28.12.2015

Internship at the NGO SIDART in Jaipur, India

"The NGO system and deep insights into the culture of Rajasthan"

In the summer of 2011, I went to Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, for three months to do an internship with the NGO SIDART (Society for Integrated Development Activities, Research and Training), which works primarily in the field of women empowerment and HIV/AIDS. I got the job through the large, worldwide internship database of AIESEC, an international student organization.

It was my second time in India and yet the beginning was a big change for me. For example, I didn't even understand half of the first conversation with my boss because the Indian accent of her English was so unfamiliar to me. Fortunately, that changed after the first week and also with the help of my nice colleagues.

At the beginning, my main task was to visit schools and ask the head teachers, to fill out questionnaires for research on the schools in the NGO's area. This was an exciting task for me because it gave me a good insight into the school system in Rajasthan and I was able to work very independently. The project development, which was to take place with the help of the questionnaires, progressed very slowly, which was sometimes very depressing for me because it made my work seem pointless, but there were also other activities that interested me.

One important area was writing reports for the donor organizations in Europe about workshops and seminars that were held with women in the surrounding villages. I was also allowed to attend some of these workshops and was able to gain a lot of valuable experience despite the language barriers. One of the highlights of my internship was certainly when I was able to present SIDART to a representative of the Bodyshop Foundation, who was visiting the NGO to decide whether the Foundation would support SIDART.

Another interesting event for me was the visit to the Health Minister of Rajasthan, together with a colleague, to ask for support for an HIV/AIDS clinic. I also visited the HIV/AIDS outpatient clinic a few times, which was located in an area where many truck drivers took a break. The clinic provided treatment and counseling for truckers and prostitutes, and there were also social workers active in the area. My job here was also to write reports about the work of the outpatient clinic.

Even though the internship was not always easy because the working methods were sometimes very different from those I knew from Austria and I had to realize that the NGO sector is just a business like any other, these three months were still a great time for me. Through the internship, I got to know many local people who gave me a deep insight into the culture of Rajasthan. Some of my colleagues became good friends who I visited again this summer and who I am now waiting to see in Austria.

(Report from a former intern)

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