Young Canadians return from internships in Ukraine (02/27/00)

Young Canadians return from internships in Ukraine

OTTAWA - Six young Canadians returned to Ottawa on February 21 after a half-year internship in Ukraine. They were participants in the International Youth Internship Program funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and administered by the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE).

"This is a win-win situation. We send recent university and college graduates on these internships abroad and they return to Canada with professional experience that helps them to find attractive jobs," says Jennifer Humphries, director, for membership and Canadian services at the CBlE. "The hosts in Ukraine benefit from having eager young Canadian professionals working within their organizations. And the special partnership between Canada and Ukraine is further strengthened."

The Ukrainian Canadian community numbers 1 million, and the CIDA/CBIE program drew on that group for interns, although not exclusively. "It's terrific to have so many young Canadians with Ukrainian and Russian language skills, no matter what their own background," said Ms. Humphries.

This particular group of young people included recent graduates from universities across Canada: Michael Barnycz of Toronto (University of Guelph, Ryerson Polytechnic University); Orest Dykyj of Hamilton (Carleton University); Lynn Kasinska of Vancouver (Carleton University); Sandra Rezansoff of Swift Current, Sask. (Queen's University, University of Saskatchewan), Tamara Romas of Montreal (McGill University), Jeffrey Stepnisky of Winnipeg (University of Alberta), and Peter Steponaitis of Etobicoke (Queen's University, University of Windsor). They hold either undergraduate or master's degrees in specializations such as economics, political science, history, rural planning and development, public administration, journalism and social psychology.

The host organizations in Ukraine included the United Nations Development Program, Democratic Initiatives Foundation, the Ukrainian Academy of Public Administration. The latter offered internships in Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk. Their work encompassed public relations, policy development, education and public administration.

The group is to participate in a re-entry debriefing in Ottawa to provide direction in finding suitable employment, hopefully incorporating their new international experience. In fact, in this regard, theirs is already a success story. Mr. Dykyj flew in a week early to start a job at the Communications Research Center in Ottawa, a position which he is convinced he got in part because of this internship. Another of the original interns, Margaret Duda of Saskatoon has remained in Ukraine, where she was quickly scooped up by a prestigious international school.

Their days in Ottawa will also give the interns an opportunity to share their experiences with the CBIE, the national organization that sent them abroad, as well as with the CIDA, the program founder.

The CBIE is an Ottawa-based national organization comprising 110 member colleges and universities. More information about the CBlE can be found at http://www.cbie.ca. For further information about ClDA and its youth internships visit http://acdi-cida.org.

| Home Page |