Internship Program

Alternatives, in collaboration with the Ministère des relations internationales, is pleased to offer an assistantship position with our Québec Sans Frontières Program.

This placement will reinforce intern supervision for all interns participating in Alternatives’ QSF Programs for 2010-2011. The person will assist the internships programs officer to plan, organize and coordinate all activities related to these placements, including participant selection, pre-departure training, fundraising, partner organization relations, intern contract management, pre-departure evaluations and return evaluation activities and debriefs. The person will also coordinate the arrival of overseas interns to Montreal through the reciprocity project.

This mandate will be done under the supervision of the International internship programs’ project officer of Alternatives.

1. Partners :

A. Southern host organisation

PROTEGE QV

PROTEGE QV is a Cameroonian rights assocation whose mission it is to promote individual and collective initiative that target environmental protection and contributes to an increased quality fo life for Cameroonian families.

It’s main objectives are as follows:
– to solicit the active participation of development actors and increase their quality of life
– rural development
– promotion of technological research solutions to local problems and natural resource management
– promotion and appropriation of information technologies to facilitate attainment of the Millenium Goals

B. Quebec partener organisation

Communautique

Connecting Communities

Communautique’s mission is to support civic participation by promoting information literacy, appropriation of information and communications technologies and contribution to their development.

Its objectives are:
– Enhance access to ICTs and to the Internet
– Promote resourcefulness and self-reliance among voluntary sector groups, citizens and within the community environment
– Create a democratic cyber-culture
– Combat socioeconomic exclusion and unequal access to ICTs

1. Partners:

A. Southern host organisation

Réseau africain pour le développement (RADI)

RADI’s mission is to fight against poverty, injustice and ignorance by promoting the participation of concerned population and by empowering and educating citizens to promote autonomy and self-sustainability. The RADI is involved in various areas: promotion and integration of women, sustainable agriculture and food security, national language literacy and basic education, peasant management, youth development in urban and semi-urban areas (education, training, integration, employment), and environment.

B. Quebec partner organisation

Head & Hands / À deux mains

Head & Hands’ mission is to work with youth to promote their physical and mental well-being. Its approach is preventative, non-judgmental and holistic, with a fundamental commitment to providing an environment that welcomes youth without discrimination. Head & Hands facilitate social change and the empowerment of youth based on their current needs within its community and society at large.

Head & Hands envisions a society where all youth are participants and are inspired by the endless possibilities available to them.

1. Southern host organisation:

Clubs Kayira de l’Association des Radios libres Kayira

Le Réseau des radios libres is an organization regrouping 9 community radio station (1 in Bamako, 8 in rural areas). Around those community radios were created the Clubs Kayira which are constituted of women’s groups, organizations helping people with disabilities o or organizations of villagers.

The ’Réseau des Radios Libres et des Clubs Kayira’ is a democratic watch dog organisation, its mandate is to raise awareness and undertake popular education on:
– local, national and international news, reported impartially and independently
– Helping bring together large numbers of citizens to undertake civic education trainings to found the basis of participatory democracy
– Take an active part in informing the public health, hygiene and environmental issues
– Give a voice to associations and all citizens who otherwise have no forum in which to express themselves
– Combat the dissemination of ideas and principles founded on intolerance, racism, exclusion and xenophobia
– Opening the radio station to a diversity of cultural expression (artist presentations and musical presentations, theater and cinema) from Mali and elsewhere.

1. Partners :

A. Southern host organisation

Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes del Ecuador (ACJ)

ACJ Ecuador was created in 1959 and is a civil society organisation working for social change, development and human rights. ACJ works with poorest and excluded of the Ecuadorian society and more specifically with youth and women. ACJ is a oecumenical volunteer movement which belongs to the international movement of the YMCA.

B. Quebec partener organisation

The YMCA of Québec

The goals of the international programs of The Ys of Québec are to inform and educate by encouraging local participation of people on international issues. As well, they develop and strengthen partnerships between local and overseas YMCAs.

Taking a stroll through the endless clothes racks of a Canadian mall is generally not a terribly edifying experience. For some, it’s a chance to pass a carefree day with friends, for others it’s an opportunity to update their wardrobe with the hottest brands and styles, and yet for others, it’s merely a necessary evil: a trip to buy new clothes for their children or for work.

I find myself walking down the dusty red path of Djoumanzana; a “suburb” if you will, of Mali’s capital city, Bamako. It’s nighttime and the only light available is that of the occasional passing motorcycle and the glare from between dark bodies huddled around the television set outside of the local corner store: villagers gawking over the dubbed Latin-American soap operas.

n collaboration withe Youth Eco Internship Program of the YMCA Canada, Alternatives is offering an assistant to the environment and urban agriculture programs in Montreal

The Rooftop Garden project (a collaboration between Alternatives and the Santropol Roulant) is an unique community initiative who addresses food security, environmental health and urban ecology. Our innovative gardens empowr urban residents to produce their own food, green their neighbourhoods and build healthy communities.

Alternatives is an actor recognized in the field of urban agriculture with its Rooftop garden project, which won a Phénix award in the sustainable development category in 2008, and the Urban Design prize from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) for its project in collaboration with McGill University. Alternatives develops with many local and international partners innovative models of urban agriculture.

In collaboration withe Youth Eco Internship Program of the YMCA Canada, Alternatives is offering an urban agriculture mobilization and education officer position in its Montreal office.

The Rooftop Garden project (a collaboration between Alternatives and the Santropol Roulant) is an unique community initiative who addresses food security, environmental health and urban ecology. Our innovative gardens empowr urban residents to produce their own food, green their neighbourhoods and build healthy communities.

Alternatives is an actor recognized in the field of urban agriculture with its Rooftop garden project, which won a Phénix award in the sustainable development category in 2008, and the Urban Design prize from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) for its project in collaboration with McGill University. Alternatives develops with many local and international partners innovative models of urban agriculture.

Alternatives, in collaboration with the Ministère des relations internationales, is pleased to offer an assistantship position with our Québec Sans Frontières Program.

This placement will reinforce intern supervision for all interns participating in Alternatives’ QSF Programs for 2009-2010. The person will assist the internships programs officer to plan, organise and coodinate all activities related to these placements, including participant selection, pre-departure training, fundraising, partner organisation relations, intern contract management, pre-departure evaluations and return evaluation activities and debreifs. The person will also coordinate the arrival of overseas interns to Montreal through the project’s reciprocity agreement, including activities calendar and accommodations.

See more on CitizenShift

Bangladesh receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year in foreign aid money, but much of it is ineffective due to such issues as poor project management. This video poses the question "is foreign aid really necessary ?" and takes an informal look at the current picture of foreign aid in Bangladesh —its problems and contradictions— through the eyes of four local experts : Mr. Saiful Huq, General Secretary of the Worker’s Party of Bangladesh, Dr. Anu Muhammad, Professor of Economics at Jahangirnagar University, Dr. Piash Karim, Professor of Sociology at BRAC University, and Ahmed Swapan Mahmud, Executive Director of VOICE Bangladesh.

See more on CitizenShift

Labour brokers are quickly becoming common practice in the south african workforce. This system opens the door wide open for exploiting workers, sexual harassment, and intimidation. In this video, workers who are directly employed by labour brokers speak frankly about the issues and problems associated with this system.

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Wentworth community in the suburbs of Durban is the neighbour of a oil refinery own by a multinational corporation. The residents ask that the state intervenes so that they do not have to live in an environment where exposure to toxic smokes produced by the refinery happens on a daily basis.

Bangladesh has a long history with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), having received cumulative public sector loans to the tune of 11,4 billion
since 1973.

Almost half of this money has gone towards the energy and transport sectors, with less than 10 percent devoted to water supply and sanitation, public policy, health and social sectors combined. In 2007 alone, the ADB approved over 1,1 $ billion in loans, of which half is earmarked for energy infrastructure projects.

Learning is a two-way street – or so the members of Nomadic Massive experienced during a short jaunt to Brazil last November, a follow-up to a similar visit here by Brazilian hip hop artists earlier in 2008. The multi-ethnic, socially-engaged hip hop collective, based in Montreal, hit the road with more than just a few performances on the agenda – a heavy dose of musical and cultural exchange were also in the mix. They paid a visit to the
Brazilian chapter of the international hip hop awareness group Universal Zulu Nation, held an informal talk at Fundação Casa, a juvenile youth detention center in São Paolo, and hung out with legendary b-boy Nelson Triunfo. But what marked them the most was more intangible: an exposure to a society that was open to discussing hip-hop as a valid cultural phenomenon, from government officials all the way to street level.

This year, treat yourself to an alternative vacation!
Discover new cultures and support local development initiatives during a unique stay in Mali or Cuba.

Alternatives, in collaboration with the Ministère des relations internationales, is pleased to offer an assistantship position with our Québec Sans Frontières Program.

This placement will reinforce intern supervision for all interns participating in Alternatives’ QSF Programs for 2008-2009. The person will assist the internships programs officer to plan, organise and coodinate all activities related to these placements, including participant selection, pre-departure training, fundraising, partner organisation relations, intern contract management, pre-departure evaluations and return evaluation activities and debreifs. The person will also coordinate the arrival of overseas interns to Montreal through the project’s reciprocity agreement, including activities calendar and accommodations.

Alternatives, in collaboration with Québec’s Ministère des relations internationales has organized the ’Urban agriculture in Bamako, a public health approach’ internship project, part of our Quebec Sans Frontiere Program. You can follow our interns presently in Mali by reading our interns’ blog.

Alternatives, in collaboration with Québec’s Ministère des relations internationales ihas organized the internship project: ’Urban Agriculture in Havana, Phase II’ in its Quebec Sans Frontières Program.You can follow our interns presently in Bolivia by reading our interns’ blog.

Alternatives, in collaboration with Québec’s Ministère des relations internationales has organized the internship project: ’Arriba! A new voice for Bolivia’s llama breeders’ in its Quebec Sans Fronitères program. You can follow our interns presently in Bolivia by reading our interns’ blog.

Alternatives in collaboration with the Canadian International Development Agency and the Youth Employment Strategy is happy to offer internships in management and community development. The 6 month placements include one month of training in Montreal and a five month work component with a host organization.