Anne Friedman Business Development Intern [Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]
			Click for     more Photos Volunteer Vacation
	Carolyn, Kate, Susan, Theresa and Anne show off their new outfits in the office.
		Description: (Cape Coast, Ghana. Jun – Aug 2006) Women in Progress prides itself on tracking the progress of each member of the Global Mamas Cooperative. WP uses this data in marketing the stories and progress of the businesses and publishes the data in an annual report. Keeping track of this data for the 30+ members, however, is a time consuming task. Accomplishments: With Anne's interest in international development, she: Interviewed each of the existing Global Mamas members to update their recent achievements Updated the stories to be posted on the Meet the Women section of the Global Mamas website and the Project Highlights section of the WIP website. Gathered baseline data on the new Global Mamas that had recently entered the program, a critical step since overall improvements in living conditions are gauged from this data. Highlights: Anne had a plethora of Ghana highlights: hanging out at Eli's before dinner as she was cooking; seeing the Black Stars beat the U.S. and then having the street erupt in people celebrating; wearing her kabba and slit in the street and seeing peoples' reactions; hiking in the Volta region; tasting cocoa; making connections with some of the people she saw everyday, like the brown-bread man and her banana lady. When she came back after traveling they would say, "We have not seen you. Where have you been?" "It was really gratifying when I finally figured out how to phrase questions to elicit the kinds of answers I was interested in and to know the sorts of jokes that the women found amusing. It was so exciting to have the women share big pieces of news—about paying off a loan or purchasing new mattresses for their house. It was incredible to see how their participation in Global Mamas has so greatly impacted their lives." close window