My name is Aylin Sari and I am currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Political Science with a concentration in Development Studies. I am an international student at McGill university, coming from France. Before that, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Geneva. From my background and my first year at McGill, I was able to confirm my interest in issues of development, inequalities of all kinds (mostly, through postcolonial and gender studies), and social and spatial justice.
In summer 2022, I interned with the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA) based in Kenya. When I saw the internship offer on the University website, I thought that this opportunity was a way to successfully complete my first year and to start my second year with enhanced skills. I felt more than ever the need to put my knowledge into practice and use it for the benefit of humanitarian and development action. Moreover, the focus of the organization on land governance and conservation was extremely important for me as I was wishing to direct my master’s thesis on spatial justice. I wanted to learn more about land rights, sustainable development, and community level development and the cause defended by the organization in Kenya inspired me so much that I decided to dedicate my master thesis to the issues defended by ILEPA.
ILEPA, my host organization is a partner in the Institutional Canopy of Conservation (I-CAN) research project. ILEPA is a community-based NGO working for human and land rights. The organization is focusing mainly on the Maasai community in the Narok County, in Kenya. ILEPA defines its mission as promoting a healthy way of life, greater recognition and respect for communities of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, good governance and sustainable community development. It is a small organization with 5 people in its team, but which does not hesitate to surround itself with local and international interns; something that I found very valuable about the organization.
As an intern for ILEPA, I was able to support the organization in some of their various projects. I really liked that ILEPA valued receiving an outside perspective on their projects and thought it would enrich their research. More specifically, at the beginning of the internship we discussed with the team and defined our interests, so the team members could assign us collaborative and personal projects in which our knowledge and expertise could be useful. For the projects that were assigned to me, I was able to accomplish different tasks, ranging from the data analysis (responses to questionnaires or community land data), draft reports and policy brief, to the production of infographics. Overall, what I was able to note about my projects and the responsibilities assigned to me by the organization is that ILEPA allowed for a rich exchange between knowledge from the field and close to the population and an external viewpoint, each opinion counted, and was considered.
At the beginning of my internship, I had difficulties to work with the “liberty/freedom” and autonomy encouraged by ILEPA. The organization having plenty of research projects and issues addressed, the tasks were not as clearly defined as I wished (at first), the deadlines not fixed, and the research domain/topic quite broad. But I realized that I had to be proactive and not wait for information to come to me, but rather start doing research on my own. I am proud of the initiatives I took to improve my communication with the organization. For instance, I became more comfortable asking the team members how they were doing, and communicating on a regular basis, which led to the creation of a WhatsApp group, where we were able to ask questions at any time. Moreover, with my fellow intern, we did not hesitate during the internship to ask questions when we felt that instructions were not clear enough. Moreover, taking into account the difficulty and feelings of loneliness of a remote internship, I am glad I stepped out of my comfort zone by creating a group chat with my fellow interns of the I-CAN research project in which we were able to check in with each other. I also maintained regular contact with my fellow intern at ILEPA, with whom we motivated each other in our daily tasks, divided the work, gave ourselves deadlines, and we reflected on our questions and concerns. Finally, I also tackled the challenges I noted in the course of the first month in my internship and mentioned in my One-month report, as I was able to go and work in cafés in order to change my environment and establish a work routine with a specific time, but above all to feel less lonely at home. I also tried to stop making unachievable and discouraging to-do lists and I still need to work on this but, I definitely think that having my fellow intern Ben’s support, and splitting the tasks, has helped me a lot.
Lastly, I would like to thank the RBC Future Launch Program which has funded my internship through the RBC Internship Award, because I came out of this internship with new knowledge that is incredibly useful for the continuation of my master’s degree and my professional life. Thanks to the award, I could focus on the internship and reduce the working hours of my student job. I now feel ready to write my master’s thesis, because among other reasons (which I have developed above) I learned a lot about my subject, but also I learned to work independently.
