The placement is with the Ugandan Small Scale Industries Association (USSIA) as a research officer. USSIA is a non-profit organization that is driven to empower, educate, and provide support to small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) for sustainable economic growth. One of Bilal’s tasks is to explore the intervention methods that can be used to integrate SMEs into the market. He is providing support for USSIA’s fundraising activities by increasing and evaluating the pool of prospective and current donors to the organization. This placement is contributing to his understanding that SMEs can be a vehicle in which the rural poor and informally employed can transform themselves into the middle and industrial class of tomorrow. It is also helping him gain practical knowledge on the challenges, and more importantly, the potential for solutions to build sustainability and resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa.
While it may be not be what he envisioned, his online assignment has been an amazing experience. Having conversations with work colleagues has been invaluable in gaining an understanding of the culture. The daily interaction with USSIA is presenting him with the chance to practice and strengthen his knowledge of Swahili, values, beliefs, norms, and equipping him with a meaningful way to engage with the culture while working online. He is also sharing information about his Canadian society, and these conversations are allowing him to see, and compare, cultural viewpoints and learn from them.
Bilal’s online placement has had its challenges and extra difficulties in creating and maintain relationships and communication via the phone or internet. However, it is helping him build the capacity to tackle problems of economic inequality, social injustice, and environmental change, and equipping him with the skills to become a catalyst for change. Future students will also need to embrace the challenges that online placements may present, to foster positivity and to take charge of whatever circumstance may come their way.
Learn more about SEED’s undergraduate program in International Development.