Staff and Interns Update October 2020
On September 1st Gary Klaukka joined the INTER PARES team as Senior Programme Officer. Gary brings with him extensive experience in working internationally on issues revolving around parliamentary strengthening and political party support. From 2008-2016 he worked in UK national and local politics as a political adviser, with Members of Parliament and in the House of Lords. Since 2016 he has worked with International IDEA in Stockholm, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). He has worked with parliaments and political parties from many countries, including Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Pakistan and Georgia, among others. During these COVID times Gary is basing himself in his homeland of Finland and plans to move to Brussels once normal office working resumes.
The INTER PARES project has greatly benefitted from having the involvement of three very talented and enthusiastic interns over the last six months.
Polina Gerelchuk, a Russian citizen whose academic background is in Journalism, joined the team on a part time basis at the beginning of March. As this was prior to COVID lockdown, Polina did have the opportunity to work briefly in the office but since March has been working remotely with us. Polina’s internship focused mainly on ensuring that the activities of the project were well communicated to our stakeholders through the website and social media. Polina has just completed an Advanced Masters in Developmental Studies Governance and Development at the University of Antwerp. Now that she has completed her internship and studies, she is actively exploring job opportunities where she can use her qualifications and skills to further develop her career.
Anais Ortega was the second intern to join the team and commenced at the beginning of April. She is a French National and fluent in French, Spanish and English. Anais has an MA in International Relations, Cooperation and Development specializing in Latin America and is currently studying for her PhD at the faculty of Social and Political Sciences in Lausanne University. She previously worked in UNESCO Paris and has had internships in Pakistan, Mexico and Lima. Her language skills were a welcome addition to the team, and her main focus was on working on the country fiches and activities related to the Latin American speaking partnerships. She also has been working on parliamentary representation of minorites and vulnerable people in times of crisis and is the author of the article on the European Parliament shelter for women featured in our September newsletter. Although currently living in Sweden with her family, Anais spent the first three months of her internship in Brussels. This allowed her to meet with the team in person once the COVID restrictions were lifted. Anais went back in Sweden and continued to work with the team remotely from the International IDEA office in Stockholm until the final day of her internship on 30 September.
Katie Lynch joined the INTER PARES team at the end of May virtually from her home in Ireland. Katie is studying for her degree in European Studies at Trinity College Dublin, majoring in Political Science, French and Spanish. Prior to starting the internship, Katie had been on an Erasmus exchange in Salamanca Spain and previously interned with the Green Party in Ireland. During her three-month internship with INTER PARES, Katie was responsible for researching current parliamentary developments in the areas of youth and gender. This work will inform the project activities in these cross-cutting themes. Katie is now in the final year of her studies and we expect she will continue to be active and develop her interest further in the field of democracy.
Linnea Bernö is the latest intern to join the team, having commenced on the first of September. Linnea is currently in her last year at Upsala University Sweden studying for her degree in Political Science. In 2019 she studied in Hong Kong for a semester, which allowed her to witness the anti-government protests first-hand. She is working remotely from her hometown of Stockholm, using a unique opportunity to use the IDEA premises. She will mainly focus on the communications side of the project ensuring the website and Social Media posts are kept updated, as well as providing support to partnerships.
We also would like to announce that on July 1st Ingrid Walker was promoted from Associate Programme Officer to Programme Officer, and the team is pleased to congratulate Ingrid on her new role and wishes her all the best with her new duties and responsibilities.