“Zaheena Rasheed is a junior from the Maldives at Middlebury College majoring in Political Science. This past summer, through the generous funding of Louis Kutzner, she interned at the President’s Office in the Maldives.”

I worked at the International Media and Communications department and have gained invaluable real-world experience that has enriched my understanding of politics and my studies at Middlebury College. Maldives is one of the world’s newest democracies, with current President Mohamed Nasheed having ousted Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s 30 year rule in a peaceful vote in November 2008. During my gap year and my summer holidays, I was very involved in the reform movement that brought Nasheed to power. In 2006, I worked for the previous government in a UNDP funded development project and was fired from my job after being seen at an opposition demonstration. I went on to file and win the country’s first civil rights case in 2007. I then worked for an NGO reporting on conditions of detention and was arrested at a protest in 2007. For me, Nasheed’s victory was a personal one too. This internship provided me with the opportunity to see my new democratic government at work and also the opportunity to work on the other side of the fence.

During my internship I had the opportunity to work closely with President Nasheed, the Vice-President, Ministers and Members of Parliament as I was working on climate change PR. Maldives is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change and President Nasheed was one of world’s most vocal leaders in calling for an equitable agreement at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December. I loved furthering President Nasheed’s and Maldives’ agenda on the international front as the plight of my people is an issue close to my heart.

I organized the filming of Vice-President Dr. Mohamed Waheed’s messages for the United Nations Environment Programme and NGO Planet Positive. It was thrilling to see the Vice-President read the words I had written. I have also drafted a communications strategy for the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference with the help of Mr. Roberts. It is quite exhilarating to know that my writing and work are part of important documents for the Government of Maldives

Mr. Roberts gave me enormous amounts of responsibility, and asked me to manage entire projects by myself. One of the biggest challenges was to be very brief in my writing and to include an immense amount of information in two-page briefs. I also arranged all meetings with the Vice-President and the Ministers and had the opportunity to sit in on the interviews and see a journalist at work. One of my most exciting projects was to organize the “Walk to School” and “Forward with Bicycles” campaigns announced by the Cabinet on World Environment Day. I represented the President’s Office at organizational meetings with relevant ministries. It was challenging and intimidating at first to be authoritative and to take charge at meetings as representatives from other government ministries are much older than I am and had much more experience. I found that, not letting people at the meetings know how young I am or that I am just an intern helped a lot with gaining authority.  This policy paper was sent to the Cabinet for approval.

This internship opportunity has reinforced my desire to go back to the Maldives after graduation as I believe a Middlebury College education will give me the tools to create greater change.