The Sustainable Development Legal Initiative (SDLI) offers several opportunities for students interested in human rights and sustainable development work.

Fordham - Ghana Summer Law Program

Fordham Law has launched a new summer law program in Ghana, West Africa, to be held in its capital city, Accra, from June 6 to July 3, 2009. The Program offers students the opportunity to earn up to four law school credits studying international and comparative law in Ghana over the summer, while witnessing the path of democracy and development first hand in this regional center of international business and enterprise. Participants will also have the option of applying for four-to-six week follow-on non-credit internships for after the conclusion of the academic session. The Professors and Courses for Summer 2009 are: Judge T.A. McKee of the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals - Comp. Aspects of Constitutional Law Professor Paolo Galizzi - International Human Rights Professor Victor Essien - Multinational Corporations Professor Gemma Solimene - International Refugee and Comp. Immigration Law & Procedure The application deadline for the both the Summer Program and the follow-on internships is April 17, 2009. Program applications and additional information can be found on the Program Website.

International Sustainable Development Clinic

This spring-semester clinic, co-taught by SDLI Director Professor Paolo Galizzi and Levinson Fellow Alena Herklotz, provides an opportunity for students to study international development law and apply their knowledge in concrete capacity building activities in Africa. The Clinic focuses on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the set of time bound and measurable goals and targets for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women, that the international community has adopted for the early 21st century. Fordham teams are partnered with African law students to study international development law and policy, and the MDGs in particular, and to develop their own proposals for a concrete MDG-related legal project in Africa.

With guest lecturers from practitioners involved in the implementation of the Goals, students study the history and modern development of the countries in which they will be working; and learn project research and design, stakeholder consultation, proposal drafting and development. At the end of the semester, successful proposals may be selected for funding by SDLI, with the chosen teams receiving the opportunity to travel to Africa for a few weeks or months the following summer (depending on their other summer commitments) to assist their African partners in bringing the project to fruition. The clinic is designed to take students through the project pipeline from conception to implementation, while also engaging them in thinking critically about the challenges of development and exposing
them to the realities of working in countries with different legal cultures and scarce resources.

For information about the Summer 2008 Project, please visit it here

Supreme Court of Ghana Internship

The Supreme Court of Ghana Internship has now been folded into the new Fordham-Ghana Summer Law Program, which involves a 3.5 week academic program in Ghana, followed by optional 4-6 week internships with Ghanaian NGOs/government agencies/law firms and the judicial service, including the Supreme Court (please see above).

Through the Summer Program, students may apply for four-to-six week follow-on internships with the Supreme Court of Ghana. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over matters relating to the interpretation and enforcement of constitutional law, and the internships provide students with hands-on experience dealing with the most important and current issues before the Court. The general purposes of the internships are to increase the students' understanding of current issues before the Supreme Court of Ghana and provide him/her with insight into its work. The students, in turn, provide the Court with the assistance and contribution of an outstanding young law student. With the understanding of the legal system of another nation, interns become better able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of their own, and are encouraged to use the opportunity to think critically and creatively about constitutional law.

For more information on the Summer Program or the internship opportunity with the Supreme Court of Ghana, please contact Alena Herklotz, SDLI Fellow and Summer Program Coordinator, at herklotz@law.fordham.edu.

Ghanaian Police Prosecutor Training Internship

The SDLI funds two students to assist in the implementation of its Ghanaian Police Prosecutor Training a training course for police prosecutors in human rights, criminal law and the administration of criminal justice. The course is organized in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the Ghana Police Service. Fordham's interns work closely with Ghanaian students in the administration of the course, and monitor and evaluate the program and curriculum through observation and interviews with the participants. Interns also play an important role in strengthening and furthering SDLI's link with KNUST. SDLI covers interns' travel costs, as well as their accommodations.

The application process for this internship takes place in late spring. Please check back for instructions in March.

Leitner Internships in Sustainable Development

SDLI also assists students with designing and securing Leitner Internship projects and placements with government agencies and non-governmental organizations working in the field of sustainable development in Africa and around the world.