There are dozens of memories Eloise Skoss will cherish from her three-month Global Citizen internship in New York through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship.
During her internship, the Manjimup resident worked as a part of the Global Citizen team to secure nearly USD$1 billion in government and private sector commitments towards eradicating extreme poverty through their annual Global Citizen Festival in Central Park.
“The festival was the culmination of Global Citizen's work for the past year, and had been the focus of most of my work for the first two months of my internship,” the 22-year-old said.
“I had just spent the whole day staffing a VIP dignitary and running around with a two-way radio.
“Watching the festival at the very end was the moment where I got to stand still and take it all in, and appreciate how cool and surreal it was to be a part of it.”
Ms Skoss, who recently graduated from the University of WA with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science majoring in Population Health, spent her internship working within the Global Policy and Government Affairs (GPGA) team.
GPGA Global Director Michael Sheldrick said Ms Skoss helped project-manage a side event for a major Global Citizen campaign and mobilise “hundreds of millions of dollars” for education in emergencies around the world.
“She also completed research to help lay the foundation of 2020 campaign priorities for education and water and sanitation campaigns,” Mr Sheldrick said.
“This includes research about and providing insights about national and subnational budgets, and possible campaign targets in the private sector.”
Ms Skoss said she was proud to be involved in managing the side event (focused on education in emergencies and financing education development) during the UN General Assembly week in NY.
“Having the opportunity to demonstrate my ability to work at a high capacity, on an event that included high-level guests such as foreign ministers, leaders in global education organisations, and refugee youth activists, was very rewarding, and a distinct professional highlight from the internship,” she said.
Having completed her degree, Ms Skoss said she was particularly interested in big-picture approaches to issues, and how the health of a community is impacted by factors such as the economy, social inclusion and climate change.
“This experience has altered some of my perceptions of how big global problems can be solved in the real world, and the role that civil society can play in finding these solutions,” she said.
“Going forward, we need creative and innovative approaches to issues, and my experience at Global Citizen showed me what can be achieved by a small group of people when operating in a dynamic and ambitious way.”
The McCusker Centre for Citizenship organises local, regional, interstate and global internships for undergraduate and postgraduate UWA students at not-for-profit, community and government organisations – to encourage students to develop active citizenship and give back to the community.
Mr Sheldrick said the Centre had continuously put forth some of the highest quality candidates for the internship at Global Citizen.
“The skills and perspectives brought by the interns along with their hard-work and dedication are invaluable assets to our work,” he said.