T-minus 20!

I have less than 20 working days left in my internship, which is a bit terrifying since Sahar and I still have so much we want to get done together. I'm working on several longer-term projects at the moment and I certainly haven't been bored over the past few weeks. Right now I'm busy:

• developing theories of change for gender integration at Mercy Corps, including broader theories for mainstreaming gender throughout the organization and sector-specific theories for gender integration in Mercy Corps' programming;
• compiling gender indicators to measure the organization's progress in gender integration; and
• researching the gender dimensions of community and system resilience.

It's been a whirlwind summer and I'm amazed by how much I've learned about incorporating gender in development programming and operations. I'm also amazed by just how much I love living in Portland. I plan to share a bit more on my everyday life in Portland (including life in the Mercy Corps HQ office) in a future post, but thought I'd give a taste of how fun my summer - outside of the office - has been.

 

Although many associate the Pacific Northwest with rain and gloom, the weather this summer has been beautiful. I'm told the sunny weather doesn't last beyond the summer months, but I couldn't have asked for a better climate for my internship. Plus, Portland is close to so many amazing state and national parks - a great hike is only a short car drive away.

 

Eagle Creek Trail

Beau and Punchbowl Falls

Pre-hike donuts from Voodoo

Mount Hood from a hike on the Mirror Lake trail and up Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain 

A trip to Crater Lake!

These pictures just don't do it justice...

I've really enjoyed soaking up the sun during these weekend adventures throughout Oregon, and am excited that there are more to come (on my list for this weekend: Silver Creek Falls State Park!)