Costs, Benefits and Growing Plants in Water

By Andrea Dsouza, 1st year MDP student

 

Hello, my name is Andrea Dsouza. I was born and raised in Bangalore, India. In 2020 I completed an undergraduate degree in Indigenous Studies from the University of British Columbia. My field placement this summer was with Canadian Feed the Children (CFTC).

CFTC is a Canadian charity that works worldwide to ensure that children thrive free from poverty and hunger. In Canada, Bolivia, Ethiopia, and Ghana, CFTC partners with communities to strengthen their capacity to achieve long-term and sustainable change. This is done by supporting innovative food security endeavours, educational campaigns and monitoring and evaluation. What drew me to working with CFTC is that they integrate intersectional analysis into their work.

 

My task this summer was to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of indoor-growing units for CFTC’s partners in Canada. Many of these Indigenous communities are in rural and remote areas of Canada’s north, where the lack of access to sufficient affordable, nutritious food continues to be a critical issue. One possible way of meeting this need is by building hydroponic units in shipping containers. This method of growing does not require any soil, just water to grow a wide variety of leafy greens in communities. It is highly efficient as it uses less time, space, and crop inputs than traditional farming. It allows for year-round growing as all the elements involved in growing are monitored and controlled for optimal outputs.

 

I doubt that my placement would have looked different than it did if it wasn’t a pandemic. I enjoyed the fact that the work I was doing allowed me to work from anywhere! This meant I could head back to Vancouver for the summer and spend some with friends and family. I saw this work as an extension of my first year of university that took place entirely online. Therefore, doing this placement during a pandemic was not too challenging for me. I practised the communication and time management skills that I built during the year during this placement, which made it a success!

 

 

Connecting with community through a Pandemic

By Alex Cote-O’Brien (They/Them), 1st year MDP student

I finished up my placement with KaniKanichihk at the end of July! It was definitely a bittersweet moment! After living in Winnipeg for almost a year I was never fully able to embrace the community and all the opportunities that Winnipeg had to offer due to the hands of the pandemic. Even though the majority of my placement was online and in a way removed from most parts of the community, I was able to connect with amazing young people, Elders, and peers who are change makers within their community.

This exchange of learning, friendship, and challenges, definitely left me with a lot of self-reflection and personal growth. At certain times in my placement I was gifted with the opportunity to go into the community to deliver program baskets, and got to interact with the family of the youth who were receiving them (at a safe and covid friendly distance though!). These interactions definitely kept my flame lit through hybrid working. Even though I didn't get to fully interact with the community like I hoped to, this placement gave me the opportunity to plant my feet into the ground, and meet various different community members to hopefully aid in my journey of community connection when the time is right and safe to do so!

My placement with Nature United - Part 2

By Hannah Johnston, 1st year MDP student

One really interesting aspect of my field placement is attending organization-wide events, and having personal interviews with employees. One employee I interviewed discussed their relationship with ocean conservation, as someone who isn’t from British Columbia, but has grown to love it over time. It feels very validating to hear Western scientists such as them citing Indigenous science and teachings as crucial components of conservation, particularly in British Columbia but also in Western environmentalism as a whole.

 

It’s really valuable to learn lessons from others. As people, sometimes it clicks to learn something from another human being rather than textual sources. I spoke with another employee who discussed the importance of establishing and maintaining relationships in and amongst Indigenous communities. Especially from the positionality of a nonprofit organization such as Nature United, it’s important to do a certain amount without overextending, while remaining staunchly rooted in the needs of the community. Because there is no real way to teach relationship-building in universities, there’s an essential respect and understanding that you have to come in with. Especially during times of pandemic, it’s heartening to hear that human relationships are at the core of communications.

 

Working virtually with Nature United is a bit of an outlier, as well as remote placements go. They were actually remote before the pandemic, so they’re actually ahead of the curve! It’s interesting observing their culture, because there’s this sense of making bigger meetings count, as far as congratulating one another on accomplishments. This culture is supportive, although I’m sure employees can still benefit from reaching out to one another and check on their many projects

Working from home for the summer

By Janelle Poiron, 1st year MDP student

Tansi. My name is Janelle and this is my first field placement! I’m currently doing my placement with the Evaluation Directorate within Indigenous Services Canada.

I think for me working online has definitely been both a boon and sometimes a difficult experience. As the office I work out of is in Gatineau, Quebec working remotely has been really beneficial as I was able to stay in the hometown throughout the summer. Especially as things open up again it’s been lovely to see friends. Also the commute can’t be beat, I definitely don’t miss trying to get home during rush hour! However, it definitely took getting used to even with having done remote work throughout the school year. Everyone has been super lovely but you do get to miss that human connection that you would get in person. Whether it be stopping by someone’s desk for a chat or grabbing coffee. However, I’ve been very fortunate to meet many of my colleagues for virtual coffee and get to know them more! There’s so many super intelligent people within my directorate and I’ve loved being mentored by them.

One of my challenges is also accommodating my desk within my bedroom and striving to keep it strictly a work area. I’ve found it really easy to place trinkets and other items on my desk but over time I’ve gotten much better at keeping it tidy! Here’s to hoping that trend continues!

Meegwetch for reading!

A Placement of Cooperation and Collaboration

By Tunde Ogunje, 2nd year MDP student

My field placement is in conjunction with two MDP students, Noran Tarek and Karla Godoy, from the University of Minnesota. We are working for the Rainforest Alliance in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Petén, Guatemala. While I am joining the project remotely, Karla and Noran are physically present in Guatemala.

The project is the continuation of the work the University of Minnesota MDP program has been doing over the years, working with the Rainforest Alliance in trying to develop community enterprises from the Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. The NTFPs which consist of the ramón seed, chicle, xate, honey and allspice are created by community concession members in the Reserve who spend their livelihood and earn a good income to create items for the open market. These concessionaires are trained by the Rainforest Alliance, and the forestry divisions in the Petén to properly certify their work to be produced and sold worldwide. The green label seal by Rainforest Alliance certifies the products to be organic, fair trade and sustainable.

We are all working on four projects simultaneously but each of us have responsibility to lead at least one project. I am leading the project to develop a feasibility study for ACOFOP (Association of Forest Communities of Petén) to access government loan to establish a manufacturing business to process Ramon seeds into flour to make cookies.

Raw Ramón seeds

Noran leads the project to develop an Export-Readiness Assessment Report for Non-timber forest products (ramón, xate and honey) in the project area in Guatemala while Karla, who has been doing the job of translating and interpreting English to Spanish and vice versa, leads both the development of working document to formalize the relationship with Teeccino, an American coffee alternative company, and the reviewing and updating an existing business plan for COADAP (Apiculturists Cooperative of Petén).

My placement with Nature United

By Hannah Johnston, 1st year MDP student

I’ve been working at Nature United for my summer field placement! I’ve been working on an inventory project for Indigenous youth on-the-land programs throughout Canada, and learning about these topics has been both enjoyable and applicable to my interests for future endeavors. For the inventory project, we’ve created several “Program snapshots” that represent key information about several of these programs throughout Manitoba, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories. Some of the goals with these are to provide a brief overview of the programs for the convenience of those conducting similar programs in different regions, who may use the information as a resource; allow for those planning their own pilot program to see a succinct model demonstrating factors that go into running a program; and facilitating contact between program directors and interested parties, such as potential partner organizations, potential funders, or someone running a program in a different region.

 

Working remotely can be challenging, and a lot of the time I would find myself pausing what I was doing to do some dishes, or take the dogs to the dog park. While it can be difficult to have separate spaces for “work” and “rest,” I found myself grateful for the quality time I got to spend with loved ones (especially at the dog park). A lot of working from home is locking yourself in a room, and accepting that inevitably someone will poke their head in during an important zoom meeting. For situations like this (as well as most situations), self-care is important. I took the time during the summer to reread my favorite books, catch up with friends, and try new things.

 

Developing CCP in Split Lake: A Worthwhile Learning Experience

By Babatunde Alabi, 2nd year MDP student

My ongoing field placement with Tataskweyak Cree Nation (TCN) has so far been an exciting learning opportunity. It allows me to further put some of what I've learned in class into practice, as well as gain a better knowledge of and contribute to an important development program aimed at ensuring that today's dreams become tomorrow's realities.

Tataskweyak Cree Nation, also known as Split Lake, is a northern Manitoba First Nations community that strives to improve its people's well-being and create the opportunity to become more self-reliant and self-sufficient. To do this, the community has begun a Comprehensive Community Planning (CCP) process, which will allow it to develop a vision for the future and implement projects to attain its goal.

Joining TCN at a time when the community is forging a path ahead into the future is a great privilege, as it allows me to learn new concepts and translate my academic skills of research and writing into actual practice beyond the walls of the university. My roles during this placement include documents review, data management, planning, organizing, and facilitating. I am also involved in workshop presentations, writing narratives, preparing progress reports and writing CCP draft.

During this placement, I also participated in a training and a Community of Practice (CoP) event on CCP organized by Indigenous Services Canada. This provided a great opportunity to network with other individuals and groups across Canada who are also involved in CCP development.  This placement, along with its accompanying capacity-building initiatives, is an added benefit because it is assisting me in preparing for life after graduation. Working remotely from the comfort of my home to complete tasks and maintaining smooth virtual contacts with my mentor via video conferencing platforms and phone calls is one of the most exciting elements of this placement. I've especially appreciated the remote working experience because it has enhanced my self-confidence and capacity to work independently while still completing tasks without sacrificing quality.