Rideau, International Development and Globalization, Alternatives, Lesotho Association of Teachers, Quality Education Research Officer.
This is a teacher’s union that supports for the mostly female teachers in Lesotho, and advocates for education for all children. Lesotho currently has Free Primary Education for all children, but there are still barriers for some children to accessing education, and post-primary education is even less accessible.
As an intern, I will be helping the teacher’s association with implementing their strategic plan for the rest of the year. This will look like applying for funding, creating proposals for projects, and giving presentations.
My first month with the Lesotho Association of Teachers was spent learning from them and preparing a presentation to give to a group of 40 female teachers at a gender equality and female leadership conference funded by Education International. My presentation was about gender equality and feminism. I started by defining some key terms, gave them some statistics about the treatment of women worldwide, and then showed a TED Talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie entitled “We Should All Be Feminists.” Then, I spoke about my own experiences with gender inequality in Canada and spoke about the benefits of female leadership.
My presentation was followed by a discussion period where many teachers informed me that they now identify as feminists, which made me very happy and proud. I was glad to receive lots of positive feedback.
I was expecting the time difference combined with remote work to be a bigger issue, but I was able to connect with the conference over Zoom with no issue, and to easily connect with my supervisor to discuss work. I am glad that technology has made it possible for me to participate in an international internship even if I can’t go to Lesotho physically.