An Enriching Experience

By Victoria

Student, ANT

Faculty of Social Sciences
From the Field
Ethiopia
Map of the world
“It has been quite an enriching experience of which I believe is a continuous path on which I am embarking.”

Victoria, ANT
Virtual Internship Country: Sudan and Ethiopia
Canadian NGO: Forum of Federations
Local NGO: Forum of Federations Sudan and Ethiopia

Hello everyone, I am Victoria and I am a fourth-year Anthropology with a minor in civil law student at the University of Ottawa. I am super excited to have the opportunity to be a part of the Forum of Federations as an Intern for the Director of Africa this summer.

It has been quite an enriching experience of which I believe is a continuous path on which I am embarking! Most interesting, I am an adventurous person, so I love travelling, meeting new people, hiking, skiing and the list goes on! So even though I am unable to meet my colleagues in Sudan/Ethiopia, I can still say the international experience is still alive and well at the Forum. Furthermore, I was featured on the Forum‘s social media for being one of the first interns, which is super cool!

One of the task have been assigned was creating online group platforms like closed Facebook groups etc. to create a multi-service platform for leaders on governance and peace. So there was training videos, chats, issue subgroups like fiscal versus constitutions, IGR, reference materials, etc., Weekly new training modules, coaching sessions, on governance, leadership etc.

Also, another cool activity I will be doing next week is attending a private event webinar series that will examine the issue of intergovernmental cooperation in multilevel systems by international experts from around the world. My responsibility here would be to write a publish worthy report on the main discussed topics of the event. Lastly, but not the least, I am writing a blog post on Federalism as a peace building tool, so stay posted! I would like to add that at the beginning of my internship the pace was quite slow and I was just doing weekly new briefs of Somalia and Sudan, but now it’s a complete 180 because I have so much to do with only a couple weeks left of internship. I wish I could stay longer to be honest because my experience this far at the Forum of Federations is a dream come true for me!