About the Internship

The International Internship Program (IIP) is a key element of the IEDP Masters Program. The IEDP internships are supported by funding from Penn GSE, and are undertaken in partnership with international agencies, international non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) and universities. Many of these organizations have a commitment towards addressing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The IEDP IIP is designed as a summer internship program (between 8-12 weeks) with placements of Penn interns in fieldsites worldwide, where there are productive work opportunities, and where interns have skills that match the position openings. Penn GSE will offer support (up to $3000/student for qualified students) that covers international travel, insurance, and part of local support; local agencies may provide in-kind and/or cash support (including, for example, per diem, local travel, etc.). IEDP students have had a wide variety of international internship placements, including in: Bosnia, Botswana, Chile, France, Germany, India, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Peoples Republic of China, Rwanda, Senegal, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand, Taiwan and Uganda. Our partners have included, among others: Akanksha, International Institute of Education, OECD, Plan International, Pratham, Research Triangle Institute, Save the Children, UNICEF, UNESCO, and World Vision.

Locations of internships

For most IEDP students, the internship fieldsite will be in a developing country, with activities relevant to the student’s skills and interests. If a student already has prior experience in working in a developing country, the student may (exceptionally) apply for a fieldsite placement at the headquarters of an NGO (or similar agency) that may be located in the US (such as Washington or New York).

Course credit

To prepare students for their internships, students are required to take EDUC 622 International Field Experience course. This is a two semester course (.5 credits each semester) that must be taken the Fall and Spring prior to the internship. No summer course registration is required for the internship. Students are required to submit three reports while on internship in the summer. Please note: Only students in good academic standing are eligible for internship placement and funding.

Application and decision-making

The deadline for IIP applications will be no later than one month after internships have been formally announced. A review committee, composed of relevant faculty and staff, will review applicants with close attention paid to requisite professional, cultural, and/or linguistic skills. Decisions will generally be made no later than April 15, for internships that begin by June 1, 2011. More information on possible internships will be available during the academic year, on a rolling basis. Please see your IEDP advisor for more details.

Coordination with Penn’s Office of International Student Services

The IEDP IIP works closely with Penn’s Office of International Student Services, particularly with respect to issues of visas, risk, insurance, health, travel, and logistics.

Information

Administrative matters related to this internship program are handled by Dr. Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, who may be contacted at: agk@gse.upenn.edu.

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Summer 2013 Internships: Organizations and Locations

This summer IEDP sent twenty-five of it's students around the world to participate in their international field internship. Students were sent to one of nine different organizations across fourteen countries.

A full list of our students' internship placements can be found below:

Aga Khan Foundation, Mombasa, Kenya
Fabretto, Managua, Nicaragua
OECD, Paris, France
Pratham, New Delhi, India
Molteno, Johannesburg, South Africa
Save the Children, Washington, D.C
UNICEF, Kingston, Jamaica
UNICEF, Kampala, Uganda
UNICEF, Pretoria, South Africa
UNESCO, Amman, Jordan
UNESCO, Beijing, China
UNESCO, Dakar, Senegal
UNESCO, Hamburg, Germany
UNESCO, Nairobi, Kenya
UNESCO, Paris, France
World Vision, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
World Vision, Manila, Phillipines
World Vision, Seattle, Washington

Voices from the Field: Highlights from the IEDP Internship

Anna Greenstone: MILL, Johannesburg, South Africa '12

In May-June of 2012, I was fortunate enough to intern with Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy (MILL), a Johannesburg based non-profit.  MILL engages with South African schools in several ways.  They are best known for the Breakthrough to Literacy and Bridge to English programs and textbooks, which teachers use as tools to enhance language instruction in the classroom.  They also conduct educational research, and teacher professional development programs through workshops and mentorship.
 
The focus of my work was on teacher education.  I worked closely with some of the Molteno staff to design, develop and facilitate a teacher professional development workshop for foundation phase teachers (grade 1-3) in Tembisa township schools.  The workshop theme was comprehension and critical thinking.  In addition I completed school visits, and observed several teacher workshops (some run by MILL trainers and others run by government officials), among other tasks.
 
My internship was an a exciting opportunity for me to gain experience in teacher Ed, an area I would like to specialize in as I build my career.  During my work I reflected a great deal on classroom interaction and how teachers can create spaces for dialogue and inquiry with students.  I also considered how schools, NGOs and governments can take a resource-based approach toward supporting teachers in their professional development.  Considering these issues in the context of South Africa adds many layers; its education system has various challenges from under-resourced schools and communities to festering social divisions left by the apartheid system.   Engaging with the issues under the guidance of Molteno staff and working directly in the schools with teachers were incredibly valuable learning experiences.

Julie Casper: Un Buen Camienzo, Santiago, Chile '11

Un Buen Comienzo works to "improve the quality of early childhood education in Chile, specifically focusing on children living in high-risk, socially vulnerable situations through an integrated, language-oriented approach, involving educators, families, and communities" (UBC website). Un Buen Comienzo is jointly administered by the Fundacion Educacional Oportunidad (located in Santiago, Chile) and Harvard University. During my internship, I collaborated in the evaluation of the quality of implementation study by contributing to and editing the evaluation rubric used by UBC coaches, and through a literature review on teacher-coach collaborative relationships. I participated in various coaching sessions in classrooms both observing and filming the teacher-coach relationships, and used these videos in a final project showcasing some of the new evaluation items I established. In addition I assisted with a health and nutrition study by interviewing parents about their food practices, child's health, and food security.

Sarah Horns: UNICEF, Kigali, Rwanda '11

The number of HIV positive adolescents has been steadily increasing, mainly due to the improved survival of children infected at birth benefitting from effective paediatric HIV care and treatment. However, HIV positive adolescents are not able to access comprehensive care, including ‘positive’ prevention and sex and reproductive health information tailored to their specific needs. They generally lack adequate psychosocial support to enhance their development and transition to adult roles and responsibilities. I am currently working within the HIV/AIDS section of UNICEF in Rwanda to address this issue. The project is focused on creating a peer education curriculum to be implemented at two UNICEF-supported sites within Rwanda. This life skills program will be run by HIV positive adolescents and is designed to provide psychosocial support and tools to help other youth cope with the challenges of living with HIV. My time in Rwanda has been spent doing desk research, site visits to the clinics, conducting focus group discussions with HIV positive youth and medical providers and writing the peer education curriculum.

Noelle O’Brien: Pratham, New Delhi, India '11

Having spent time in India before, I was excited to begin work with Pratham in New Delhi. The organization is somewhat of a pioneer in the field of educational assessment, documenting, for the first time in India, the learning levels of children. Efforts of this kind are crucial in a country that has had to contend with increases in student enrollment, but stagnation in student learning. I found myself in the middle of this discussion during the summer of 2011. For two months, I collaborated with other members of the Capacity Building Unit to help develop a long-distance English language course. While I had previous experience interacting directly with students, this internship gave me the opportunity to tackle issues surrounding curriculum development and delivery within the sphere of distance education.

Alex Pak: Save the Children, Nampula Province, Mozambique '11

Save the Children in Mozambique plans to phase out from the province of Gaza to Nampula by 2015, and the objective of my internship was to provide guidance during the program design process.  An analysis of the context, highlighting the increased demand for stakeholder collaboration and lessons learned from previous programs, I recommended government collaboration from the very beginning to facilitate program sustainability, that education programs consider the specific needs of local children, and efforts to improve the poor literacy conditions in local communities in the districts of Nacala Porto and Nacala Velha.  The analysis of secondary sources and the insights from interviews and focus groups supply these recommendations.  In addition, there is a strong demand for results in the province of Nampula, as Save the Children in Mozambique aims to provide cost-effective and sustainable solutions to promote improved child’s rights.

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