Unicef signs pact on internship programme

The Bihar Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (BIPARD) and Unicef on Saturday signed an MoU to facilitate the Unicef's internship programme in Bihar. The MoU was signed by Unicef's state representative Bijaya Raj Bhandari and BIPARD director-general G S Dutt at the Unicef office in Patna. BIPARD will facilitate the Unicef's internship programme in Bihar by hosting 10 interns drawn from various universities across the world for a period of two months. These 10 interns are part of a group of 120 students doing research, documentation and analysis on various issues related to children like health, nutrition, child protection, education, water and sanitation as a part of their summer internship programme in different states of India. As a part of this agreement, BIPARD will oversee, supervise and coordinate the internship programme of these 10 students. This includes supervision of their day-to-day activities. The students, during their stay in the state, will be divided into two groups and will carry out two case studies. One study will be on the accessibility of Integrated Management of Neo-natal and Childhood Illness services to socially excluded groups in two blocks of Vaishali district while the other study will focus on the documentation process of the integrated village planning process currently underway in Vaishali district. The assignment will involve a combination of desk work and field work at the village level. Raj Bhandari said the internship will give an excellent opportunity to the students to understand issues at the grass-root level and benefit from the guidance of organisations like BIPARD. He said the idea behind the internship is to expose the young minds to the various development issues and instil in them a sense of dedication for the cause. As part of the agreement, BIPARD will also help in disseminating the findings of the case studies through workshops and meetings at the state level. These 120 interns, according to a press release issued here by the Unicef, will arrive in Delhi from various universities in India and abroad in mid-June and will receive week-long training and orientation on writing case studies and production of educational videos at the Unicef country office in Delhi before leaving for their respective states for their internship programme.