WORK THE WORLD WITH A CANADIAN GOVERNMENT / COL YOUTH INTERNSHIP
Want to travel and learn? Want to get paid at the same time? The Youth International Intern Programme , administered by the Commonwealth of Learning offers young, first-time Canadian graduates exactly that: a posting with a Commonwealth organisation for six to 12 months, as well as return airfare and a living expense allowance. Funded by the Government of Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), the programme is part of the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy (YES).
The YIIP is a working example of effective Commonwealth networking. Interns get hands-on, international work experience and hone marketable skills that will net them jobs at home and throughout the Commonwealth. Mandated to foster development through collaboration, the programme fits well with COL's other internship initiatives. Through the YIIP, COL offers talented graduates an opportunity to apply their initiative and ability and enhance their skills at some of the Commonwealth's premier organisations, strengthening COL's ties with its partners in the process. Often the interns work on special projects either directly related to open and distance learning or on programmes which are being jointly developed by COL and the host organisation.
Since COL's programme was initiated in 2000, the YIIP has grown from providing eight interns with placement in 2001 - 2002, to 14 now funded for 2003 - 2004. Among first-time organisations offering to host interns each year are several that have participated since the programme's inception. These include the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Commonwealth Secretariat's Youth Programme and The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand. Successful internship candidates must meet DFAIT's requirements, satisfy COL's emphasis on a multidisciplinary background and an interest in education, and be a good fit with the particular needs of a host organisation. Short-listed candidates are interviewed both by COL and by the host organisation, which COL matches to the candidates' skills and training. To date, interns have found placement everywhere from Britain to Guyana, and India to New Zealand.
Although the interns' most obvious challenge is to channel talents into a productive experience, the steepest learning curve remains cultural adjustment. So far, interns agree that the greatest obstacles are related to thinking and speaking in a completely different social and linguistic context, coping with personal and property security concerns, applying their studies to a new work situation and remaining constantly vigilant against unfamiliar and potentially harmful flora or fauna.
Interns also report successful completion of the YIIP's other, equally important objective: to undergo a cultural crash course and emerge able to "have your mango and eat it too"! Jana Duncan, who interned in 2000 - 2001 at the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre, found it a "small but personally significant triumph" to peel and eat one with the teeth alone, without squirting sweet, sticky juice in all directions. "If I could just have that kind of success with my baking stone and roti," she recalls, "I'd be laughing."
