Rielle, International Development and Globalization,
CECI- Burkina Faso,
Communications Officer.
When, in March, I had to start thinking about what I was going to do in the last semester of my university career in the fall of 2020, I had a lot of information and a feeling of being lost. At the same time, I was trying to adjust to the new online environment, prepare for exams and find a CO-OP internship for the fall semester. Fortunately, when I received the email about the possibility of doing this internship as a placement, albeit an unpaid and virtual one, it seemed like a good fit with my current reality. I therefore decided to accept this internship rather than try to find a CO-OP placement as usual, as it's an opportunity I wouldn't be able to take if we weren't in the current circumstances, since it's unpaid. It's an opportunity I can already say I'd encourage other students within the university to take part in. This blog will detail the internship I'm taking part in and how I got on board and progressed throughout the early part of my tenure.
Context
Although I've already given a brief introduction to my NGO as part of my Community of Practice posts, I'll start this file with a similar introduction. I am currently an intern for CECI in Burkina Faso as a communications officer. This is an all-French internship which, although it represents a huge learning curve, has been a very rewarding and interesting change for me so far. At the start of this internship, I had a small portfolio of experiences from my studies that helped me adapt to the French environment. I obtained my baccalauréat by taking a large part of my courses in French. However, I was quite nervous about adapting to an international internship position entirely in French. Although I have this experience under my belt, academically, working exclusively in French is not something I've had the opportunity to do before, so it's a whole new way of working for me. I think adapting to working in French has been very rewarding, as it's taken me out of my comfort zone. Although it was the main obstacle I was prepared to face, working in French isn't the only challenge of this new internship position, there are many things I've had to adapt to as part of this position and CECI's work process.
So many changes, so little time
As part of this communications position, I was asked to work with a team in the host country of Burkina Faso. The organization I would be working with was called the Association pour l'Épanouissement de la Jeune Fille (AEJF) and aimed to promote economic empowerment and greater equality for young women and girls. However, the program was experiencing delays with the projects and partners they were working with, so I adapted my position to work with another team of volunteers working on a different project. I will now be joining a team working with the organization and program that has been awarded the label: The Program for International Climate Cooperation (PCCI). This will enable me to support the team with communications expertise, developing a dissemination strategy for the project. I'm very keen to work on this new project, as I have a keen interest in environmental issues in the development field, which will enable me to gain first-hand experience. However, as I'm in my fourth week of internship, this change means that I have much less time to adapt and accomplish my professional tasks. Having said that, I'm still extremely grateful to my host organization for its flexibility, allowing me to adapt and navigate this field with me in mind.
NGOs vs. government (which do you prefer?)
The final topic I'd like to reflect on and highlight in this blog are the differences I've noticed between the NGO and government environments, as I've had the opportunity to work in both at this point. I'll mainly be reflecting on the differences I've experienced individually and how my roles in the two environments have differed.
First of all, I've noticed that there's a big difference in the flexibility of deadlines in the NGO environment. I recognize that this may also be due to the current climate with COVID-19 and the fact that everyone has to adapt to this new reality, both the government and the NGOs. For me, the deadlines have been very flexible over the last few weeks, jointly due to the adjustment process the NGO needed to bring on board a virtual intern, as well as the reality that working online and accessing team members is difficult when it's only done at the virtual level. It's an adjustment because, in my government internships, I'm used to more rigid deadlines that help me organize myself and my work. However, I really appreciate this flexibility as it allows me to set my own deadlines and adapt accordingly, which has worked out rather well.
Secondly, I noticed the organizational difference in terms of work structure. Many parties were involved in this internship (CECI Canada, the Burkina Faso organization and NGO, and the University of Ottawa). Although I know this is not necessarily the case in the usual NGO environment, I found having multiple sources of support throughout this mandate extremely beneficial. This leads me to reflect on my experience of government work and the question of the relevance of additional or multiple sources of support for students in public and government life, an interesting area to examine for professional development and the workplace.
Finally, a personal reflection: overall, individually, I find the NGO environment more rewarding than that of government. I thought this might be the case for me personally even before I started working in CO-OPs and internships. Because of my specific interest in the subjects of work and teams that are smaller in size and therefore more connected, I feel more involved in the work I do. In the future, I think the work of NGOs interests me directly in comparison with public service, and I'll be looking more closely at the possibility of pursuing this path for my career.
The way forward
The beginning of this assignment has really allowed me to reflect on the different environments that international development work offers. As we progress through the months of this internship, I hope to be as integrated as possible into my organization and program and learn to adapt to the NGO environment. I believe that this opportunity will be an extremely rewarding experience for me, and I hope that I will also be able to contribute to work that can help advance and progress the programs' mandate and objectives for the coming year.