Syrian refugees, it was particularly interesting to have access to WANA projects related to the refugee crisis. The report entitled “Forging New Strategies in Protracted Refugee Crises: Syrian Refugees and the Host State Economy: Jordan Case Study” written by Human Security fellows Mays Abdel Aziz and Sean Thomas, under the supervision of WANA’s Executive Director Dr Erica Harper, gave me a new insight on the situation.

My final impressions indeed matched my first. The people I worked with were as interesting, intelligent and kind as they seemed when I first walked into WANA. I would like to personally thank Dr Harper, who made my internship both interesting and substantive, and the entire team for being so welcoming (and brilliant). It was them who made my internship a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.