Educonnexion focuses on education and eco-citizenship. As an international development studies honours student, Educonnexion’s bottom-up and democratic approach to learning drew me to apply as an intern and motivated me to start volunteering in February 2022. Furthermore, Educonnexion acknowledges the weaknesses of NGOs and is always striving to perfect their work by discussing the differing perspectives of the Global North and Global South. I enjoyed the constant critical thinking paired with active tasks and projects during which I met kind and inspiring individuals.
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During the beginning of June, we–Homa, Mélanie, and I–continued to work on the workshop on ‘The Debt of the countries in the Global South’. We created online visual support for future workshop facilitators and teachers. In addition to this visual support, we filmed an active member of Educonnexion –Jean-Baptiste– doing the workshop so that individuals learning how to present would have additional tools. These tasks allowed me to perfect my filming skills and use platforms such as ‘Canva’ to create engaging visual content. These tasks reinforced my ability to condense information to ensure clarity and understanding.
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Furthermore, I particularly enjoyed–later in July–when we were responsible for adding imagery to the new workshop on ‘The History of Black People in Quebec’. I learned so much from reviewing the slides and took initiatives such as deciding to transform the list of dates on slides into visual timelines. In addition, the other interns and I were responsible for the creation of a rules booklet for a successful role-play workshop which was once when the children were a lot younger than expected. I enjoyed this task because of its organizational and creative dimension. Jean-Baptiste briefly explained how the role-play was administered, and we were then in charge of the laying out the instructions, the equipment, and the different roles. I have always appreciated learning environments where I was actively engaging with the material. I was motivated to come up with clear rules so more students could benefit from interactive learning opportunities.
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I believe this internship was perfect as the first year with no previous professional experience as it allowed me to learn but also appreciate a slow-paced summer after an enjoyable but stressful first year of adaptation to university life. However, I hope that future internships will give me more work and responsibilities. There were days when the other interns and I were unsure which tasks we should do. I believe several factors out of the control of the NGO contributed to the lack of supervision. The first two months were busier because our supervisor left the NGO abruptly in mid-June. Some colleagues took weeks off during the summer, and then the NGO changed offices.
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Nevertheless, this lack of work also enabled Homa, Mélanie and me to create a project we are all interested in. We decided to start researching and creating a new workshop on the effects of climate change on women’s rights, and the director of the NGO liked the idea. We hope that while continuing to volunteer–since all three of us will remain in Montreal–we will finalize and perfect our project, ideally presenting our workshop at events with other NGOs that interest us such as the non-profit Monthly Dignity.
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I would have liked to acquire more practical professional skills to better understand what I wish to do after my Bachelor of Arts. However, I realized during this internship that I enjoy research more than I thought I did, and I hope to assist a professor during my remaining years at McGill. The conversations I have had with people of diverse backgrounds, and the networking opportunities with individuals who share similar interests and values, were enriching, perhaps more than if I had interned in a busier and more competitive environment. Learning which masters the members of the NGO had chosen, knowing what jobs they had before–lawyer, journalist, professor–; and their regrets and aspirations, was insightful. I am excited to continue volunteering with this organization and enter a new academic year conscious of all that I have seen and learned these past three months.
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I would like to thank Ms. Wendy Patton Keys and the Wendy Patton Keys Arts Internship Award, without which I would not have stayed in Montreal in the summer due to the cost of the rent. Thank you again; this final report describes how insightful and beneficial this experience was.
