My WYA Asia Pacific Internship
The World Youth Alliance is an international UN accredited NGO. I first encountered them when my friend Zars who at the time was their intern in New York told me to apply to the International Art Forum 2013.
Zars recently became the Director of Operations for the World Youth Alliance Asia Pacific, and encouraged me to apply to their Regional Internship program as they needed more people with design, marketing and project management skills. I applied and joined the program as a part-time intern, rendering at least 12 hours a week of work at their office in Katipunan Ave., Quezon City.
Zarina San Jose, the former International Intern that became the Regional Director of Operations
As with most local non-profits, we were a predominantly female group. We were composed of local and international interns from China and Japan. We came from diverse backgrounds that range from economics, international relations, engineering, business and design.
I would go to the office in between and after my classes in Ateneo, and work at home to finish all the work that I couldn’t finish at the office. We had a required weekly training session on the Track A Training, a curriculum that WYA designed to help us better understand human dignity and knowing historical examples of its abuse, learning the role of good language in international discussions and foreign policy discussions.
I handled the campaign strategies and design the execution of many of the ongoing and future regional projects. Along with with other intern, Lelit, we headed the 2015 Sulong Workshop, a workshop designed to teach children from the various local SOS Children’s Villages. Children came from as far as Batangas & Bataan to spend a few days learning about finding purpose and defending human dignity.
We also organized several other projects such as the semi-Annual DigniTEA party, various fundraisers and recruitment events. They often sent us to talk about WYA and the work that we do various schools all over Metro Manila. I once had to do so in a room with over 500 students at the Philippine Society of Youth Science Clubs (PSYSC) during their annual summit.
It was an interesting cultural exchange that made us very close. We had sleepovers, went on trips, learned new skills and explored local tourist places together. It was a great experience and I recommend it people who want a flexible internship schedule, to meet new people from around the region, enjoy learning about policy making, human rights and culture.
I had voiced out with the leaders that I was interested in pursuing work with WYA at the Headquarters in New York during the long, summer break due to the academic calendar shift in Ateneo. Being able to work closely with the Foundation would give me a more holistic understanding on the organization and how it manages to transcend its great message of defending human dignity on a global scale.
(Update: I qualified for an internship with them in New York!)
