Yasmin, Masters in Public Administration
Virtual Internship Country: Palestine
Canadian NGO: Alternatives Montréal
Local NGO: Teachers Creativity Centre (TCC)
I am currently working with the Teacher Creativity Centre (TCC), a Palestinian NGO that works on issues with respect to education, in collaboration with Alternatives, a Montréal-based NGO that aims to maintain and strengthen collective rights. Due to the global pandemic, it was evident that I would complete my internship with unprecedented procedures, in other words, rapid leapfrogging into remote working. In the early stages of my internship, I unfortunately caught COVID-19 and so my internship had been quite slow and was not progressing as instrumentally on my end. Despite this setback, it has helped me gain professional experience, hands-on learning and expand my network in the comfort of my home. I am currently tasked with conducting interviews with educators and other actors in the coming weeks. Even though my work is online, I can utilize my research skills and knowledge from academia and apply it to my internship assignments.
Without question, I would much rather be doing my internship abroad if it weren’t for the wrath of COVID-19. However, remote work has allowed me to experience new challenges that I never expected to face. A significant skill that I have mastered during my internship includes time management and completing heavy workloads, all while completing my graduate degree. This internship is important experience for me, that has some great impacts in the rest of my job and career. Skills such as decision-making, risk management, communication, teamwork, and team building will carry out throughout my life. In other words, this experience will not necessarily stay with me only during my internship contract, but it will stay with me for my entire career moving forward.
Take heart: the COVID-19 pandemic will end. Its legacy will be long lasting, but not all quite bad; the breakthroughs, social services, and systems we develop can be used to the betterment of everyone. If I take inspiration from the successes and lessons from this international internship at a distance, I can apply what I’ve learned to my career and be ready for what I will be up against in today’s job market.