International Blog

I am grateful to the faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) for making my dream come true. In fact, this international internship represents a huge opportunity for me. Working for a UN agency has always been my aspiration, and I feel honoured to have been selected as an intern at UN-Habitat in Kenya in the Human Rights and Social Inclusion unit.

The internship includes a full-time position and also a course component. It is important to mention that the course component offered by the faculty is essential to succeeding in the internship. In fact, the preparatory meetings and training sessions we had prior to the start of the work term guided us through the internship. We learned how to manage stress, risk, and ourselves in the internship environment. Our professor also explained how to handle ethical dilemmas and accountabilities in international cooperation and how to navigate the dynamics of social inequality and privilege in international development practice. Therefore, when I faced challenges during the internship, I already had the tools to overcome them. Then, after starting the internship, the university kept guiding us through different meetings in which each one of us would share their experience and concerns, and we were given the best advice. In reality, the supervision of the faculty is of great help.

For the tasks I’ve done so far with my NGO, I initially got a chance to learn about the agency’s work by taking a few online courses. UN-Habitat promotes urbanization as a force for positive transformation for people and communities, victims of discrimination, poverty, and inequality. The agency works with its partners to build safe, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable cities and communities to ensure a better quality of life for all in an urbanizing world.

I have also been given the task of retrieving information about a few groups of individuals in order to study their existing dynamics. Moreover, I researched some of the individuals who will attend the World Urban Forum that will happen from June 26 to June 30 and provided their bios.

In regard to the distance aspect of the internship, it is fair to say that it has its challenges, especially in communication. However, I think that a virtual internship is the best way to build new skills, as you not only learn how to put theory into practice but you also develop resilience and flexibility. In fact, being at a distance forces us to accept and adjust to a different reality, which allows us to find new ways to succeed in the internship.

Finally, I can say that this internship is rewarding both at the current moment and in the future of our career. And, I am confident that I will only keep learning by gaining experience on multiple projects and with various partners. Therefore, I encourage anyone who’s still hesitant to go ahead and do the internship; it can only be positive and will represent a plus for their career. The university has really created a unique program which offers many international collaboration opportunities for its students.

Said, Masters Political Science, United Nations Association of Canada, Kenya, UN-Habitat

Aside from my work with my supervisor discussing global homelessness, I found another assignment within U.N Habitat. It is a recycling project within Matharare, Kenya and it aims to raise funds to contact North American universities. The goal is to ask them to provide assistance and collaborate with us to establish a recycling program.

For this project, I worked primarily with other students. We divided into teams, each having a separate goal. My team worked on creating a list of clubs at North American universities that were either recycling or African orientated. My focus was less on my own work but working within a group. This involved planning and collaboration not just within my own team but also with the other teams in order to meet our goal through weekly meetings.

Being abroad, there was a little miscommunication at first regarding tasks. Everyone was in different time zones, so communicating on time was difficult. However, I overcame these obstacles by remaining in contact with my team through group conversations. For me, this experience has emphasized the importance of teamwork regarding people in similar positions as me.

To reach our goals, it was important to meet deadlines. I always kept this in mind when working on my assignments. I found working in a team of fellow interns enjoyable as for most of my internship, I worked independently. Having others constantly giving me feedback allowed me to correct and improve at a faster pace. As well, it was nice to work with other students going through the same experience as me. Through this, I felt we could understand each other a bit more. As my internship approaches the end, I have been satisfied with this project and the work I have done.

Said, Masters Political Science, United Nations Association of Canada, Kenya, UN-Habitat

When I first secured the position, I was worried I might be in a little in over my head due to the reputation of a group such as UN-Habitat Kenya. I was fearful that my work would not be up to standard or I might let my supervisor down. This was my first time working with an official development organization with such a reputation and prestige. When the internship started around June and we had our first meetings, my worry did increase a bit. My first major assignment was to help create a PowerPoint on global homelessness that my supervisor will present at a U.N conference. Having my work presented at such a high stake event made me feel somewhat anxious but also motivated to work even harder than I had before to not let UN-Habitat down.

During our first meeting, my worry did die down with further information. There was excellent coordination and division of tasks within the teams. As well, I felt I was able to trust the judgment of my supervisors due to their experience. Before I began work on my assignment, I was given smaller tasks to adequately prepare. I was to gather information and sources on global homelessness along with a detailed outline of what content I should research. It ranged from defining homelessness to the impacts of Covid-19 on homelessness. With this, I had a clear goal and tasks in mind to keep me busy during my internship. I also found the team professional and organized. Despite the time differences, we were able to coordinate meetings at a set time at which we all could meet.

For my assignment, I received excellent and constructive feedback. My supervisor gave me detailed explanations to help guide my work: that I should tailor my language toward a more global audience when discussing the issues homelessness; when using selected countries, I should specify that these are just selected cases. This has helped me improve my writing skills for future assignments.I found my assignments deadline manageable, I have been able to schedule my hours for work. As my internship and assignments are focusing on a more global perspective, I have not had much interaction regarding local Kenyan issues. I feel working with UN Habitat to be a rewarding experience as it has broadened my understanding of global issues such as homelessness and how it is handled by development policy makers.. In addition, I found it has helped me become more confident in my writing and presentation skills due to the feedback from my supervisors.

Emily, Honours Political Science, WUSC, Organization of African Youth, Kenya, Communications Officer

E-volunteering is still a relatively new term, and for the first time, it is not a rarely offered alternative but the primary source of volunteers all around the world. The COVID-19 Pandemic has been longer-lasting than many predicted or hoped it would be, and it is having increasingly long-term effects on how the world is run. Earlier in 2020, when everything suddenly switched to online, the world adapted as best we could at short notice. More recently, as we approached school years, holidays, and even potentially the new year aware of COVID, we were more prepared for COVID restrictions. In most places, we have come to recognize that these adjustments are not as temporary as we hoped and that we need to find ways to keep things running safely. That is where, I feel, the growth of e-volunteering comes in. I think that initially, e-volunteering was a short-term alternative until people could travel again, but now as that seems further and further away, e-volunteering is becoming more of an option in its own right and not a temporary solution. While there are obvious downsides to this, e-volunteering is a more accessible option for many people, especially now that it is more supported and recognized.

I am currently an e-volunteer for the Organization of African Youth (OAY) Kenya through World University Service of Canada (WUSC). I am working as a Communication Officer for the entirety of the Fall 2020 semester. I think that my role would have been a lot different in person, but under the circumstances, I think it might be even more important. As a field, communications can mean a lot of different things, but for me, the focus of my work has been on reaching people and bringing them together online and through social media. With the threat of greater restrictions due to increasing cases in many places, online is one of the only ways for organizations like OAY to spread information. I think that without COVID, my role online would be much smaller, only really reporting on events or announcing them. But with the pandemic, the information and the events that I would be posting about are all online, making my role in them bigger. So although many people thought of e-volunteering as a backup plan until in-person volunteering was an option, I believe that e-volunteering has made it possible for me to do more as an intern. Communications as a job description has had to incorporate even more, and now, I get to try a little bit of everything. In my experiences so far, I have been able to maintain social media accounts, create content, share event and program information, participate in webinars and online functions, and even help develop a cross-country activity for youths.

As I near the end of my internship experience, I think that I am only just beginning to appreciate the unique nature of international e-volunteering. Online internship positions offer a lot of benefits in their own right. Between decreased cost, greater reach, and more interconnectedness of roles, e-volunteering is a more accessible way for students to experience international internships. I hope that Universities, NGOs and other organizations consider continuing to offer e-volunteering options even once there is the potential for frequent international travel again.

Emily, Honours Political Science, WUSC, Organization of African Youth, Kenya, Communications Officer

A year ago, no one would have planned to do an international internship at a distance, the option didn’t even really exist. But today e-volunteering is a reality for hundreds, with Universities, students, and NGO’s all working together to make it possible. Initially, I am sure this new reality was devastating, to volunteers forced to suddenly return home and to volunteers who had planned on departing soon. I know that an in-country internship comes with entirely different experiences and benefits, that many feel like they are now missing, but I think there are definitely, maybe less obvious, benefits.

I am working as a Communications Officer for the Organization of African Youth (OAY) in Kenya through World University Service of Canada (WUSC). My position was a late addition, as WUSC was trying to adapt their assignments to be at a distance, so I committed to my internship a little more blindly than normal. This was almost a hidden benefit too because I ended up in a position that I don’t think I would have applied for. The Communications Officer role for OAY was designed for a communications or journalism major but it has allowed me to develop skills I didn’t realise I had. I would have never considered my social media habits to be an asset in the workplace, but I find myself carrying over a lot of knowledge that I didn’t realise could be applied professionally during this internship. My placement has also given me the chance to learn alongside OAY and WUSC as we figure out the best practices for e-volunteering. Everyone is adapting and learning right now, which has made it easier to be in an unfamiliar situation because we are figuring it out together.

I know that for many university students the benefits of doing an internship are obvious, it has been proved that experiential learning is effective. Combined with the workplace experience and networking opportunities, it is surprising that more students don’t chose to do an internship. But the truth is that regular international internships come with costs and logistical issues that some people can’t overcome. I had looked at the international internships before but between the travel cost and commitments I have here, it was an idea that I immediately discarded. E-volunteering has made international internships more accessible to students, and I think that we should take advantage of that.

I think that an online internship is only as hard as online school.  Sure, there is a lot we are not used to, or that is not ideal, but we are making the best of it. Communicating at distance and self-regulating my working hours are my biggest struggle right now, but I would be in the same situation in an online semester. I think that as we all work through the same struggles and issues of virtual working, we should know the opportunities available to us and make the most of our experiences. I know that I am learning a lot more from this experience online than online classes even though they have similar difficulties.