Empowering women is what led 21-year-old Caroline MacIsaac to intern through Cuso International at Women Across Differences in Guyana, an organization that advocates for and supports women and teenage mothers.

As an intern, the Nova Scotia resident and University of New Brunswick graduate works with Women Across Differences to build an advocacy strategy that will address young mothers accessing family planning. She also works with the group Young Mothers for Change with the goal to help reduce teenage pregnancy and lessen discrimination against young mothers. “The need in Guyana for improving access to education and quality health services for teen mothers is staggering,” Caroline said. "In development work, you always want to make sure that you build capacity so what you leave behind can be continued by local citizens."

Ensuring sustainability of the projects she is working on is one of Caroline’s key learnings. “Sometimes you think it would be quicker to do it by yourself, but in development work, you always want to make sure that you build capacity so what you  leave behind can be continued by local citizens.”

Caroline is in Guyana as an intern with the International Youth Internship Program, supported by Global Affairs Canada. “After graduation I started looking up opportunities to apply my skills in a real-life situation,” she said.

She feels confident that her internship will help her when applying for future jobs. “It’s taught me to be flexible, to work across cultures and to work with limited resources. I’ve looked at a lot of jobs, and they are not taking people coming straight out of university. They want people with experience. This internship has given me that.”