African Women’s Development Fund USA Fall 2013

The Intern

My name is HarNarayan Khalsa and I am a sophomore pursuing a BAA in Marketing and a minor in Psychology at the University of San Francisco. My freshman year, I primarily focused on spreading my roots in my new environment and making SF my home. This gave me the stability to come into my second year here at USF with a drive to do all I could to cultivate my academic and professional careers so they may be fruitful. With my academic schedule set and graduation plan in tow, I knew it was time to take my education beyond the classroom-time to look for internships. With the seemingly bleak availability of positions that could offer me real and valuable experience and that I was qualified for, I was overjoyed when I received an email informing of the PSIP program. The opportunities listed seem to be exactly what I am looking for: a chance to gain real world experience while giving back and getting in touch with the incredible community that is San Francisco. A few emails and documents later, I was sitting in my interview explaining why I was so excited for the opportunities that the PSIP offered. A few days later I got an email saying I was accepted, and that I would have the privilege of working with the African Women’s Development Fund USA for the next 3 months.

The Mission

The African Women’s Development Fund USA (AWDFUSA) is a non-profit that focuses on empowering women all across Africa and give them the resources to make real change in their communities-and the world- while changing public perspective of women in Africa from victims to leaders. I was blown away by the power behind this statement when I heard it, and was immediately distracted from how long the Acronym “AWDFUSA” was. The company is currently in the midst of their “Mother Africa” campaign in which we are striving to increase maternal health across the continent, to lessen the 500 deaths in childbirth that occur every day.

The Position

As the Marketing and Communications Intern, I have been tasked with managing the AWDFUSA’s official FaceBook and Twitter pages. Here I help shape the company’s brand by adopting their up-beat and engaging approach to connect with their followers. The content of my posts range from relevant articles, to event reminders, and everything in between. Initially, I searched these social media sites for prominent users that were already involved in the conversation of maternal health and female empowerment so that we might engage with them to increase our online presence. Along with my periodic posting, I am currently in the process of creating text graphics and info graphs with photoshop to increase and enrich the assets we have to work with and have available to post. Later today I will also be conducting the first in a series of interviews with one of the board members to get their personal story of how they first got involved with AWDFUSA and why they find it so gratifying. These stories, along with other that will be collected through an online survey, will be posted online to inspire more of this spirit of generosity. This is in a push to meet our year end goal of raising $15,000 for our Mother Africa Campaign.

This has been a remote internship and I have been able to do all of this from the comfort of my room. With the way the company is organized, most meetings are held over the phone communications heavily rely on email. This enables me to work not only with people within San Francisco, but with those in San Jose, Chicago, and New York! While I was excited with the prospect of having a structured work place (and even a morning commute!), working from home on my own schedule has given me the freedom to self manage my time which has made working 10-15 hours a week possible while taking 19 units.

This internship has not been what I expected, but that has been only the first of the many lessons that is has already taught me. I am very much looking forward to see how my position and involvement with AWDFUSA evolves, and how I serve their mission to the best of my abilities.

Links

If you would like to follow AWDFUSA on Facebook or Twitter, or donate now, feel free to check us out!

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/African-Womens-Development-Fund-USA-AWDF-USA/257770210924436?ref=hl

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AWDFUSA

Crowdtilt (Donating): https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/african-womens-development-fund-usa-mother-africa-campaign-to-reduce-maternal-mortality-rate

11.17.13

On a Sunday afternoon I find myself writing this blog post from a cafe on Haight street, trying to think back on the last few weeks of my work with AWDFUSA. Surrounded by the dark red accents of the wood, I feel very welcomed by the warmth of my coffee and the walls that keep the fog that’s rolling in at bay. Taking a break from my homework, I scroll through various websites trying to cross things off my Christmas list, and make sure I can remind those that I hold closest how much I care for them.

As the holiday season approaches, it brings with it a desire to give. Whether it we’ve been conditioned to feels this though sales and advertising or the cold slows us down enough to bring people together in a way that demands connection, giving has been a very prominent facet of the holiday tradition seemingly forever. Here at AWDFUSA, we are trying to redefine what it means to give back on a personal level and expand what possibilities that can encompass. In collaboration with countless other non-profit organizations, AWDFUSA is striving to promote Giving Tuesday this year on December 3rd. We felt that after black friday, cyber monday, and the intensity of the weekend in-between, there should be a day dedicated to giving in the most altruistic sense of the word: giving free, giving wholly, and giving to those that need it the most. Over the past few weeks, we have been working out social media sites to drum up as much awareness for this new “holiday” and get people excited about it. One of the ways we have decided to do this was interview some of our most prominent donors and ask them on a very personal level, why do you give? Whether it be time, talent, or treasure, AWDFUSA would not be where it is today if not for these people, so we thought there would be no better way to exemplify the very tangible efforts of existing donors to spread awareness and inspire new donors to give. My overseer and I will be extracting quotes from these interviews to add to our arsenal on the social media pages.

I finished the last of these interviews yesterday after having to reschedule from earlier in the week. My interviewee had trouble connecting to the conference call during our original appointment on Thursday, and then was facing trouble with it again yesterday prior to our make-up session. While less than ideal, we were able to solve the issue quickly and effortlessly because of good communication channels and quick response time. This instance was a reminder of the importance of these qualities, and a great learning experience. I can say that it was well worth it too! Earlier this I posted a quote from a previous interview I conducted and it was by far the most popular thing we have posted to date! With 500% the visibility of our average post and more likes than I have seen on any previous piece, we all shared in the excitement of this development during our weekly check in.

The trick now of course, is analyzing our most and least popular posts along with behavioral patterns in our followers to make this the new average. As we move closer to our year end appeal and the deadline of our fundraising goals this becomes all the more important, but I can safely say that I feel more prepared than ever to do my part in raising awareness and support for this wonderful organization. Just over 2 weeks until Giving Tuesday so mark your calendars, and get into the new sense of giving.

-HarNarayan Khalsa

12.01.13

With the Thanksgiving weekend coming to a close, I was driving into Oakland this Sunday evening to drop my girlfriend off at the airport after having her in the city to visit. As we waited at the intersection for the light to turn green, I turned to her and said “you know, we have a pretty great life”. To this she reminded me of how often I had said these same words over the course of the last week, and whole-hearted agreed with me. Having been surrounded by my family, friends, and loved one’s on these days of thanks, I was able to so tangibly feel the gratitude for the life I have been blessed with. It is this encompassing fulfillment that drives myself and the rest of us at AWDFUSA to give back to offer this contentment to all that we can.

As Giving Tuesday draws ever nearer, we here at AWDFUSA are bringing together the last pieces of our Mother Africa campaign to crowd source the remainder of our $10,000 year end goal. By continuing to share inspirational quotes and well as beginning to share our full length interviews, we believe that we can foster the last bit of this support. The crown jewel of this final push for Giving Tuesday will be our online town hall event in which Harvard professor Dr. Michelle Holmes will lead a discussion in the cutting edge research of the preventable chronic disease in Africa. This event will take place on Giving Tuesday, Dec. 4th at 10 am PST. I think it’s great that such an opportunity is being offered on such an open source-and for free-and would advise anyone to take advantage of it, I already have my RSVP!

If you or anyone you know would be interested in checking this event out, there is no requirement to RSVP, you can simply log on and show up.  Everything you need to know can be found at http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs165/1103664566012/archive/1115288323512.html

So in the spirit of the holidays and with Giving Tuesday quickly approaching, I can report that I am truly grateful what I have. I hope to be able to share this in working with AWDFUSA and beyond, and am doing my best to personify all that entails.

-HarNarayan Khalsa