About our internships
Mission
Alternatives is a solidarity organization that works to advance justice and economic, social, political, civil, cultural and environmental rights in Quebec, across Canada and around the world.
We support citizen action and the autonomous contribution of grassroots and social movements in building sustainable societies. Alternatives participates in local and international mobilizations to strengthen collective rights.
Our practice is grounded in the solidity of the partnership established with actors from the Global South and the North: a partnership based on solidarity, where reciprocity, collaboration and shared action are central. Local actors are engaged in a process of social change, serving as both the source and the driving force behind them. Alternatives carries out education and awareness initiatives rooted in a shared vision of social transformation, as an extension of all our action in international solidarity.
History
Alternatives has always been mobilized to train the next generation.
For more than 20 years, we have been offering a wide variety of internship opportunities for young people aged 18 to 35. Notably, Alternatives is among the founders of NetCorps, a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations that offered, between 1998 and 2008, internships in information technology funded by Industry Canada. No less than 1500 young people, including more than 300 with Alternatives, participated in these internships. Today, the NetCorps program has a new look under the International Youth Internship Program (IYIP), funded by Global Affairs Canada.
At Alternatives, the IYIP is part of the ever-present desire to contribute to making new technologies tools for social transformation.
Internship programs
Each year, dozens of young people from Canada commit to an internship with our international partners.
Thus, Alternatives participates in fostering the sense of solidarity and engagement among young people.
Two programs are offered to young people wishing to live an international experience:
The International Youth Internship Program (IYIP)
The International Youth Internship Program (IYIP) is part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy.
To be eligible, applicants must:
- Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident;
- Be between the ages of 18 and 30 (inclusive) at the time of final selection (i.e., when the contract is signed by the intern and Alternatives);
- Never have participated in the IYIP before.
Who is this program for?
The International Youth Internship Program (IYIP) is specifically designed for young people facing barriers to employment: those who belong to or identify with a group that faces discrimination, such as people living with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, racialized youth, and members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community.
IMPORTANT:
- If you participated in the International Internship Program for Indigenous Youth (IIPY), you are eligible for this new iteration of the IYIP.
- If you have already participated in the International Youth Internship Program, BUT were repatriated due to COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, you can do a new internship in the format that suits you, either virtually or in person, provided that you were repatriated midway through or before your internship.
- If you have done a virtual internship in the past, you can do a new in-person internship.
- If you have already done a field internship, you cannot do the virtual internship, as this is more of an adaptation measure.
- You cannot do a field internship again either.
The IYIP aims to develop interns’ skills while providing them with professional work experience.
Through this internship program, Alternatives hopes to mobilize and raise awareness about international solidarity and information technology issues, while preparing participants for employability.
Between 2018 and 2019, 50% of IYIP participants found employment in international cooperation or ICT following their internship. Others chose to continue their studies in international cooperation.
Alternatives supports interns at every stage of the project and is committed to providing participants with the following, among other things:
- Round-trip airfare to the host country;
- Accommodation;
- Travel insurance;
- A per diem determined based on the cost of living in each host country, covering daily expenses for food, transportation, and interpersonal communications;
- Pre-departure training in Montreal.
The Québec Sans Frontières (QSF) Program (not active at this time)
Admission Criteria:
- Be a permanent resident or Canadian citizen and have resided in Quebec for more than one year.
- Be between 18 and 35 years old.
Québec Sans Frontières (QSF) is an initiation to international solidarity that allows young people from Quebec, aged 18 to 35, to spend two and a half months in a country of the Global South to support local initiatives. QSF projects allow for integration with our various sectors of activity, including social communications, support for alternative media and environmental projects.
Good to know: the QSF offers, in collaboration with Cégep Marie-Victorin, the possibility of obtaining an attestation d’études collégiales (AEC).
For more information, we invite you to visit the Quebec Sans Frontières website.
