473: What a Humanitarian Policy & Advocacy Advisor Does With Rachel Sider, Norwegian Refugee Council [Main T4C Episode]

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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:

• What the three functions of Rachel’s role are as a Policy and Advocacy Advisor for the Norwegian Refugee Council (4:39)
• What was Rachel’s experience advocating for the annual renewal of U.N. Security Council resolution No. 2165 (7:33)
• How a humanitarian coalition works (11:37)
• Why it’s important to set aside personalities and politics when working as part of a coalition (15:50)
• How a sudden and unexpected Turkish military incursion in Syria inspired Rachel’s co-authored publication called Desperate Measures (17:52)
• What Rachel does during a typical workday in Amman, Jordan (23:12)
• What a policy advisor does in comparison to what a policy coordinator does within the NRC (26:44)
• How Rachel’s extracurricular experiences and her interest in the displacement of people ultimately inspired her to work in the international humanitarian field (32:44)
• How Rachel and Andrea originally met and how that opened doors for Rachel’s career (38:25)
• Why it’s important to connect with your alumni network and identify what you don’t want to do when searching for a job (41:27)
• How studying Geography in college would have helped Rachel’s advocacy work (50:20)