Julia, International Studies and Modern Languages
Virtual Internship Country: Myanmar
Canadian NGO: Forum of Federations
Local NGO: Forum team in Myanmar
Although I encountered a few obstacles, it was an overall great experience and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a new challenge.
At the beginning of my internship, I was working primarily with the Forum team in Myanmar. I contributed to numerous projects aiming to implement federalism and decentralized governance in the country. However, one month in, I lost contact with my coworkers in Myanmar due to their political situation. This brought on a very sudden and drastic change to my workload, and I started working on projects with the Forum team in Ottawa. I completed a lot of research for a project they are working on in Cuba linked to decentralization. Although this was not what I was initially supposed to work on or what I prepared for, I got the opportunity to work with two countries and two teams, instead of just one. This was also one of the advantages of a virtual internship, as I would not have been able to easily transfer from one team to another if this was in-person.
The importance of being flexible and the ability to adapt to new and evolving situations is definitely an important lesson I learned during my internship. This was a very different experience from my time at university, and gave me a better understanding of life in the workforce. I have also had the chance to talk with some of the employees in the Forum, which gave me insight into their day-to-day work and their experiences working with an NGO. It has been an amazing experience and I am looking forward to my final weeks as an intern.