Your summer vacation is the best time to get involved with big and exciting projects. This summer, I decided to apply for an internship at The Borgen Project, a non-profit organization fighting to reduce global poverty. It is based in Tacoma, Washington, but also has sectors in Canada and the UK. Through advocacy and lobbying, the organization works to bring the attention of political leaders to the issue of global poverty and discuss legislations and bills that could be implemented to reduce it.
I felt passionate about interning at The Borgen Project because I was born and raised in Bangladesh, a developing country that deals with its own poverty challenges. It is common to see young children, who should be in schools and playgrounds, begging for money. It's also a common sight to see parents begging outside hospitals holding their malnourished child close to their chest, but unable to because they cannot afford the treatment. As a Global Health and Social Sciences student, who wants to play their part in making a difference, I decided to apply and get to work!
The Founder and The Story
The Borgen Project was founded in 2003, by Clint Borgen. In 1999, whilst working as a young volunteer in refugee camps in the Kosovo war, Borgen realized that the U.S. could do more to fight global poverty. Borgen wanted to create an organization that would encourage U.S. political leaders to focus more on extreme poverty.
After completing his graduation at Washington State University and doing an internship at the United Nations, Borgen started on his mission. To garner startup funding, he started working on a fishing vessel in Alaska. With plenty of time and solitude at his disposal and a laptop, he launched The Borgen Project, which now operates in 2,256 cities in the U.S. and brings positive change into the world every day.
Strategies and Successes
The Borgen Project believes in working with the leaders to improve how the global poverty crisis is being handled. The Borgen Project has four pillars that operate:
- Congressional relations- holding meetings with Congress and Parliamentary leaders to discuss important bills and legislations that can effectively reduce global poverty.
- Mobilize- encouraging as many people as possible to reach out to their political leaders to make global poverty reduction a priority.
- Educate- teaching advocacy skills to enable individuals to effectively communicate the issue of global poverty to their leaders and government.
- Issue message- building awareness around global poverty in various communities.
The Borgen ProjectThese strategies have allowed The Borgen Project’s endeavors to be successful. For example: the organization supported the legislation of the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act (2021-22), which increased the program’s coverage to provide nutrient supplements and food packages to vulnerable populations worldwide.
In 2022, the organization also met with 71% of U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Members to discuss how the U.S. could increase its aid to reduce global poverty. Another big achievement of the organization has been the passing of the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act bill in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
This bill was signed into law in 2019. This act made it U.S. policy to reduce gender disparities in economic participation by providing women with tools to become an active part of strengthening their communities’ economy.
The organization has also enabled and encouraged numerous UK students, volunteers, and interns to reach out to their Members of Parliament (MPs) to discuss the UK’s international aid and how the country can do more to reduce global poverty.
Read more about their success here.
The Borgen Project and The UK
As part of the newly formed UK Chapter of the organization, the primary legislation The Borgen Project is working on is the UK’s Official Development Assistance (ODA). The four objectives are: strengthening global peace, security, and governance; strengthening resilience and response to crises; promoting global prosperity; and tackling extreme poverty and helping the world’s most vulnerable.
As Borgen Project interns, through advocacy and reaching out to our local political leaders, we aim to encourage our MPs to co-sponsor this legislation. This will ensure that the UK Parliament and government look deeper into the issue of global poverty and discuss ways the UK can do more to reduce it.
In 2022, the UK government announced a reduction in the amount that the UK will be spending on ODA from 0.7% of its annual Gross National Income (GNI) to 0.5% of its GNI due to the economic hardships that the country was facing. The money that the UK spends on ODA allows for global issues, such as poverty and social issues, to be tackled. This had dire consequences and caused many problems for the beneficiaries of this aid.
For example, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) benefitted from the UK’s international aid. They expected to lose $7 billion between 2022 and 2023, which would result in maternal mortality health in countries like Mozambique to suffer. This cut has also resulted in almost four million fewer girls having access to standard education.
Providing international aid not only helps the rest of the world but also to the UK. It will be in the UK’s strategic interest to increase its international aid. The aid will create more consumers of UK products in other countries, which will benefit the UK’s economy. The aid will function to also benefit the UK's National Health Service (NHS).
For example, international aid enabled packages to be developed to train NHS nurses how to care for high-dependency patients in low-income countries. One London hospital was inspired by this program and took it on board to train their non-high-dependency nurses to look after high-dependency Covid patients. However, more importantly, helping those in need is the right thing to do. As a prosperous nation, it is the UK's responsibility to use its tools to provide aid and build a happier and more stable world.
How can you help?
Get to know the organization more
Simply just reading through The Borgen Project’s website can inform you about what actions are being taken and have been taken concerning global poverty. You can find out about what the organization has done so far and is currently doing to combat the issue. You can also look into The Borgen Project's virtual internship opportunities!
