Next fall, I will be entering my fourth year at McGill, completing a joint honours degree in Political Science and African Studies. Growing up in countries like Senegal, South Africa, and France, I was exposed to constant and important migratory fluxes. Hence, I have always been interested in understanding why certain people are forced to, or chose to, flee, and how countries who accept these people handle these situations. Studying Political Science and African Studies jointly at McGill helped me understand migratory fluxes and forcibly displaced people in the greater global political checkboard. I have thus considered humanitarian work as a possible field of work after my studies, among others. Working for the UNHCR’s office in Ecuador this past summer helped me understand what working in that sector meant. Having worked previously in another NGO with a focus on executive work, I found it
The UNHCR is a UN office which claims five main goals: respond to emergencies, protect human rights, build better futures, organize forums and committees, and write and publish reports and publications. Ecuador is one of the countries which grants asylum the most to forcibly displaced people each year. In the first instance, their work focuses on getting these people proper legal documentation and advice, if necessary, and then ensuring their access to basic services (shelter, food, water, education). Then, they help these people integrate their host country further (access to jobs) and raise awareness nationwide to reduce xenophobic violence and aid with acceptancy. The Public Information’s department, where I worked, oversaw internal communication between UNHCR offices in the country as well as with our offices and the public, the government, and private groups.
During my time with the UNHCR in Ecuador, I worked on many projects. I worked on some research-intensive tasks, like writing up drafts about potential partners to ensure they are an ethical organization we can associate ourselves with; I also wrote the office’s national and daily press review, which briefed UNHCR employees about the country’s state. I touched on media-oriented projects, like writing tweets and Instagram captions, or transcribing interviews to text and using it to write scripts for content. Finally, I was also assigned administrative tasks, such as writing up the weekly migratory flux reports for national offices, and the monthly media reports, which logged the office’s presence online in different medias.
One big challenge with this internship was working full-time in a different language, as it is tiring and demands greater levels of concentration. Working remotely could also be demotivating at times and can never lead to a real sentiment of integration in an office. Relating to the work itself, my biggest challenge was being able to create specific content that answers to a precise set of exact demands because, based on your target audience.
The only way to get past those barriers was time and repetition, after which you get used to the differences of language, and the remoteness. Finding inspiration in the work of different UNHCR offices worldwide and other NGOs also helped me when I was unsure where to get started content-creating wise. It felt great to answer more accurately and more quickly to my colleagues’ expectations once I had gotten the hang of the work.
I am thankful for the Richard B. Levy Family Arts Internship Travel Award, without which I would not have been able to conduct the internship without having to work part-time at the same time. I would also like to thank everyone at the Arts Internship Office who helped me through the application procedure. This internship with the UNHCR Ecuador taught me valuable lessons that will carry over to my future studies and professional endeavors.
