569: How to Break Into Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy With Rachel Sider, Norwegian Refugee Council [Espresso Shots]

Rachel Sider is a Policy and Advocacy Advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). She is based in Jordan and is a member of the NRC’s Syria Country Management and Crisis Management team. In recent years, Rachel has become an experienced strategic advocacy and policy professional focusing on human rights, humanitarian assistance and displacement in the Middle East. Before working on Syria, Rachel had joined the NRC in Israel as the Gaza Advocacy Coordinator. One of her first job’s in this field included working for Oxfam Great Britain as a Humanitarian Policy Advisor in Iraq. Rachel got her bachelor’s degree in Middle East Studies and Political Science at Middlebury College in 2014. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE: Why joining the Peace Corps is a good way to break into this field (3:14) Why good public speaking and research skills are so important (3:58) Why it’s important to be adaptable (5:35) Why your major doesn’t matter (6:59) How studying abroad and an advocacy internship helped Rachel gain important skills (11:41) How speaking good Arabic helped Rachel get a job in Iraq (13:10) Why you shouldn’t be afraid to take a more junior position (18:39) Why Rachel believe’s “A Perfect Day” is the closest movie representation of her job (and why Andrea believes that “The Constant Gardener ” is another good one to watch in this field) (20:26) Why you shouldn’t be surprised that Rachel’s job is essentially just another desk job (21:55) If you want to learn more about what Rachel does in her current job and how she built her career tune in to her main T4C interview #473