Project profile — Municipal Sustainable Economic Growth

This project is part of DFATD’s International Youth Internship Program (IYIP), which is within the Career Focus stream of the Government of Canada's Youth Employment Strategy (YES). The IYIP is designed to offer young Canadian post-secondary graduates the opportunity to gain professional experience through international development work. Simon Fraser University supports 40 Canadian internships over two years (for six-month periods), in Dakar, Senegal; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Los Cabos, Mexico; Viacha, Bolivia; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and Durban, South Africa. Interns support the host municipalities in planning and implementing sustainable economic and food security initiatives, with an emphasis on building capacity and structures in municipal governments to mobilize local potential. The participation of Canadian young professionals in overseas internships strengthen the ability of developing country partners to respond to development challenges related to increasing economic sustainability. The projects have been identified in consultation with the municipalities and/or local partner organizations and have been designed to stimulate local economic growth, increase food security and fight against poverty through income generation and job creation. The project aims to increase the active awareness and global citizenship of eligible young Canadians in support of reinforcing sustainable economic growth in seven developing countries.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) increased access by Canadian interns (young men and women) to Canadian labour market opportunities, including in the field of international development; and (2) increased engagement of Canadian interns (young men and women) as global citizens in supporting international development in Canada and abroad.

Results achieved as of March 2017 include: (1) 39 interns (29 female and 10 male) have been recruited and sent abroad for a six-month internship; (2) 89 blogs were written by the interns to promote their international development work in Canada and abroad; (3) a total of 32 webinars and tutorials were offered to increase awareness by interns to Canadian labour market opportunities, including in the field of international development; (4) 89% of interns have reported that their internship improved their understanding of international development work; and (5) 96% of the interns agree that their internship increased their chance of employability.