CUW alumna AnnaLyssia Abela was selected for an Evaluation Research internship with IFAD, a specialized UN agency. In 2023, AnnaLyssia graduated from CUW with dual bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Social Work, and minors in Spanish and Justice and Public Policy.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works to eradicate rural poverty and hunger by investing in the rural agricultural sector. For her internship, AnnaLyssia will work for the Independent Office of Evaluation of IFAD, which specifically promotes accountability and learning through independent evaluations of IFAD’s work. She will assist the Corporate Level Evaluation-Thematic Evaluation Team (CLE-TE) while she completes a master’s degree program abroad in England.
“These types of internships that get hundreds and thousands of applicants seem, and often are, a ‘one in a million’ chance,” AnnaLyssia notes. “But the personal and career development I received from my mentors, former teammates, classmates, and friends at CUW, shown through to the hiring committee enough to invite me to interview, and then interview again, and then take a competency test, and then interview again, until I was eventually selected.”
Concordia’s influence
Since graduating in 2023, AnnaLyssia has lived abroad. She first experienced life overseas thanks to a CUW study abroad experience in Spain in summer 2022. “My studies in Spain focused on the language and culture,” she says, “but the opportunity to be in a cross-cultural setting away from home and to meet and collaborate with other international students changed my outlook on how I wanted to experience my life.”
During her senior year at CUW, she completed a year-long field placement with Lutheran Social Services. AnnaLyssia credits this internship and Concordia faculty for laying the groundwork for her current internship.
“I fulfilled a research-type role at Lutheran Social Services that is similar in many ways to the work I will now be doing for IFAD. Lutheran Social Services and Concordia provided safe environments for me to make mistakes and also excel as I navigated my first real social worker role.”
AnnaLyssia also credits CUW’s Psychology and Athletics departments for influencing her personal and career growth.
“If there’s one experience I’ll never change, it’s my four years at CUW.”
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