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Anahi Ayala Iacucci, MIA 2010: Human Rights
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Anahi Ayala Iacucci from Brescia, Italy, says she chose SIPA because of its tremendous worldwide reputation in international affairs. “Speaking with SIPA students while working and during my academic experience, I relished their knowledge and prodigious preparation. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to read and listen to SIPA professors, and was immediately attracted by the depth of interconnection between their practical experience and academic knowledge. (flashplayer)
What kind of work do you hope to do when you graduate?
Once I graduated, I would like to return to work in the field. While studying at SIPA, I have come to realize that my favored work environment is embodied in NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, MSF, IRC, and I plan to continue my career in the field of human rights monitoring and humanitarian aid. The opportunity to work to improve respect for human rights and humanitarian law in environments characterized by systemic violence is too important to ignore.
What has been the best part of your SIPA experience?
SIPA creates the ideal environment to create your own network and to learn from the experience of long-term practitioners. Having spent time working in the field, and having an academic career prior to SIPA, I was looking to connect my practical experience with my academic knowledge. SIPA has given me a thorough understanding of what it means to apply my studies and the dynamics required to be an efficient practitioner in the Human Rights field. The direct contact with high-level professionals at SIPA has provided me with a deeper knowledge of the professional environment I expect to find after graduation.
What has been the most challenging part of your SIPA experience?
As a foreign student, the most challenging part of my SIPA experience has been settling down in a big city like New York, learning to understand a different scholastic system, aside from the challenge of language. Arriving at SIPA, I was scared and confused, and it took some time to feel comfortable in this new environment. The most challenging part of my experience, however, has now become the most satisfactory one: I am now taking 18 credits a semester, have a high GPA, I have found a job as a Teacher Assistant for a summer course held here at Columbia, and I am part of the Israel-Palestine Student Working Group. SIPA is a challenge in itself, but it also provides you with all the intellectual and physical instruments to transform weaknesses to strength.
Can you comment specifically on some exciting things about your concentration?
My favorite part of the Human Rights concentration is that you can actually use the concentration as a framework inside which you can develop specific issues. The HR concentration has given me the possibility to develop my interest in humanitarian aid and the Middle East, with the human rights-based approach as a reference. This has provided me with a deep understanding of the ideal interconnection necessary to pursue the practical implementation of human rights, an issue often perceived as largely theoretical. The HR concentration has also its related Student Working group that is extremely useful in providing with stimulating and interesting exchange of ideas between students.