A new global internship program between the iSchool and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has landed two Master of Information (MI) Program students in Paris this summer.
Alicia Dotiwalla (right) and Jennifer Yang (left), who are in the Faculty’s Co-op Program, are now in France to help shape information practices at the world-renowned organization.
“These deserving students will be on the ground floor helping UNESCO build international partnerships by urging nations to share and preserve memories, history, peace, and respect for human rights,” says Interim Dean, Professor Wendy Duff.
This initiative was borne out a connection to the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, who was the guest speaker at the iSchool’s IP Sharp Lecture in 2014, and now nominated for Secretary General, United Nations.
“Together with then Dean, Seamus Ross, they discovered how many values we share, and it became obvious there was a great fit for our Information and Cultural Heritage students,” says Duff.
UNESCO’s course credit internship placement program with the iSchool at the University of Toronto is the first of its kind in Canada, and only its second placement program in North America.
Another first—the discovery of insulin by University of Toronto researchers in the 1920’s—is part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program.
Currently studying Archives and Records Management at the iSchool, Dotiwalla is the UNESCO Records Management-Archives Assistant for her four month internship, assisting in the archival description and processing of records, and contributing to reviewing policy and procedures.
“My objective is to work as an information professional promoting local, national, and global heritage through educational endeavours—ideals that relate directly to those of UNESCO,” Dotiwalla says. “This internship will deepen my own understanding of what it means to be an engaged and informed global citizen.”
Through past archiving jobs, Dotiwalla has learned how history can shape local identities. She has contributed to bilingual academic projects exploring various heritage preservation efforts in Quebec, and encouraged First Nations, Metis and Inuit youth to share stories of cultural heritage through writing and art.
“What these initiatives have in common is to encourage cross-cultural understanding within personal, often difficult stories about reclaiming identity. I will just be contributing more on an international level this time.”
As the UNESCO Knowledge Sharing Assistant for eight months, Yang is helping enhance the rollout and maintenance of UNESCO’s online collaborative platform, UNESTEAMS (SharePoint).
Yang says this valuable practice with UNESCO will help her goal of becoming a lawyer in data management. “It will be a vantage point where all my work experiences, as well as knowledge and skills I have accumulated from my undergraduate degree, and eventually Master’s degree, come together.”
A few years ago, Yang worked with an NGO in South Korea to research and analyze inter-Korean policy issues, and has helped to provide educational seminars and conferences on topics related to reunification of the Korean peninsula.
“Witnessing how managing and channeling the right information in the right direction under given policies and regulations shows how one could allow an organization to expand capacity and unlock potential,” says Yang, who is studying Knowledge Management and Information Management and Information Systems and Design.
To support our students (optional-travel and living expenses) during their unpaid internship, generous funding was received from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation with matching dollars received from the University’s Provost. Donor-funding has been secured for the first two years of the program, however, further donations will be needed for additional students to participate and for the program to continue beyond 2017. While the first two internships are in Paris, France, at UNESCO headquarters, future placements could be at any UNESCO satellite site in the world.
