On a morning walk in Ghana, Ahlam Yassien and Tsinat Semagn make small talk with a stranger. They don’t know it yet, but she’s exactly the person they’ve been looking for.  

Yassien and Semagn are research interns with the International Youth Internship Program (IYIP), a partnership between McMaster University and Empowerment Squared (E2) in collaboration with Schools of Dreams.  

They’re in Ghana from January to April, gaining international experience and volunteering for community-based research activities under the leadership of researchers from E2. 

The research project in Ghana aims to create better educational environments and facilities for women and girls in rural areas.  

 A few weeks into the project, Yassien and Semagn have been looking for an opportunity to speak with local students and teachers.  

The stranger is friendly, as have been all the people they’ve encountered on their daily walks. They chat for a while before it comes up that she’s a teacher.  

What follows is pure serendipity: She invites them to her school, shows them around and introduces them to the head teacher, who they end up interviewing that day.  

“We’re awfully amazed at how far just opening ourselves up to meeting new people and accepting an opportunity took us,” said Semagn.  

Another new experience was the chance for Semagn to speak on a panel discussion, hosted by the High Commission of Canada, to celebrate International Development Week. The interns got to travel to Accra, sharing the experiences they’ve had so far and learning from others working with Canadian organizations in Ghana. 

Students gain professional experience abroad

Yassien and Semagn are McMaster graduates and part of the first cohort of IYIP participants. There are nine interns in total, including five McMaster students and alumni: Oluwafolakemi (Vanessa) Olayiwola, another Mac grad, is with them in Ghana.   

Joseanne Antonio De Almeida and Merin Nicholas, both current McMaster students, are in Liberia, working on a research project aimed at empowering grassroots organizations to combat substance abuse, drug addiction, and mental health challenges.  

Four students from other institutions are also part of the first cohort: Fatoumata Binta Balde, Jolen Kayseas, Zoey Zaatreh, and G reatness Saywon, who are graduates from Université de Montréal, Toronto Metropolitan University, University of Toronto, and Drake Medox College (respectively).  

IYIP is part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment and Skills Strategy. This program gives Canadian youth aged 18 to 30, particularly those facing employment barriers, the opportunity to acquire professional experience abroad in international development, as well as skills for future employment or studies.  

IYIP covers all program-related expenses, such as airfare, transportation costs, visa and passport fees, health insurance, pre-departure and post-internship training, as well as the cost of living on-site.  

By 2029, IYIP aims to deploy over 900 interns to more than 40 developing countries. 

Applicants can apply through a number of organizations, including through the partnership between McMaster and Empowerment Squared and funded by Global Affairs Canada. The program will ultimately place about 100 individuals in six cohorts of culturally immersive, structured, four-month internships in Liberia and Ghana.  

Research with underrepresented communities 

IYIP appealed to Olayiwola because of the opportunity to immerse herself in the culture, learn about the people, and bring her research to the area.  

“One thing I’m super passionate about is research within Black communities and even within Africa specifically,” Olayiwola said.  

“Being a Nigerian, I feel very closely connected to my culture.”   

Olayiwola, who recently graduated from McMaster with an Honours degree in Life Sciences and a minor in Psychology, plans to go to graduate school and focus on studying mental health in communities in the diaspora. 

IYIP allows her to practise her research skills, and aligns with her goals of working internationally and continuing to do research with underrepresented communities.   

Everything the interns have experienced during their placement, in terms of integrating and being able to connect with the community, makes their research even more fruitful, Olayiwola said.  

Learning more about a different culture also helps inform her on how to integrate cultural perspectives into her work, especially since she wants to work in psychology, Olayiwola said.  

“In general within health care, there’s almost like a bias of usually Western practices being inputted into healthcare, and it’s not usually very applicable to all people,” Olayiwola said.  

“Culture is so integral to an individual and the things they do, they way that they think.”  

This internship “reinforces that it’s important for me to keep that in mind when I go into my own practice as a psychologist in the future, and as a researcher, to keep in mind the experience of people and trying not to add my own biases…. it’s been really good to be able to see how cultures coincide within those fields.”  

Applications for the second cohort of the International Youth Internship Program open on March 31, 2025.