Intern Development Workshops

Intern development workshops are a chance for our interns to enhance their practical work experience through interaction with local people working in sustainable development.  The workshops help interns and local actors benefit from exchange of ideas: interns bring current theoretical university education; local participants have years of practical experience in dealing with real-life development situations. Together, both groups augment their understanding of issues, methods, theories, and concepts in rural development.  

Our sustainable development workshops are tailored to participants and the current situation, so each is unique.  They usually include an introduction of the theme and vocabulary, a series of presentations or a panel with local speakers (or perhaps a real community meeting, a field trip to a fair trade production facility, or a visit to a local organisation), an interactive discussion between presenters and interns, and a group project. The group (development interns and local participants) take the information and knowledge gained during the day, apply it to a real local problem and design a workable solution.  That solution will be implemented over the following days or weeks, to see how it works in practice and learn from its level of success and local reaction.

Sustainable development coordinator Nick Ohde designs and runs the workshops.  Often one of the presenters is Carlos Cabrera, CRACYP’s executive secretary and an expert in sustainable rural development, agricultural commodities and conservation, with over 25 years’ experience.  Depending on the theme, other presenters could be CADO’s president, members of the local Council on Children’s Affairs, local government officials, health workers, visiting professionals, members of the local community, teachers, or the producer of the local radio station.  The sustainable development workshops are opportunities to interact with people who are essential to the development process but to whom interns would rarely have access in a university setting.

The one-day development workshop each month is different every time!  We might take the chance to focus on a local development issue of current concern and design a strategy to improve the situation.  Alternatively, the workshop might look at a topic that that month’s interns are finding a challenge.  Interns might be asked to present a summary of their projects and issues that are impeding progress, and use the workshop as a chance to develop solutions.  For example, development workshop themes might be topics like "communication strategies in sustainable development", "time management in a developing country", "environmental responsibility and poverty", "fair trade compliance: theory and reality", "structure and governance in development projects" or "group decision making in a community setting".