Seneca Polytechnic
AC-5: Immersive Experience

Seneca had the first-ever long-term internship partnering with the University of Central Asia at their campus in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan for an Intern Project Manager: Community Outreach and Engagement mentored by the Director of International Training and Development at Seneca, the local staff of the University and the community at Naryn, during the 2018-2019 academic year. With the help of student volunteers, UCA staff and faculty and local people, the intern started several projects in the field of Academia, Environment, Life Skills, Sports, Culture and Women Empowerment. All these projects aimed at helping the local community and contributing to the growth of the Naryn region. Around 20 projects were started in the region and our outreach programs reached the local schools, businesses, financially weak families and the general public. The local community was involved in organizing many of the projects, thus improving the working relationship of the UCA and the community. The tangible outcomes were the following: 1. Cleanup Drives: To create awareness among the locals and the UCA students about environment cleanup, the intern organized two cleanup drives in the community during the internship. 2. Composting: This project was started in UCA to teach the students on how to make compost. A local expert served as our guide in this project and with his help, the students made compost on UCA campus from food waste. The volunteers involved in this project gained practical skill in making compost. 3. Recycling: This was one of the main projects that spread throughout the community. After visiting the garbage dumping site, the intern saw that the community has not been segregating the waste. Even at UCA, there were no bins for waste segregation. With the help of some dedicated students and community members, they added the proper infrastructure to start source-separating at the University and sell the materials to a recycling company in Bishkek. Then the program was extended to the Mayor's offices having a greater impact in the community. Then, the intern spoke with the local schools, which were willing to be part of the project but they did not have the financial means, that's when a tentative plan was in place to buy the resources utilizing the revenue from the recycling materials from the University. A formal club has also been set up by the student volunteers on campus which will be responsible for taking care of this project along with the next year's intern.

https://www.senecacollege.ca/student-services-and-support/student-life/global-opportunities/stories-and-events/the-internship-eight-months-in-kyrgyzstan.html