An Internship Report on BALLOT Project at UNESCO Dhaka

Abstract

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, is a specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes education, culture, communication, and knowledge sharing. This report summarizes my internship experience at UNESCO Dhaka under the BALLOT Project, a collaboration between UNDP, UNESCO, and UN Women that supports credible, inclusive, and peaceful electoral processes in Bangladesh, with a focus on ethical election reporting, countering disinformation and misinformation, media and information literacy, and the safety of journalists. Over the course of the internship, I undertook daily analyses of newspaper articles on election violence, assisted my teammate in compiling a database of fact-checking platforms and verification tools for resource cards and the InfomediaReport website, translated documents, and maintained liaison with vendors. I also visited several print media offices and assisted in distributing protective vests and resource cards, collecting receipts, and communicating with district information offices and press clubs across more than 50 districts of Bangladesh. Additionally, I conducted field visits to various universities for Media and Information Literacy workshops, including Independent University and Jahangirnagar University, as a representative of UNESCO and BALLOT. Overall, the internship strengthened my skills in communication, coordination, documentation, and teamwork, while providing practical insight into media and election-related work in a professional development setting.