Idea Dignidad (Kaya Responsible Travel) - Ecuador

Final Report: Fundación Idea Dignidad, Kaya Responsible Travel – Ecuador

From May 24 to July 16, I worked as a remote intern for a non-profit, human rights NGO called Fundación Idea Dignidad located in Quito, Ecuador. My internship with Idea Dignidad was both my first remote experience as well as my first international work experience, and despite challenges I encountered with communication, work expectations, and general obstacles to working in a virtual environment, I believe the opportunity was rewarding and enriching.

The first five weeks of my internship with Idea Dignidad primarily consisted of my participation in the organization’s online introductory course that it asks each of its interns to complete. The virtual course explored key topics within the organization’s work with human rights, including forms of discrimination, gender violence, and violence against children. Throughout these first five weeks and particularly after my completion of the course, I also assisted the organization with a variety of tasks focused on the organization’s social media, external publications, and internal documents. For example, some of my work included researching the legal and social status of the LGBTQ+ community in Ecuador for use in social media infographics for Pride Month in June; researching interesting facts on human rights and related documentaries, books, and movies for the organization to use in monthly “Did you know?” publications; synthesizing multiple internal documents to consolidate information for the organization; and translating documents from Spanish to English for publication. In addition to my internship, I participated in one-on-one Spanish classes four times per week with a teacher also located in Quito, Ecuador to improve my language skills throughout the eight weeks of my internship. My teacher was wonderful, and our daily conversations were an excellent supplement to the work I completed in my internship and greatly improved my overall experience. I also had the opportunity to partake in weekly cultural workshops and buddy chats hosted by Kaya, which allowed me to learn more about Ecuador’s culture, customs, and people.

I feel the internship was successful in that Idea Dignidad’s introductory course was informative and laid a solid foundation for understanding the significance of the organization’s work with victims of human rights violations and specific forms of discrimination and violence. I also greatly enjoyed the tasks and projects I was given the opportunity to assist with. However, a repeated challenge I encountered throughout my internship was a lack of tasks to complete. I feel that I was successful in completing all tasks assigned to me in my role, but I believe that I could have been of greater assistance to Idea Dignidad and wish that I had had more opportunities to collaborate directly with my supervisor and other summer interns.

Despite this main challenge, I believe I gained valuable experience working with Idea Dignidad. Through the internship, cultural workshops, buddy chats, and the supplementary Spanish classes, I grew more confident in my Spanish speaking and writing abilities, learned how to communicate across language and cultural barriers, and learned how to adapt to a more relaxed pace of work than that which I am accustomed to in the United States. In speaking with my internship supervisor at the conclusion of my experience, he shared with me that Idea Dignidad benefitted from the experience as well, as I was able to assist with research, revision of documents, and other smaller tasks that are often overshadowed by more pressing demands of the organization’s work, such as psychological assistance of victims and legal representation in cases of rights violations. Idea Dignidad is in the process of improving its social media platforms and general Internet presence, so by improving the organization’s existing documents and developing new ideas for future publications, I was able to aid in the pursuit of that goal.

As mentioned above, the internship experience with Idea Dignidad provided me with new knowledge and skills. First, although I was previously familiar with topics in human rights, the organization’s online course from the Ecuadorian perspective provided me with new insight into the challenges the country faces in securing human rights protections for its citizens that I would not have been able to see from solely the United States point of view. Second, I greatly improved my Spanish language skills over the course of eight weeks, providing me with stronger verbal and written communication. As I am interested in pursuing a career in public policy, learning and maintaining my Spanish skills is a lifelong goal of mine. Third, I improved my cultural competency through my internship by learning to recognize differences between Ecuadorian culture and United States culture and by adapting to differing work and communication styles, which enabled me to better understand my Ecuadorian colleagues’ approaches to work. Lastly, I improved my problem-solving skills throughout my internship as I faced challenges regarding communication and the amount of work I was asked to complete, which led me to think more creatively and proactively about how to solve these issues and prevent them from continuing in the subsequent weeks of my internship. Thus, overall, while my internship with Idea Dignidad turned out to be different than I had originally anticipated, I still believe that it provided me with a valuable learning experience and has prepared me to undertake new international experiences in the future.