Samuel Benoit

My internship is over and I have just posted a new set of pictures from the debriefing in Delhi that reunited six of the seven interns sent to India by the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. The set includes some from the Canadian High Commissioner to India’s crib, a sit-in by Bhopal disaster survivors, multiple draggings of my co-workers to the Baha’i House of Worship and pictures of us waiting for food. A number of us stuck together for the following days going from place to place stuffing our faces with food. We proved to be perfectly suited co-tourists after having spent the past six months in different parts of India, we were all much more interested in eating than partaking of all the temples, museums and shopping Delhi has to offer.

CIDA’s International Youth Internship Program

To Canadian students nearing the end of just about any degree program I would recommend for them to check out CIDA’s International Youth Internship Program. The listings for next year’s positions should be posted very soon here. I would say that it is probably the best international internship program available to Canadians interested in development out there and disciplines range from Accounting to Zoology. The money comes originally from Human Resources Development Canada then to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) then to many Canadian NGO’s that have applied for internships, who then hire the interns however they choose, train them and send them to THEIR partners overseas.

Even though there are hundreds of positions up for grabs, expect tough competition from other canditates that are smarter, more expireinced, charming and good-looking than you. Applying for positions last summer became something of an occupation for me as I was taking the last classes of my degree with many afternoons of hustling. By the numbers, I applied for 20 positions in 9 different countries from 7 NGOs, was shortlisted for 8 positions, did 3 interviews, got the 1 offer and a partridge in a pear tree.

Click here for CIDA’s website for the Progam. My Canadian organizations The Shastri-Indo Canadian Institute and Queen’s University, and my Indian host organization The University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.