Links between Globalization, Internships, Education and International Exchange: Internship Certification Seminar

By: Joaquin Salazar
InteRDom Consultant and Certification Instructor

With the turn of the 21st Century, humanity finds itself in the midst of an information revolution generally known as globalization. It became especially significant following World War II, which brought the devastating consequences of death and destruction, and in turn awakened academic, philosophical and world political bodies that lead to the signing of the Charter of the United Nations in June 1945.

The goal of the United Nations was cultural interchange on a global basis, which is expressed in the Universal Declaration of UNESCO on Cultural Diversity in paragraph 2:

“In our increasingly diverse societies, it is essential to ensure harmonious interaction among people and groups with plural, varied and dynamic cultural identities as well as their willingness to live together. Policies for the inclusion and participation of all citizens are guarantees of social cohesion, the vitality of civil society and peace. Thus defined, cultural pluralism gives policy expression to the reality of cultural diversity. Indissociable from a democratic framework, cultural pluralism is conducive to cultural exchange and to the flourishing of creative capacities that sustain public life.”

This Declaration implies a deep understanding of the movement known as globalization, which has been on the rise in recent years in all areas of human activity. In 1961, by executive order of US President John F. Kennedy, the Peace Corps was founded as a way for young Americans to contribute to the goal of helping people outside the United States to understand American culture and to help Americans understand the cultures of other countries.

Since that time, many international internship and exchange programs have undertaken the same goals and offered students from around the world a chance to do the same: to obtain-- with little sacrifice and ample international funding-- cultural, social and professional experiences in new places while integrating in other national cultures, races, ethnicities and religions without preconceptions and prejudices. It is about promoting genuine friendship among people, a goal for which the great thinkers of humankind have always advocated.

In 2005, Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) and Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) joined this movement through its specialized unit known as InteRDom, which offers internship programs in the Dominican Republic for students from the most important universities in the United States.

In 2009, InteRDom went even further by beginning its Internship Certification Seminar. To date they have certified three groups of Monitors. The purpose of these certifications is to train personnel to be coordinators of internship programs within Dominican companies, state and government institutions and NGOs in order to create a synergy between the academic world and the companies or institutions receiving the interns.


InteRDom directors believed it was important to expand the Internship Certification Program to universities in order to fulfill the triad of the internship parties:

• the intern


• the academic institution


• the company or organization hosting the intern

The academic institution or company hosting the intern should combine efforts to ensure that the internship provides a valuable human educational experience as well as a quality professional experience for the intern. It is about “learning by doing” and establishing a genuine link between the student and the professional at work.

Based on the system theory of Austro-German theoretical biologist, Karl Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, who in 1901 developed the General Systems Theory, which states that everything is interconnected; academic institutions and businesses constitute social cells and interdependent productive sources which interact and provide mutual nourishment.

Both, in their own right, have a great deal of social obligation and responsibility to the populations around them as well as to other institutions, financial as well as political and social, in all countries.

According to this view, the synergy between educational institutions, industry and state institutions is intimately shared and understood; human beings, the product of this synergy, should also possess a mentality in keeping with this vision.

If, furthermore, we delve into the perception of personal competences that govern individual and collective life among human beings within communities, we see clearly that internships, as educational and professional experiences, perfect these competences to produce an individual capable of interacting with his/her fellow human beings as individual and collective entities based on personal and professional knowledge which will, in turn, contribute to the advancement of the general collective.

Indeed we are facing a new concept of internship, a global vision of transforming humans into interns, as well as transforming academic institutions, business and governmental institutions into entities that are responsible for the social and collective well-being.

Service Learning in Batey Libertad

By: Cynthia So

Executive Director, Yspaniola

Batey Libertad has seen its share of visitors. Youth from the batey are adept at using Facebook and have accumulated friends from across the world. Students are motivated to learn English, knowing they can practice their skills each time a group comes to visit. More importantly, over the years Batey Libertad has benefitted from community development projects that have provided colorful cement homes, latrines, better roads, community centers, potable water, and scholarships for education. Service-learning programs have provided mutual benefit for both groups visiting the batey, as well as for the community.

Batey Libertad is unique in many ways, making it an ideal destination for travelers who wish to experience a different side of the Dominican Republic. The community has been overwhelmingly receptive to visitors. Families welcome visitors into homes, share meals and stories, and build friendships across cultural lines. Over the years, leaders have developed within the community, helping to facilitate the logistics of trips and homestays, and working to maintain a safe and welcoming environment within the batey.

Yspaniola is a non-profit that seeks to provide enriching service-learning experiences for individuals who wish to visit the bateys. Yspaniola initially developed from a service-learning trip led by undergraduate students from Yale to Batey Libertad in 2005. The students were inspired by their experiences in the batey and wanted to continue a productive partnership with the community. By collaborating directly with community leaders and residents, we ensure that projects are valued and needed within the batey, and that they can be sustained after groups leave the community.

InteRDom Blog Has a New Look

Over the past couple of years, InteRDom Internships in the Dominican Republic has grown, expanded and changed much like the world that we live in. The simple “student experience” format of the former blog no longer reflected the multiple facets of the program. More than just a simple internship and academic study program, InteRDom now has a number of projects and collaborations promoting international intellectual exchange and the economic development of a spectrum of sectors in the Dominican Republic. A couple of these programs are:

Internship Supervisor Certification Seminar— An innovative training program designed to capacitate directors and employees of Dominican and international organizations interested in implementing new internship programs or in improving existing ones in their respective companies or institutions. Its content is developed by InteRDom staff members and consultants, and the program is given approximately three times a year in the Dominican Republic. This program ensures a successful internship experience for both interns and organizations.

Fellows Program—Inaugurated in 2010, the Fellows Program seeks to develop a community of scholars that contributes to the Foundation’s growing body of research on matters of international concern that directly impact the Dominican Republic. In the Fellows Program, Master’s and PhD candidates travel to the Dominican Republic through InteRDom to conduct high-level research on issues at the forefront of the United Nations agenda in order to give voice to national and regional concerns and to offer viable solutions to domestic and international challenges. Fellows that carry-out exemplary work have the opportunity to present their findings before the United Nations community on behalf of GFDD.

“Expert in the Spanish Caribbean” and other short programs—In an effort to respond to the specific needs of universities, to encourage graduate and undergraduate students to deepen their learning and research on Caribbean issues and to aid teachers and professors in the internationalization of their curriculum, InteRDom has begun to develop short programs to respond to specific proposals presented by universities and centers. The programs run from 1 – 4 weeks based around specific subjects and themes. Some topics explored in 2011 include: the Dominican Carnaval, political science, service-learning, Colonial Latin America and its effects on modern Dominican identity and Spanish language immersion. The concept of Expert in the Spanish Caribbean is the result of the desire of the program to specialize its program offering and to generate a culture of exchange. The short programs complement the vision of InteRDom’s parent institutions Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundacion Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) to generate innovative programming and conversation around issues relevant to the region.

InteRDom wants the new look and content of the InteRDom blog to reflect these themes, as well as other topics related to our work, such as international education, global business practices, career development strategies, Dominican and Caribbean issues and cross-cultural awareness. The contributors to this blog are not only InteRDom staff members, but friends of the program, collaborators, program alumni, current students and experts and professionals in a number of fields. It is our hope that the things posted here will inspire lively debate and increased interest in intellectual exchange and the development of Hispaniola.

InteRDom is receiving thoughtful proposals from contributors who would like to share their stories, experiences and information about these and other topics. If you would like to contribute, please send a draft to students@interdominternships.org.

"Get Together" with InteRDom!

There’s never a dull moment on the InteRDom program! Aside from the 4 cultural trips around the Dominican Republic, InteRDom organizes a series of informal “get-togethers” to give students the opportunity to catch up with one another, share ideas about their internships and classes and get to know different places in Santo Domingo.

In the Summer of 2009, the interns have had the opportunity to go on a number of sponsored get-togethers, including a pizza night, a 4th of July party, a meeting with the Director of FUNGLODE and a tour of the National Congress building.

At the pizza night, the interns were joined by Dominican journalism interns from Listin Diario’s “Journalist for a Year” program, giving them the opportunity to share experiences about university life and internships with one another. The Listin Diario interns also proved to be a wealth of support and knowledge for the InteRDom interns working on research and study projects. All of this against the backdrop of a truly Dominican pizzeria, and the night was made!

The 4th of July party was another spectacular evening! The interns were invited to the house of the United States Ambassador in the Dominican Republic for their annual Independence Day Celebration. The extravagant poolside celebration, featuring lavish buffet tables under 3 large tents, was an excellent networking opportunity for the students, who had the opportunity to meet both American and Dominican officials such as Max Puig, Dominican Secretary of Labor; Miguel Vargas Maldonado, President of the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano; and Roland W. Bullen, Minister-Counselor of the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, as well as various journalism and television personalities.

In addition to these social activities, InteRDom students were also invited to a meeting to meet the new Executive Director of Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), Marcos Herrera, and to tour the National Congress building by Senator Dominguez Brito of Santiago. Both events were excellent networking opportunities, as well as a chance for the students to ask questions and get a more behind-the-scenes look at how government and politics function in the Dominican Republic.

All of this and the summer isn’t over yet! There’s even more in store for the Summer of 2009…Stay tuned!

TOP Summer Internships!

InteRDom partners with over 300 companies and organizations in the Dominican Republic to bring students a wide variety of projects and opportunities to match each student’s study area, skills and talents! As the needs and interests of companies, organizations and communities are constantly changing with the times, so are their internships! Here is just a sampling of 3 of the TOP internships of the Summer 2009:

The first is in one of the region’s foremost NGOs: the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF). PADF is an international NGO that does work in disadvantaged communities all throughout Latin America and the Caribbean; specifically in the Dominican Republic, the Fwontyè Nou—Nuestra Frontera (Our Border) program implements projects intending to create economic opportunities and mitigate conflict along the poverty-ridden Dominican Republic-Haitian border region. This summer’s intern will be developing a business plan to unify the farming organizations along the border in order to help them work together to give their products a more competitive edge on the world market.

The second TOP internship is in another important NGO, but this one is in a local grassroots organization called Sur Futuro. Sur Futuro is an organization focused on bringing about social and economic transformation in the Southern region of the country using business development plans that focus on local capacity-building, protection of the environment and sustainable use of natural resources. Sur Futuro uses interns to help develop any and all of their projects, and this summer one student will be the Business Development and Fundraising Assistant for the new Sabana Yegua Upper Watershed Management Project. This project aims to restore and protect the natural resources of the river basins of the Sabana Yegua region. The InteRDom intern assigned to this project will create a business proposal for local entrepreneurs that promotes the sustainable management and development of the land. He will also assist in developing a fund-raising plan to support all of the organization’s environmental compensation projects.

Lastly, this summer one intern will be working in conjunction with Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (InteRDom’s sponsoring institution) and the Ministry of Labor of the Dominican Republic to research and develop a proposal for legislation that will regulate and promote internships in the country. This is very important work as the current laws of the Dominican Republic do not include internships at all, but their insertion into regular Dominican business practices would help alleviate many problems currently on the rise in the business sector, including the lack of preparedness of college graduates to enter the workplace. The work of this intern will be included in the final proposal that will go before Congress petitioning for an addition to the labor laws and regulations of the Dominican Republic.

As you can see, InteRDom interns in the Dominican Republic have exciting work opportunities that make an impact on both smaller communities and the nation as a whole. This is just a sampling of the wide variety of opportunities that students from all field of study have to put their skills into practice and aid in the development of a nation. That’s why InteRDom interns are the cream of the crop!

A Day In the Life of an InteRDom Intern

In the United States, it is not uncommon for University life to become dull and routine… but your experience abroad should be anything but dull! While InteRDom values a strong work ethic, the InteRDom experience is a delicate balance of work and fun, and InteRDom interns in the Dominican Republic have the chance to live both sides of Dominican culture in a vibrant, dynamic setting.

A typical week for an intern on the program consists of three parts: internship, classes and social activities.

Students generally work at their internship site from 18 to 20 hours a week, depending on what his or her contract specifies. The schedule also varies: some interns go to work in the morning, others in the afternoon. Some internships related to development, agriculture, Dominican-Haitian relations and others include a travel itinerary, which allows the students to become involved in other communities. Any additional trips are carefully planned so as not to affect the student’s academic performance.

Speaking of academics, depending on what the student has chosen for an academic program, most students take between 4-8 hours of class per week. If the student in enrolled in our Caribbean Culture course, class time includes field trips and cultural outings around the city. If the student in enrolled in courses with other Dominican students, the class itself will be an immersion experience, as you learn how a Dominican classroom functions and how students are expected to behave.

The InteRDom HOT Summer Seminars are an added bonus to everyone’s academic program! These seminars give students the opportunity to debate current “hot” topics with community leaders and experts in the field, not to mention other Dominican, Haitian and international students. The topics this summer are hotter than ever! As the Dominican Republic was recently added to the World Bank’s top 10 list of Latin American economies, we will be giving a seminar entitled “Doing Business in Latin America” in conjunction with the World Bank. Our other seminar, “Civil Rights in Latin America,” will focus on the steps taken in recent years (both legislative and independent) to improve the situation of human and civil rights of all Dominican (and non-Dominican) citizens.

At InteRDom we understand that All Work + No Play = No Fun, and we want you to enjoy your experience abroad! For this reason, we have organized an exhilarating agenda of cultural excursions that will allow you to travel all over the landscape of the country. Our “plus one” policy is a measure that we take to encourage you to invite a friend from school or from your internship—and all his/her expenses are paid! You will learn much more about Dominican culture if you experience it with actual Dominicans!

In addition to these trips, we plan a fun activity for one night each week to give all of the InteRDom students a chance to get together, catch-up, talk about their experiences… and to have a little fun!

Getting Ready for Summer 2009

The InteRDom team is getting excited for what promises to be an exhilarating Summer 2009 session! We have brand new internship offerings, as well as a fun agenda of excursions and cultural outings planned; the students are the only missing ingredient!

This year InteRDom interns have been accepted at more than 40 Dominican organizations, which represent professions that run the gamut from art to technology and serve the private and public sectors, as well as NGOs. These are top organizations in the Dominican Republic, and they are getting prepared for your arrival!

In addition to the internships and the cultural and academic agendas, InteRDom is thrilled to announce its 2009 HOT Summer Seminar Series. This series is a feature of its summer academic offering, and deals with recent topics of great importance on both the Caribbean and international scales. The seminars are given in conjunction with another organization that is expert on the topic, and students from local universities, businesses and non-profits are invited to attend. These seminars give students the opportunity to debate current “hot” topics with other students, community leaders and experts in the field.

In the summer of 2009, InteRDom students will be able to participate in two very important seminars that represent different aspects of current Dominican social and economic development. The first seminar, “Doing Business in Latin America,” will be given in conjunction with the World Bank, and is a result of the Dominican Republic’s recent addition to the World Bank’s list of the top 10 economies in Latin America. The second seminar, “Civil Rights in the Dominican Republic,” will be given with Fundación Institucionalidad y Justicia (FINJUS) y la Escuela Nacional de la Judicatura (ENJ), and will focus on recent documented research and reports of civil rights legislation and experience in Dominican communities.

We invite all accepted students to be writing in the blog right away! Tell us your impressions of the application process, and what your expectations are for the summer!

InteRDom is HOT!

More than just classes and internships, the InteRDom program is about learning about the culture, history and geography of the Dominican Republic while having FUN! The Summer 2008 program was chock-full of activities to teach students about this one-of-a-kind country from many different perspectives. For example, one of the first excursions of the summer was a trip to the northern part of the island to visit museums in Salcedo and Santiago. InteRDom’s tour guide, Tirso Cabral, took advantage of the three-hour bus ride to the interior to teach the group about the Dominican landscape and the history of the people, particularly of General Trujillo and the Mirabal sisters. As we passed through La Vega, he taught us about the Dominican agricultural economy, and pointed-out all of the different crops that grow in the richest farmlands in the country. When we finally arrived at the Mirabal Sisters Museum in Salcedo, the only remaining Mirabal sister and the caretaker of the museum, Dona Dedé, was awaiting the group. She encouraged us to tour the museum first, and then return to speak to her so that she could answer any questions that we had concerning the museum and the lives of the sisters. The museum and its artifacts were fascinating, as were the beautiful gardens that surrounded the house and the graves of the sisters. Dona Dedé spoke to the group for over 30 minutes about her sisters, their experiences, and how their lives differed from how they are depicted in the book In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez.

However, not all of our excursions include museums! We also took a relaxing overnight trip to the beautiful beaches of the Samaná Peninsula, as well as a day trip to the popular Saona Island. Our weekend excursions covered almost the entire geography of the island, in order for students to fully experience the country’s diverse culture and topography.

Even during weekdays, we organized activities so that the students could come together and share stories about classes, internships and daily life. This year the students met almost every Thursday, bringing friends that they had made at the University and at work to have a good time and to get to know the rest of the group. Among the activities that we planned within the city were: a trip to the theater to see a play, a movie and pizza night, a trip to the movies, countless dinners and a group excursion to see a comedian at UNIBE.

The Summer 2008 InteRDom program was full of fun and interesting activities, and the students learned a lot about the Dominican Republic while forming close bonds with one another. InteRDom is looking forward many more successful programs in the future!