Far away from her office in Syracuse, Sarah Peterson explored, for the first time, the city streets of Casablanca, Morocco, this summer.

 

The sprawl of shanty houses, raw electric wires hooked up illegally and open sewage in the slums of the city’s outskirts brought home the importance of Peterson’s new job with the Near East Foundation.

 

‘This was real life,’ she said.

 

Peterson, who received a master’s degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in May, is the new program officer at the Syracuse University branch of NEF. The foundation opened an administrative office on campus this summer after being located exclusively in New York City for almost a century. 

 

NEF began in 1915 as a nonprofit organization working to stimulate economic development, public activism and education in Middle Eastern communities. The historic move to SU will open up a wealth of internship and volunteer opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.

 

NEF’s ‘board of directors wanted to affiliate with a university in order to engage the energy and excitement that students and faculty have,’ said Charlie Benjamin, NEF’s president, whose new office is located in Crouse-Hinds Hall.

 

‘We looked at several schools, but at the end of the search, SU was the very best fit,’ he said.

SU attracted the foundation with its dedication to giving students hands-on field training abroad and in Syracuse, as well as its growing Middle Eastern studies and strong public administration programs.

 

‘We want to have young people involved. They have a creativity, energy and idealism that is in line with the program’s goals,’ Benjamin said.

 

NEF works by developing and implementing grassroots programs that are tailored for the community in need, he said.

 

Before becoming president, Benjamin worked as the country director in Morocco. A program began there in the 90s to help undo the stigma of sending girls of rural Morocco to school.

 

‘Cultural and social norms prevented girls from going to school,’ he said. ‘In very remote areas, there was an average of 10 percent of girls attending primary schools. For boys, it was in the 50 percent range. Many parents were reluctant to send their girls to coed schools. Parents thought they were protecting the honor of their daughters.’

 

The Moroccan branch of NEF evaluated the need and developed a program that would build schools, train older women as community role models and teach parents about the importance of sending their children to primary school.

 

By 2009, the number of girls enrolled in elementary school was at 98 percent, and the completion rate was 95 percent, Benjamin said.

 

Besides Morocco, NEF has bases in Mali, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan and the West Bank, as well as staff working in Armenia. Programs vary greatly from region to region, some enterprise-oriented, others focused on education or youth empowerment.

 

Benjamin said the foundation has been very flexible in how student interns and volunteers get involved.

An intern from Elon University in North Carolina received a grant to spend the summer with NEF in Jordan. She used the opportunity to take photographs, create photo stories and write a blog about her experiences in the developing area.

 

If they find the means, students from a range of majors and specialties can become involved in the organization, Benjamin said.

 

Other internships have been more conventional, such as paid and volunteer program managers.

 

Since coming to SU, Benjamin has taken on several undergraduate interns from the university who are project managers in the SU office.

 

Most internships are on a volunteer basis, but many of SU’s colleges and programs have grant money available that could provide the means to travel to and work at an NEF base abroad, Benjamin said. NEF also budgets for a number of grants for graduate students. 

 

NEF’s presence on campus will also benefit faculty, said William Sullivan, assistant dean of Maxwell. Sullivan predicts professors will become more involved with the organization over time and will be able to utilize the foundation as a teaching resource, he said.

 

‘We also believe that as the partnership strengthens,’ Sullivan said, ‘we will be able to collaborate on funding proposals from which both the university and the foundation will benefit.’

 

rastrum@syr.edu