GIIP

The Global Information Internship Program (GIIP) is a highly innovative educational and service learning program sponsored by the Center for Global, International, and Regional Studies (CGIRS) at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Since 1998, hundreds of GIIP undergraduate student interns have worked to democratize globalization, support world peace, raise environmental awareness, and promote gender equity by upgrading the informational capacity of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community groups around the world. GIIP joins the enthusiasm of student leaders with information technology to promote structural social change by building social networking capacity across NGOs and community organizations.

GIIP’s goal is create a new generation of “info-savvy” advocates using information technology to overcome informational exclusion–based barriers to civic participation and social justice. While advancing the larger public good, GIIP students accumulate valuable technical knowledge, while sharpening their leadership and project management skills.

GIIP interns join NGOs across the globe to help shape their information infrastructure and train local groups to maintain and expand their use of technological tools. From human rights organizations in Namibia to coffee farm collectives in Central America, GIIP interns partner with their hosts to build the NGOs’ technological capacity to promote communication, support their mission, andraise awareness of their causes.