My name鈥檚 Johanna and I鈥檓 a fourth -year student at 捆绑SM社区 studying honours Philosophy. Throughout my time at university I have centered my courses and research around social justice, ethics and feminism-related topics as much as possible. Last summer, I did research to develop equity policies for the philosophy department at 捆绑SM社区 and currently I am researching feminist philosophy for one of my professors. I aspire to pursue a career in the social justice and humanitarian fields starting first with a career in law and moving into Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) work or journalism. My internship at Social Justice Connection (SJC) has provided me with valuable information on and insight into how NGOs work and what it might be like to have a career in this sector.
My objectives for my internship were to gain experience with NGO work and contribute to a respectable organization that works to make a positive impact in society. I was not receiving credit for this internship, so any knowledge I gained would be extracurricular and useful for my career but not necessarily my degree. Social Justice Connection is an independent organization operating in downtown Montreal with two main sub-programs: Social Justice Connection and Educonnexion, where my work was primarily focused. The former, SJC, is the founding organization and program that focuses on advocacy of human rights issues. Educonnexion, the organization鈥檚 newer program, was developed by Philippe Fournier and aims to develop and facilitate workshops on social-justice related topics, namely global poverty and inequality, for schools, NGOs and community groups. Through its advocacy and workshops, SJC and Educonnexion aim to engage and educate policy makers at the national and international levels to press for greater equity and recognition of human rights.
During my time at SJC, the organization was undergoing a transitional period wherein the program director and executive directors were both out of town at different times, so new mandates and motivated research and development goals were not as common place as I expected them to be. As such, the internship ended up being less of a time commitment than anticipated which was both good and bad as it gave me more time for other commitments but left me unable to dig in to the internship as much as I may have been able to under other circumstances. To resolve this feeling of unsatisfaction, I am hoping to stay in touch with the organization in case they need assistance with research later on and continue attending workshops hosted by SJC throughout the fall.
As an intern, my responsibilities were mainly research-related. My supervisor Jessica, as well as the program director Philippe, presented me and my fellow interns with research mandates that we used as springboards to complete literature reviews and come up with research methods. Most of the mandates were assigned with the purpose of gathering information that could be used as content for workshops. However, in the latter half of my internship Philippe assigned me a research mandate to look into three different types of citizenship and how educators promote them in the classroom. Not much research had been done on this topic, so Phillipe is hoping to develop his own research and part of my mandate was investigating and developing potential research methods.
As a thank you for our work, Philippe offered me and my fellow interns free access to the organization鈥檚 workshops. One highlight from this internship was attending a workshop presented by Philippe on how to engage people in social justice or NGO work. He explained the different steps it takes to get someone interested and invested in an organization and different ways to do it. A lot of the presentation focused on the psychology of engagement and related to research I had been doing for the organization. I took away lots of insight that I feel will be very useful in any future work related to this topic. Another highlight from this internship was completing a research mandate on the importance of self-determination in the recovery of homeless persons. Over the past two years I have volunteered at a local homeless centre but had never had an opportunity to deeply research the mechanics and psychology related to homelessness, so this mandate was incredibly interesting to me.
This internship has been a valuable experience that will serve me in my future career because it has given me insight and contacts in the NGO field. I would like the thank the Goodman Family for funding the Internship Award that allowed me to take this internship opportunity at SJC this summer. Without the funding, I would not have been able to afford to take an unpaid internship, but having the financial support to undertake this internship has allowed me to access an enlightening and useful experience that will serve me in the years to come.
