My administrative internship at Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans was everything I could have hoped for. Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans is an NGO that provides support to children experiencing poverty related barriers to education in San Antonio Aguas Calientes, Sacatepéquez, Guatemala. I study Honours International Development with a minor in Hispanic Studies, so this internship allowed me to gain work experience in my field with Spanish language immersion. Though I am not receiving academic credit for this internship, I received funding to pursue this opportunity from the Vanasse Wilbert International Experience Award. I am incredibly grateful to its donors for allowing me to complete my internship in person.
Working under the management team at Creating Opportunities, I was exposed to the variety of positions that maintain the executive operations of this NGO. My internship duties were far reaching, giving me experience in program development, communications and marketing, community outreach, administration, and human resources.
Writing policy for the organization allowed me to hone my technical writing skills whilst drawing on my previous research experience. Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans is a registered charity in Ontario, California, and Guatemala. Because it operates in multiple legal jurisdictions, any document pertaining to its operations must comply with all three governments. Writing their retention policy therefore demanded extensive research to determine which jurisdiction had the most stringent requirements on document retention. This then had to be written into a binding legal document, which will be revised and approved by the Board of Directors at their upcoming meeting in September. I have a background in academic research, so this task gave me the opportunity to apply my research skills towards policymaking and improve my technical writing.
Working closely with our social worker, I undertook an internship project on reproductive health to expand our organization’s work in this area. This project began with research as well, but this research more closely resembled fieldwork, as I interviewed community members to better understand the barriers to family planning and reproductive health. Our social worker is from San Antonio, so her perspective and expertise were invaluable. I also interviewed mothers at our organization, most of whom are single moms, to hear their stories and understand the overlapping social factors that create their reality. During my 9 weeks at the organization, I gradually came to learn the stories of the families who were sponsored by our organization, giving me a more complete picture of how reproductive rights and lack of family planning contribute to conditions of poverty. As an outsider to this community, this research was essential to creating a project that would respond to the needs of the community in culturally sensitive ways. From this basis, I collaborated with another NGO in Sacatepéquez to bring a youth-led seminar to our students on healthy relationships. Our event was a great success, but planning it was not without its challenges. Coordinating with the other NGO to execute a project in such a short time was logistically challenging. The seminar was also given to students aged 12-18, so curating the content to meet such a wide age range required careful thought and consideration.
Communications work and marketing were another major part of my internship. During my 2 months at the organization, I streamlined their social media platforms, created videos and social media posts to advertise fundraising events, designed a new sign for the organization, wrote the annual report, and redeveloped their website. The website is to be published in the coming weeks, as it is currently undergoing final revisions from the executive team. These tasks allowed me to design and be creative whilst emulating the organization’s brand. This work gave me a great experience in communicating with donors, fundraising, and creating content that conveys the organization’s mission whilst communicating its impact in tangible ways.
Interning at Creating Opportunities for Guatemalans gave me extensive professional experience that I am confident will serve me in future positions. Residing in Guatemala over the past 2 months and working within an Indigenous community has also allowed me to improve my Spanish and deepen my understanding of how Guatemalan cultures interact with development. This experience has been formative, and as such, it will continue to inform my studies and future careers.
