It is with great enthusiasm that I am applying for the PHD Program in Political Science at ____, my first and only choice due to your outstanding faculty, global reputation, and broad network of alumni practitioners in the field of International Relations. I hope to devote much of my PHD research to evaluating the effectiveness of mechanisms that serve to protect the rights of children across the globe. Under the tutelage of some of the most distinguished faculty members in the world in Political Science and Human Rights, I hope to contribute to the building of bridges of support between academia and those who labor to advance respect for the rights and dignity of children.
For the past 15 years, I have dedicated most of my time and energy to working with development organizations, most notably the United Nations, gaining extensive experience dedicated to a life of service to the United Nations and other development organizations across the globe. I have served in politically fragile areas of the world including Afghanistan, Lebanon/Syria Crisis, Kenya, Georgia, Armenia, and 14 Pacific Island countries.
I have a proven record of accomplishment of successful engagement and implementation in public sector reforms fostering poverty reduction, sustainable growth, and social inclusion, with a special and central focus on the area of child rights. Across country contexts, I brokered, built strong partnerships, and fostered trust-based policy dialogue with the Government, UN, World Bank, bilateral/multilateral partners, civil society, and academia, ensuring the mobilization of funds for the UN country programs.
As a Deputy Representative of UNICEF for both Georgia and Armenia, I was accountable for a 20-member team providing managerial guidance for the country programs in accordance with our office’s program formulation and implementation oversight in line with national development priorities. In Kenya, Syria, Afghanistan, and various Pacific Island nations, I have served as a senior UN manager responsible for our response to natural disasters (tsunamis, floods, earthquakes) as well as conflict (elections, civil unrest, IDP situations, war). I helped to lead in the establishment of nation-wide structures of humanitarian relief and /recovery coordination, helping to launch successful partnerships and engagement with government and key stakeholders, launching joint inter-agency financial appeals for several hundreds of millions of USD. I supported crisis response after the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the Pakistan floods of 2011.
In 2016, I became the proud mother of my son Damian. His arrival inspired me to pursue a life of greater domestic stability with less time spent in dangerous, high-stress environments. I decided to embark on a new journey of living a life outside the UN and fragile country contexts. Through a former UN contact and current Director of ALPS Resilience, I started to provide advice and support for research on the resilience of vulnerable communities, with particular attention to violence in Africa. I assist with all aspects of research design and methods, identifying funding sources, and authoring research reports. I co-authored “A Survey of Communities at Risk of Violent Extremism in Tanzania and Mozambique” (August 2019).
As a graduate student in International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, I focused on Conflict Management and International Law at Johns Hopkins University where I served as a Research Assistant to Professor William Zartman. As part of his exciting and unique university course PeaceKidZ, I developed an innovative curriculum using sports as an effective tool for conflict resolution and taught the class to inner city school children in Washington DC. Over the past decade-and-a-half, we have remained in close contact, and I am looking forward to benefiting from his continuous mentorship and academic experience during my PhD student research at Stanford.
I feel strongly that my studies towards the master's degree in international Affairs completed at SAIS, coupled with my experience at the United Nations and ALPS Resilience across the globe will help me to hit the ground running and excel in your rigorous PHD Program.
November 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Despite the progress already made, many of the world’s children remain left behind. Millions of children are refugees and internally displaced persons. Thousands of children die from preventable causes every day, while many others suffer stunting due to malnutrition and no access to education. Many are victims of armed conflict, trafficking, and sexual abuse. Children living with disabilities are still excluded from schools and society. Member state progress in these areas must be constantly monitored.
The research to which I hope to devote the balance of my professional lifetime will be the millions of trafficked children, most on the move, (migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, internally displaced people, subject to horrendous levels of sexual abuse and/or slave-like, forced labor conditions. Abandoned street children are special victims in situations of armed conflict, racism is inherent in these scenarios. In addition to the academic resources of Stanford, as a kite surfer, I am also drawn to the idea of spending regular time on the nearby ocean. I have especially creative moments on the water, with novel ideas and feelings coming to me as I am pulled over the ocean surface by the wind. This serves as a counterbalance to the profound tragedy and suffering of innocents that comprise the bulk of what I investigate.
At the center of my current research interests is an analysis of the impact of the work of the Committe on the Rights of the Child (CRC) Committee on State Parties performance in fulfillment of its obligations in line with the CRC Convention. I would like to review four country contexts and their progress on the realization of child rights, while working together with the CRC Committee: Afghanistan, Georgia, Kenya, and Croatia. While two of them (Georgia, Croatia) have made considerable progress toward the realization of child rights in several areas (including juvenile justice, early childhood education, and access to maternal and newborn health care), while the other two continue to face a variety of challenges that have slowed progress in their implementation of child rights.
For my dissertation, I hope to closely review and analyze the recommendations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. The CRC Reports are published every five years and are public records. The second crucial pillar to my research would be interviews with key stakeholders involved in the CRC reporting process, including members of the CRC Committee, UN Officials, including Catherine Mbengue, former UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, and many other country contexts, who have kindly expressed their interest in contributing to the research. Due to my past professional experience in the United Nations and work with the CRC Committee, I can offer access and trust relationships with the relevant stakeholders as part of my network, especially in the four chosen country contexts.
It would be my privilege to pursue this research topic under the leadership of ____’s world-class faculty. I have special admiration for the publications and work of Professor _____, whose background, vast experience, and research accomplishments would make him the dissertation advisor of my dreams. In addition to the academic resources of ____, as a kite surfer, I am also drawn to the idea of spending regular time on the nearby ocean. I have especially creative moments on the water, with novel ideas and feelings coming to me as I am pulled over the ocean surface by the wind.
Thank you for consideration of my application to Political Science at ____.
PHD Political Science Statement of Purpose Example
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