This past summer, two recent UVA Batten graduates had a unique opportunity to support one of the country’s leading organizations working on global hunger. Sadie Rogerson and Emma Nardone, both BA ’24, spent three months in Washington D.C. working with the public policy team at the World Food Program-USA, (WFP-USA) a nonprofit whose activities reach almost 90 million people in dozens of countries each year with lifesaving assistance. 

The two were selected in a competitive application process to participate — with full funding — in a pilot of the UVA Batten Humanitarian Collaborative Fellowship program under the auspices of Batten Professors of Practice Kirsten Gelsdorf and Lucy Bassett. The goal is two-fold, Gelsdorf said: to provide new graduates with real-world policy experience and the opportunity to build a professional network, and to provide presitgous nonprofits with funded positions to help achieve their mission and access to rising leaders in humanitarian affairs. 

Rogerson and Nardone both said their fellowship experience, which recently concluded, was eye-opening, exciting, often fun, sometimes intimidating, and definitely a significant step on their career paths. 

“Our job was to help educate members of Congress and their staff on the importance of international food assistance programs,” Nardone said. “I definitely had to get out of my comfort zone to make connections and engage with people.” 

Their tasks varied almost daily, from drafting letters for grassroots support, to researching the interests and voting records of members of Congress, to attending committee meetings and writing summaries, to joining briefings between WFP-USA and congressional staff. 

Their biggest project was developing a scored ranking of all 535 members of Congress and their positions on international food assistance. The resulting information would be used by WFP-USA to strategically target their efforts to secure congressional backing to support ongoing and growing global relief initiatives.

“It was very intimidating,” said Rogerson. “We had to come up with the entire system from scratch. It was up to us in terms of how we should do this.”  After a week of work, they decided to scrap what they had and start over — a bold step, to be sure, but their time at the Batten School gave them the confidence. 

“What I took away from my Batten coursework was the ability to be iterative, knowing the first draft didn’t have to be perfect and willing to scrap it. ‘Kill your darlings,’ as some of the Batten professors say.’  We took the time to make it better,” Rogerson said.

WFP-USA staff have already been using the rankings system in their congressional outreach, and it’s now a permanent part of their toolbox, said Ryan Quinn, senior director of advocacy and coalitions at the organization. 

Quinn said he’s worked with many interns over the years, but having post-graduate fellows from the Batten School on the team took things to a different level. “I was blown away on the first day. It was clear they understood the work we’re doing on public policy and government relations and the broader context of humanitarian assistance.” 

Galen Fountain, a long-time congressional staffer on agricultural issues who now consults with WFP-USA, currently teaches food policy at Batten and facilitated the partnership with the nonprofit.  He joined Nardone and Rogerson on trips to the Hill to talk with congressional staffers; after one such meeting, Fountain said, a staff member “told me how encouraged he was to see us guide young students, the next generation of leaders, to engage in these issues because he saw a need for that.”

Starting a career in the humanitarian work can be especially difficult, said Gelsdorf, a two-decade professional in the field and co-director of the UVA Humanitarian Collaborative. “Humanitarian organizations get flooded with job applicants, , but the work is extremely demanding and takes very specialized skills. So having relevant experience and a solid professional network are critical for getting a foot in the door. 

“That’s what this new fellowship tries to do. It’s about offering a young person the opportunity to apply the skills they learned at Batten and gain professional expertise. It also helps to build our alumni network of students working on humanitarian and development assistance.” 

Both Nardone and Rogerson said that in addition to the nuts-and-bolts experience they got working on policy, the opportunity to meet people working on the issue was invaluable.

“I really got comfortable introducing myself to people, reaching out and engaging with everyone I possibly could…just pushing myself to seize the opportunity to meet someone new, have a coffee chat, or at after-work events,” said Nardone. 

Rogerson added that one piece of advice she’d give current Batten students is to “not be shy about reaching out to people. I was always hesitant to do that at UVA, I didn’t take advantage of office hours or get to know faculty.” Not only did the fellowship drive her to overcome her shyness, it solidified her interest in developing a career in international humanitarian work. 

The profession needs more people who have academic backgrounds and are passionate about the work, said Quinn, “people like Emma and Sadie who are so beneficial to the broader work. I think this fellowship can really help a lot.” 
 
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UPDATE: After publication of this story, Nardone accepted a job as the Membership and Public Engagement Associate at InterAction, a position that will closely align with her interests and career goals. “I found the fellowship incredibly helpful in securing a position in the sector both in terms of providing more tangible experience in the humanitarian field and having additional concrete skills and experiences to talk about in interviews. I had the opportunity to work with InterAction as a member of the Public Policy team at World Food Program USA. I am excited to continue collaborating with the humanitarian and international development community through InterAction's Membership and Public Engagement team."
 

To support UVA Batten in its efforts to offer future humanitarian fellowships , please email Kirsten Gelsdorf at kg8v [@] virginia.edu.

For more information:
World Food Program-USA
UVA Batten Humanitarian Collaborative