Final Internship Report
Non-Formal Education Specialist and Activity Coordinator
Project Hope 4 Kids at Filippiada Refugee Camp in Greece
(15 October 2017 – 15 January 2017)Raden Andrean Sangabie Sancaya S3266788
University of Groningen
NOHA Internship Coordinator: Internship Supervisor:
Elena Herman Krista Sojo
NOHA Program Coordinator Regional Outreach Coordinator
University of Groningen Project Hope 4 Kids
Preface
This report focuses on how my internship in an international organizations proceeding. My passion on the issue of child protection and refugee has prompted me to do an internship with Project Hope 4 Kids (PH4K) in Greece for three months. On top of that, working in an international organization has always been my goal. Therefore, I also used the opportunity to understand more how the international organizations work as well as put my NOHA knowledge into practice.
I had evolved myself during the process of internship with PH4K in Greece. The intensity of working in a humanitarian setting had forced me to personally grow and develop my problem-solving skill. During the internship process, I have realized that the perfect plan would not always be a flawless execution. I had to improvise and deal with rejection and uncertainty from the INGOs. Though, a lot of great things also happened to me. I used so many opportunities to understand how international organization works, how refugee camp is being managed, and to observe the reality of humanitarian action.
Through this report, I hope people could see and later have some perspectives about how I completed an internship with PH4K and what have I learned from it.
Table of Contents
Preface ... 2
I. Introduction ... 4
II. The Internship Organisation ... 5
III. Tasks & Activities of the Internship ... 5
As a Non-Formal Education (NFE) Specialist ... 5
As an Activity Coordinator ... 6
Supporting the Field Director ... 6
Monitoring and Evaluation Assignment ... 7
Finance and Annual Report Assignment ... 7
V. Living Conditions ... 8
I.
Introduction
Based on three semesters doing NOHA, I have vaguely decided that my ultimate goal in the humanitarian field is to establish an Indonesian non-governmental organization (NGO). I would like to maintain an NGO that works specifically in the area of child protection. For that reason, in the next five years, I would like to see myself having a position as either Program Manager or Monitoring and Evaluation Manager. Regarding the scene, it would be ideal if I could end up in one of the International NGOs or the International Governmental Organization that also work on child protection issues, such as: Save the Children, War Child, and UNICEF. Alternatively, I would love to work with organizations that operate side by side with children protection issues such as UNHCR or IOM.
In order to achieve my goal, I would like to obtain as much experience as possible working with the organization that focuses on children. My initial plan was to do an internship with RedR UK in Amman. I got the internship early July 2017. I was excited about RedR UK because I would be stationed in program management intern, which is what I wanted. However, on August 21st 2017, the country director of RedR UK in Jordan sent me an email informing that my internship program had been suspended until January 2018 due to some organizational issues. After all of the clarification from RedR, I then decided to wipe my tears and move on. I was struggling to find an internship in one month, in order to finish NOHA programme on time. In addition, at the same moment, I was doing my research semester in Colombia for my thesis. I sent numerous applications and emails to all humanitarian and development organizations all around the world. I even asked several NOHA alumni as well as lecturers to give me information regarding an internship. In the end, I managed to schedule a skype interview Save the Children in The Netherlands. Few days after my interview session with Save the Children, PH4K was looking for an Intern. I found out through NOHA facebook group. I then applied and ended up with a skype with PH4K. As a result, both organizations offered me a position; as a Non-Formal Education Specialist and Activity Coordinator in PH4K and as a General Support Intern in Save the Children in the Netherlands. Both internship positions were unpaid.
In the end, I decided to take the one with PH4K because it offers a field experience in an actual refugee camp which I had never done before. Secondly, I
would love to have the experience to live in Greece. I had asked several people, including NOHA alumnus that have a career in humanitarian action before making my decision, all of them suggested to take the field experience with PH4K.
II. The Internship Organisation
Project Hope 4 Kids (PH4K) is a non-governmental, humanitarian organization working to help refugees by creating sustainable projects in the field as well as gathering and distributing aid to the displaced populations in Greece. Project Hope 4 Kids is working in one particular camp in Northern Greece, where we provide an art/crafts program and activities for more than two hundred children in the field. The organization also helps run the school program with other volunteers by partnering with the teachers in the camp and teaching the English and Mathematics lessons on a daily basis.
Project Hope 4 Kids had been in Filippiada Camp for almost two years. The Director of the organization, Erin Freeman, who is also the founder of the organization, lives in Salt Lake City in the United States of America. PH4K is a small organization that had been run by only three people; the director, the outreach coordinator, and the field director they utilize volunteers in order to deliver their programs. PH4K had been expanding their existence to other refugee camps around Epirus area in Greece.
III. Tasks & Activities of the Internship
As a Non-Formal Education (NFE) Specialist
As an NFE Specialist, I was assigned by the organization to conduct three English classes regularly. My main class was English class for children above 12 years old, or we called it the Whale Class. Aside from teaching the Whale, I was also responsible for other two English classes for the adult. I came to the refugee camp every day from 9 am. The Whale class started at 10 am with usually ten to twenty students in the class. Since I had the experiences with some youth organizations, the task to teach teenagers in the camp was not too difficult for me.
For the adult classes, I was responsible for two classes; the 4 pm to 5 pm class or the intermediate English and the 5 pm to 6 pm class or the beginner English. Each
class consisted of seven to ten adult students every day, though some days I had fifteen people came to the class.
Being NFE specialist gave me a tight schedule and long hours of work. After I finished my day in the camp, I came back home and had to prepare all of the teaching materials for the next day, repeatedly. In addition, during the weekend I had to compile a weekly report about what happened in the classes as well as to make a planning report for the following week.
As an Activity Coordinator
As an Activity Coordinator, I was also responsible for designing and implementing several diverse activities for the children in the refugee camp. There were a lot of events, outside the Non-formal classes. Each activity was meant to develop the social and emotional skill of the children. The activities covered several issues, such as understanding human rights, building empathy, managing emotions, understanding environment and planet earth and how to protect it. The form of the activities were mural painting, movie nights, face painting, dancing, yoga, discussion, etc. The activities went for about two hours every day from 2 pm until 4 pm on Monday to Friday. In practice, every day I had to gather the children and youth as well as prepare the space for the activities before conducting the activities with my teammates.
Supporting the Field Director
As an intern, I was also assigned to support the field director of PH4K. The field team, including me, had an internal team meeting as well as a community meeting with all organizations and residents in Filippiada camp every Thursday. During the team meeting, we discuss all matters and share ideas to improve our work and maximize the impacts of our activities. We also reviewed several important cases such as fighting between children, abused, etc. During the community meeting, we share the organization’s plan to the refugee and other actors in the camp. I assist the field director to provide translator as well as to gather the residents.
Aside from the meetings, I was also responsible for rearranging inventories of PH4K in the warehouse as well as to distribute toys and goods for the refugee in the camp. During Christmas time, we had toy and parcel distributions, where
approximately 120 toys and 80 boxes of food were distributed around the refugee camp in Filippiada.
In addition to previous tasks, I was also assisting the field director to coordinate the volunteers who came to the refugee camp for few days. There was some group from Spain and a girl from Ireland that wanted to volunteer with PH4K in the refugee camp for few days. Since the volunteer most likely did not have the background in humanitarian, I needed to guide as well as assist the volunteer when they were doing the activities with the refugees.
Monitoring and Evaluation Assignment
During my internship with PH4K, I had the opportunity to assist my supervisor to create and develop a theory of change for the organization. The theory of change was meant to direct the organization in 2018. The process of developing the Theory of Change was very intense. Firstly, I had to conduct and lead a team meeting to discuss the goal, objectives, outcomes, outputs and the activities that the organization would do in 2018 based on what had happened previously. After all ideas and suggestions were acquired, I had to compile and design the theory of change under the supervision of Krista and another NOHA Alumni who was working in M&E area. The theory of change was a tough task to accomplished since it had to be through several layers of feedback session.
After finishing the Theory of Change, I also had to provide a LogFrame based on the theory of change for the organization. Developing a LogFrame was also an intensive task for me to do. Furthermore, a LogFrame usually should be done by several people in one team, though in my case I was working alone most of the time. However, I really enjoyed the work; I believed monitoring and evaluation is one of the leading topics in organizational work that I would like to do professionally.
Finance and Annual Report Assignment
The last assignment for me as an intern was assisting my supervisor in creating an annual report for the organization. The annual report was a crucial thing to do since it would show the accountability of PH4K. I specifically was helping in the finance section. My task was an administrative job such as fulfilling some excel tables and writing. The work required a lot of concentration which was hard to do during my internship because of my routine in the camp that had already taken most of my time.
IV.
Supervision of the Internship
My supervisor for the internship program is Ms. Krista Sojo. She was a NOHA alumnus; she has been working with PH4K as regional outreach coordinator for four months. Before being positioned as the regional outreach coordinator, she was a field director for four months.
The supervision style of Krista was very flexible, as an intern, I was not directly supervised every day. Moreover, Krista was working most of the time in Ioannina, 40 minutes away from the city of Filippiada. Despite the distance, Krista and I still had excellent communication through WhatsApp and a weekly meeting. The supervision was mainly divided into three actions. The first act was a meeting where Krista and I discussed our expectations. The second act of guidance was reporting activities. Since we did not see each other every day, I provided report through a message on WhatsApp or an email to Krista. The reporting was an important part of my assignment since everything had to be accord to the organization’s standard. Lastly, the third action was feedback session. My supervisor and I had three feedback sessions in total. All of them were discussing my assignment as well as my performance during my time in PH4K. Overall, the supervision style of Krista was matched with my working style as well since I would not feel comfortable being directly supervised every time.
As a supervisor, Krista was excellent. She was very clear in giving assignment and direction. Krista also had the patient and great attitude. She always appreciated the things I had done, and she was open to critics and opinions. She also helped me to get through the police report when I lost my phone and all of my valuable cards, including my dutch resident permit. In general, I was pleased about my supervision, and I believe that it had developed me more than I expected.
V. Living Conditions
During my internship period with PH4K, I lived together with the field directors, other interns as well as volunteers in PH4K House in Filippiada. The accommodation is free for an intern like me even though I did not receive any money or stipend. For some volunteers, they were required to contribute 10 euros per day if they want to live in PH4K house. The house was quite comfortable to live in; it had three bedrooms with several mattresses. For the first twenty days, I had to share a
room with another person. After that, I had my room because some people were leaving. The house owns one kitchen and one bathroom, therefore the people who live in the house had to share everything most of the time. Each person also had the responsibility to keep the house clean and tidy. In early December when the weather was colder, the house did not turn the heater on because apparently in Greece the heater is very expensive. I had to stay warm under a blanket. Moreover, the organization has one car to transport the staff to the refugee camp. We all shared the petrol equally.
Furthermore, the house is located in Filippiada, which is a small city in Greece. Even though it is a little town, Filippiada has all daily needs such as supermarket, fruit store, café, restaurant, bar, hotel, bank, etc. Living in a such a small city has its perks. Getting to one place to another is easy. About the food, I ate all kind of greek food. I sometimes cooked myself, and once in a while, I ate out. Greek food is in my opinion, very tasteful. The menu mainly consists of meat, which I had no problem eating it.
Regarding the people, I found that greek people are quite friendly if you managed to get to know them. However, on the surface, they can appear very cold and unfriendly. As an Asian, I had mixed experience about how people react to me. Some people were friendly and curious, though I also experienced some unpleasant moments where people gave me "the look" and some giggles. Furthermore, there was one moment where I was a little bit disappointed with the Greek police department. Early December, I lost my phone and all of my essential cards including my dutch resident permit in the camp. The police officers were not assisting as professional as I expected them to be. They were a bit slow, and they ignored me when I was trying to make a lost item report.
VI. Conclusion
After finishing the internship I reflect on myself to identify what have I gained from the internship and how am I going to plan my future after this internship.
a. Personal strength
I believed one of my strengths is that I possess an excellent social and communication skill. My skill is built upon my passion for having a conversation with
anyone and for listening as well as responding to any kind of topic of conversation. During the internship, my personal strength appeared very useful. I rarely found myself having difficulty to fit in a new environment or to meet new people, especially where I am required to interact with other people in the refugee camp. The internship had succeeded to not only deliver but also improve my strength in social and communication skill.
b. Personal weakness
Other than my lack of background in field experience, the most significant hurdle during the internship period was time management. During the intense internship with PH4K, I also had to finish my thesis and my scholarship report. I have not come to a full solution to this weakness yet, but I have managed to improve time management. I found that it was easier for me to focus on assignments if I was outside my room. I also manage to use a proper schedule organizer, so I was more familiar with deadlines and progress. My internship supervisor also had always pushed and motivated me to work and make progress, which was very useful.
c. Opportunity and threat during the internship
I have always dreamt of being able to work in International Organization. For that reason, by doing a field internship with an international non-profit NGO, I was expecting to get a better understanding about what the topic is and entails, such as; understand how actually an organization works and learn about the importance of human factors in organizations including the structure, design, and culture of organizations. I was also excited about learning management theory; policies and practices; and leadership roles in Organization. Furthermore, I was very interested particularly in expanding my knowledge about project proposals and evaluations; what they consist of, what measurements are used to assess proposals and get a better insight into how to maximise funding potential from donors. The internship has managed to provide me the opportunity to learn all of these because there were still so many things to do for the organization.
On the other side, since PH4K is a small organization, I also needed to adjust my expectation. There were not so many people or experts in the organizations whom I could pick the brain from, so I had to self-develop and self-learn in most of the
things. The field experience was not also as intense as I imagined. Therefore, I might not also get the best field experience.
d. General reflection
Overall, I enjoyed the internship with PH4K. The learning method by the organization that kept on using real-life examples so I could apply the learning experience directly was very beneficial. I believe that skills and knowledge I gained during my time with PH4K would positively contribute to the level of my future employability. The primary skills and knowledge obtained during the internship can be summarized as forming my global mindset, communication skills, creative thinking, analytical skills, comprehensive knowledge about organizational management from theory to practical ability including how to make project proposal and also review it in an international scope.
During the main work in the refugee camp, my teammates and I were able to work together cohesively; most of us were all reliable and punctual for the group meeting. We were all organized and coordinated everything jointly as a team, from the beginning until the end. The team worked well together, and each person was efficiently contributing to the work, sometimes we asked for support when needed via Whatsapp group that we created. This sense of belonging helped us as a group to be confident. However, some people tried to do more than they were allocated to do, due to their vast experience. This situation made some of the members of the group to feel incompetent at some point. In the end, it had still helped the rest of the team to gain new knowledge.
Furthermore, being part of a team has helped me to develop my interpersonal skills like speaking and listening as well as team working skills such as leadership, and teamwork and motivating others. I also believed that the level of my creativeness has increased and I tend to think “outside of the box,” this particular skill was improved due to learning how to build my organization and design a project that was not only effective but also innovative during the course.
I gained a great deal of information from doing the proposal and evaluation, more so than I initially realized. Completing these showed both the organizational and donor sides of applying for funding and demonstrated the complexity of planning a project. There were so many more elements to be taken into consideration that I had initially fathomed. I think being aware and implementing the tools like the log-frame
and others will help in the future too. However, I am really interested to extend my knowledge to learn to decide what and how to monitor with different stakeholders, to clarify key results at the programme-level using logic models, to plan a project using the logical framework, to develop indicators and targets, to use participatory methods for data collection and analysis, to design and manage evaluation, to use M&E findings to stimulate learning, as well as to develop and work with a practical M&E system.
