This project is part of CIDA’s International Youth Internship Program (IYIP), funded by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy (YES). The IYIP contributes to the YES by providing a large spectrum of Canadian graduates with valuable international development work experience abroad.
The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (i) increased awareness among female and male Canadian youth of the equal possibility of working internationally; (ii) enhanced equal employability of female and male International Youth Internship Program (IYIP) interns in Canada and in the field of international development; (iii) improved capacity of female and male IYIP interns to contribute to international development in a gender-sensitive way.
The United Nations Association in Canada (S065696) coordinated 18 internships (12 F and 6 M) in six (6) countries (Peru, Columbia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Tanzania). Results achieved as of the end of the project (March 2014): Increased the interns’ employability in which 17 of 19 Junior Professional Consultants (JPCs), have obtained gainful employment in their field as a direct result of participating in the UNPP IYIP Programme. Ten JPCs (53%) have secured paid extensions with their UN host agency; seven were offered a unique access and exposure to an international UN country office, and a competitive advantage within the broader labour market. The project also strengthened the professional hard and soft skills of the JPCs, such as their capacity for solution-seeking, knowledge-sharing, working in multicultural environments, tackling critical global issues and activities within a challenging set of defined and/or shifting responsibilities, and, communicating successfully on significant development issues. JPCs assisted host organizations to improve their planning, monitoring and evaluation of existing and new development projects. They also applied their new skills, energy and capacity to projects, programmes and strategies designed to achieve international development goals and objectives. They also contributed to the delivery of improved services and supported the unique and priority needs expressed by the host communities; and they were able to transfer relevant knowledge and skills to local country staff.
