Internship

Doing an internship at the Dica Olus Association allowed me to get to know and take part in all the complex administrative and coordination work behind the presentation and implementation of international development cooperation projects and European projects. In addition to grasping the basic mechanisms for drafting international cooperation projects, I also actively and concretely worked on the financial reporting part of some of their activities, experimenting with these aspects for the first time. On a daily basis I carried out communication and translation activities, by updating the website in English and writing articles and essays on the events held and on those planned. During the internship I also actively followed all the communication part through social networks. Throughout my training I was followed by Daniele Gizzi as a tutor, who accompanied and supported me in tackling this job and did not hesitate to answer all my questions or doubts. I am very satisfied with the internship, carried out in a new environment and in an active youthful and serene environment.

During my internship experience at DICA ONLUS Association, I had the opportunity to confront myself with a dynamic and stimulating working environment, alongside professionals in the European design and international cooperation sector who followed me with enthusiasm and seriousness, making this experience for me a source of considerable growth, both on a human and professional level. Specifically, I dealt with the conception of project proposals to be submitted to calls promoted by the European Union, with the research of project partners, with the drafting of project reports and press releases. However, it was not just a matter of increasing and concretizing the knowledge that I had already acquired by attending the design course organized by the association itself in the previous months, but also a matter of developing organizational and relational skills that I consider fundamental for my training. I felt as if each project written and revised within the established times was an opportunity to measure myself with my skills and with the passion of the staff members of the Dica, so I believe that an internship like this is like an open window for anyone interested in knowing the world of design and international cooperation and for anyone wanting to test himself/herself with high standards of professionalism.

Within the D.I.C.A. Onlus I worked in communication activities. In particular, among the various tasks, I dealt with the drafting of articles for the website, the management of contacts with Partners associations, and the organization and promotion of events. One of the events I worked on for the promotion and management was “The first meeting with GaragErasmus4Pisa”, which took place on Thursday 23 June 2016 at Argini & Margini. Working for the DICA association has undoubtedly added an essential value to my course of study, since it has helped me to develop a practical approach that I did not have before, since I knew the world of international cooperation only from university books. Certainly European design is a reality that requires high quality knowledge and skills, and having undertaken this internship without any experience in the sector, I can say that my Tutor Daniele Gizzi has successfully supported me to acquire the tools and skills of understanding and participation related to European funding calls. Daniele Gizzi, and the other members of the team, Khaled Hajlaoui and Daniele Carpita, proved to be not only helpful colleagues, people passionate about the work they do, and I not only felt this passion once I crossed the door of the DICA, but in some way it was transmitted to me, and it represented the main engine to carry on the work, together with perseverance and determination. I can affirm, after the period spent within the association, that this internship constituted not only a professional experience, but above all a life experience. However, it is still a long and uphill journey, but thanks to a working environment that has proved positive and stimulating, I have acquired greater confidence and awareness of all the activities that characterize this profession.

My journey as an intern at DICA Onlus was short, but very intense. It is often not easy for us students to combine lectues, internships and study, but when the environment in which you work is professional, and above all stimulating and informal, collaborating with the people who are part of it becomes a pleasure. I think that for students of Political Science this is an obligatory stage, necessary to get to know the world of cooperation, especially the international one, to understand if it reflects our expectations for a future working life, and to measure our abilities. During my months as an intern at DICA I have been able to become aware of all the work that is at the basis of a European project and of how this takes shape and becomes something concrete, because this is the added value of an experience like this: to make oneself useful and to face something practical and concrete, things that the University does not teach us. Finally, through the Association, I had a wonderful experience in Turkey thanks to the European project "Youth are talking about Career and Employment", organized by Turkish partners in the context of Erasmus+ and which was attended by another 40 young people from another 11 Countries of the European area. Thanks to this project I was able to become aware of the situation at the level of youth employment in other countries, I was able to improve my English and to meet people and realities from different parts of Europe.

As part of my experience within the DICA ONLUS, I can say, even if it was a short journey, that I had the opportunity to get close and get to know a context that I hope will one day be the crowning glory of my studies. Thanks to the association I had the opportunity to acquire a more technical and practical approach to the world of design and international cooperation. The tools provided by my tutors were essential to be able to know and evaluate the work behind the realization of a project. It was therefore a question of deepening an aspect that academic training often does not provide, but which, however, can certainly be useful and allows us to have a clearer idea of what the sphere of cooperation and planning really is. The human and professional context favored learning and made the experience completely positive.

My experience in the non-profit organization D.I.C.A., could be summed up by this fruit: it has covered more than 5300 km. Many more kilometers than most of us will travel in a lifetime. Leaving from the Democratic Republic of Congo, it crossed the Maghreb desert, the Mediterranean, and one day it was given to me, as a precious gift brought from a long journey. This fruit is one of the strongest symbols that I was able to acquire, following a training internship in the field of planning and international cooperation.
To gift me with this fruit was Viviane Zari Phemba Tsasa. In recent months I have been able to follow her projects with the Viviane Foundation in Kinshasa, which over the years has created a hospital and an orphanage for disabled children.

Daniele Gizzi, Daniele Carpita and Khaled Hajlaoui have been my points of reference in recent months, both in the workplace and in the human sphere: rarely do we have the opportunity owadays to experience how it used to be in the "atelier", following the example of the masters, step by step, in contact with people who transmit their added value to you and who make you wonder whether one day, you too will be able to give birth to a reality that has the same care and professional fabric as that of DICA association.