Yasmine, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs,
Forum of Federations,
Support for MENA and Ethiopia Projects
Who would have ever thought that one day we would be interns working on international projects while being in the comfort of our own homes? As for me, I would have never believed it, even less that I would have the chance to work with four different countries on two different projects.
As part of the international internship program of the Faculty of Social Sciences, I found an internship with the Forum of Federations, an international organization headquartered in Ottawa. My internship consists of helping with the implementation of two projects: "Empowering Women in the North Africa and Middle East Region" and "Strengthening Federal Governance and Pluralism in Ethiopia."
As part of the first project, I have the opportunity to work with Tunisia, Morocco, and Jordan. I worked for three weeks with Tunis, three weeks with Rabat, and I have just finished my first week with Amman.
So far, I am very satisfied with my internship. I have the opportunity to work with different people and on various aspects of the same project. The support I provided to the Tunis office was mainly technical; I was able to assist them with different tasks, which allowed me to discover new tools that will be very useful to me. I also had the chance to be part of a group of young Tunisian women who are mentored by professional women who introduce them to female empowerment and how to succeed professionally in a society often dominated by men. I liked this mentorship program because it is based on the feeling of "inspiration." For these young students, spending time with a successful Tunisian woman in her career is inspiring. The feeling of being inspired by someone will inevitably create in them the will to pursue their goals and go far in their journey. As for my contribution to this program, it was special. I say this because I, too, am a woman, I, too, am Tunisian, and I, too, am a student. I was able to share my experience with the girls, as a student in Canada and as an intern at the Forum.
Within the offices in Tunisia and Morocco, I felt that I was placed in an environment that was familiar to me. In the case of Morocco, I worked with a Forum partner: the Circle of Young Researchers. I was truly a member of the circle, and they even offered me the opportunity to join and thus be part of it even after my internship ended. It was an honor for me because the circle brings together PhD students who write their thesis on gender-related issues. I am neither a PhD student nor a specialist in gender issues. But being integrated into this group allowed me to acquire more knowledge in everything related to public policy analysis from a gender perspective. Madame Lahbaili, the regional project director in Morocco, even told me: the objective of this internship is to make me wear "gender" glasses. In three weeks, I certainly will not become an expert. But it was enough to make me think about gender issues and the inclusion of women in the implementation of public policies. In this sense, the internship was successful. It was an initiation; now it is up to me to deepen my knowledge on the subject.