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My HORIZON Experience

by Nancy Omosa

My family and I have been living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the USA for the last year. We are from Kenya. We came here because my husband was admitted to Harvard Business School.

Before coming to the USA, I was State Counsel at the Attorney-General's Chambers in Nairobi, Kenya. My duties at the Chambers included giving legal advise to Government Ministries, Departments and State Corporations on various legal issues including those that touched on development.

In the course of my duties, I had the opportunity to negotiate and work with various international development agencies like the World Bank, the African Development Bank, The Swedish Development Agency and several NGOs. Due to the nature of my work, I developed a keen interest in development. Being a lawyer, I focused on how we could bring about development using the instrument of law.

In this regard, I was involved in law reforms geared towards bringing about economic development in my country. The most notable reform I was involved in was the overhaul of our public procurement law which was aimed at saving the Government lots of money by eradicating instances of corruption in public procurement. We hope that the savings that will be made as a result of the new law will be used for other purposes, for example improving health care.

I was also involved in the work of the Nation Council of Sciences and the Radiation Protection Board were I assisted in negotiating contracts for co-operation in new technologies. I also assisted the organizations to formulate law reforms aimed at enabling them do their work more effectively.

Several months ago, I decided to look for an opportunity to do some volunteer work in the areas of development. I contacted the Center for International Development (CID), which is at the Kennedy School of Government. CID referred me to HORIZON. I made my application to HORIZON through the Internet. I was graciously offered an opportunity to be a HORIZON intern several weeks later. I work from my house which is a new experience to me.

I am constantly in touch with the rest of the HORIZON staff through the Internet. This internship has been a great learning experience for me. Not only has it improved my computer skills immensely, it has also shown me how the Internet can be used to bring about the improvement of the quality of lives for people all over the world cheaply. It has also brought me in contact with other people with similar objectives to those of HORIZON. It has also enabled me to be in touch with other HORIZON interns in the USA and in other countries. HORIZON has been able to obtain and station local as well as international interns in various countries mainly through the use of the Internet.

Ever since I started my internship, the value of collaboration between organizations has been made clear to me. The HORIZON Solutions Site was created as a result of the collaborative efforts between HORIZON and Harvard University, Yale University, the International Development Research Center of Canada (IDRC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). HORIZON continues to collaborate with over 140 organizations. This has shown that a lot of good can be achieved by organizations working together.

When I started my internship, I had to share a computer with my husband. Since he had to use the computer for his schoolwork, I did not have much time with it and that meant that I did not do as much of HORIZON's work as I could have liked. Just the other day, CID, a HORIZON collaborator, donated some computers to HORIZON. I received one of the computers and I am most grateful for it. I will now be able to do more for HORIZON.

I am grateful to Ms. Janine Selendy for giving me the opportunity to be part of HORIZON. I am humbled by her and my other colleagues' dedication to the course of HORIZON. I am also grateful to my husband who has taught me a lot on the use of the computer and the internet and for providing me with internet access. I am glad to be part of the HORIZON dream and I would like to invite everyone to be part of it too.

Nancy Omosa is a HORIZON Intern. Her degrees include:

Master of Laws (LL.M) in Banking and Finance Law.1995. University of London, London, UK.

Diploma in Law and Admission to the Bar as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.1991. Kenya School of Law, Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) 199O.
University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

(c) HORIZON INTERNATIONAL 2001