So I’m a little over a month into my internship at UNESCO IICBA and my stay in Addis Ababa. I can’t believe I’m a third done! This past month has just flown by.

I’m all settled and generally killin it. I’ve figured out public transport, made a couple of friends, and have a few Amharic phrases under my belt. If you need to know any numbers (no double digits) or some greetings in Amharic, I’m your girl.

I’ve gotten into a groove at work as well. Everyone in my office has been incredibly nice and welcoming and I’ve gotten to work on some pretty cool stuff the last couple of weeks.

There are two other interns here at IICBA with me. When we started, work was divided among us based on previous work experience and interests. I got assigned to help one of the project supervisors on some literacy initiatives which I’ve really enjoyed doing.

If you’re familiar with IICBA, then you know they publish various teacher guides. The  guides cover an array of topics from ICT to school safety to resilience building which are distributed to teachers and teacher colleges in Africa. So right now I’m working on IICBA’s new teacher guide on early grade reading instruction.

Right now it’s just in the beginning stages, so lots of research! I also wrote a concept note for the project and just finished an outline for the guide today. The plan is to work on this guide with some literacy experts from the University of Addis Ababa so meeting them with them is the next step.

Meeting people from different organizations and different sectors is probably my favorite thing about the internship. The IICBA staff is always really inclusive and bring the other interns and I along on meetings. It’s great to see what other people are doing in this sector and it’s a fantastic learning opportunity.

Aside from the teacher guide, I’m helping with an international literacy day event that UNESCO Ethiopia is holding in September. IICBA is just supporting the event, so my main responsibilities are making sure things are in order on our end: brainstorming IICBA’s involvement and organizing what the office will be presenting on.

Besides those two main tasks, I’m just helping out wherever they need me! It’s a hodgepodge of stuff including working on a database of teacher education institutions in Africa, contributing to the quarterly newsletter and helping with a teacher mobility project.

Outside of work, I’ve just been exploring the city on the weekends with the other new interns. We went out of the city last weekend to Lake Awassa which is south of Addis.  Here are a couple pictures from around Addis and Awassa!

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