Graduate / Erasmus Mundus Masters in Social Work for Children and Family [3]

Can you check my personal statement for Erasmus Mundus MFamily masters?

personal statement

I have decided to apply to the MFamily program to understand the interplay of factors that ensure or endanger the safety of children globally. My interest in the field originally stemmed from the fact that I witnessed closely the lifelong impacts a faulty social protection system can have on children and families. My bachelors in development studies exposed me to a world of inequalities and injustices I had been unaware of and to not do anything about it felt heinous thus I discovered my calling in wanting to work with families and children. The gut wrenching realisation that homes are not always safe led me to opt for my master's dissertation on the topic that attempts to highlight factors that make children vulnerable to abuse in close-knit communities in Pakistan.

I have volunteered with a local NGO to advocate for child sexual safety and illustrated a safety story that could be added to children's curriculum. Furthermore, I have written on issues like acute malnourishment crisis for the children in Yemen, the concept of good and bad touch and the impact of global warming on vulnerable communities in Pakistan for many magazines. I have also conducted research on out of school children during the pandemic to provide policy recommendations as part of my internship at an INGO.

To further my understanding, I took courses on safer cities for children and on child rights and attended various conferences to understand the cross national context of social interventions. I recently won a national level micro grant of $3000 to address sectarian violence through youth participation for interfaith harmony and after conducting in depth interviews with youth from various minority groups the idea to make an animated short film 'Zemirah' was finalised which was then aired. I will be appearing in my civil service examination with hopes of joining the bureaucracy, the police department in particular.

This degree will sensitise and prepare me to perform my duties properly and to eventually formulate well informed and researched policies that are free from cultural bias and implementable. A learning experience from countries like Norway, Portugal and Sweden which are among the highest ranked countries on the human development index with exceptional social welfare networks would put me on the path to actualise the same for my country Pakistan.

I believe I am a good fit for this program because Pakistan needs professionals in the field of social work, gender sensitivity, child rights and disaster management. Secondly, because in the last decade Pakistan has seen an egregious rise in violent crimes towards children which need a two pronged approach to tackle them from the preventive end as opposed to only mitigation measures. I need advanced knowledge in the field of social work, cross-cultural family problems and family policies which makes me an ideal candidate for the Erasmus Mundus scholarship program.