Republic of Tunisia

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Carthage
Higher Institute of Languages of Tunis
English Department

Internship Report at Maghreb Economic Forum

A Report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
Applied Licence in English for Communication

Submitted by: Mohamed Fathalli

Under the supervision of:
Academic Supervisor: Mr Naceur Ben Mesbeh (ISLT)
Internship Supervisor: Ines Amri (MEF)

2016/2017
 Acknowledgments

At the beginning, I would like to thank everyone who gave me the chance to
conduct this work under the best conditions at Maghreb Economic Forum.

I would like to express my feeling of gratitude to Ms Ines Amri, my supervisor

at MEF for her support, patient and conductive advice throughout my internship.

I would also like to thank Mr Naceur Ben Mesbeh who has been such an
incredible mentor. Without his guidance, instructions and explanations I would have
never succeeded to finish this work.

I am grateful to all of my ISLT teachers for their advice and effort, they are the
reason why I made it here.

Finally, I am indebted to my family, friends and relatives for their non-stop

support, and all of the Maghreb Economic Forum team for their incredible welcome.
 Dedication

My work is dedicated to my mother, Samia Chkili, who has always been on my

side supporting me through everything as well as my father, Wahid Fathalli, who has
always been supportive and helpful.

This work is also dedicated to my sister, Nayrouz Fathalli, who has always
supported and encouraged me even though she’s living abroad.

To Molka Chkili, my one year old niece, who has been the reason behind the joy
and happiness of our whole family since her birth and departure of her brother
Mehdi, may his soul rest in peace.

Thank you everyone for your support, love and kindness, I will always be grateful
for you all.
 Executive Summary

This report is based on a two-month internship at the Maghreb Economic

Forum. It presents the different tasks I had to perform during that period of time.
Tasks such as fundraising, E-mails drafting and preparing minutes of meetings.

This account includes the lessons I learned during this internship and also my
academic and professional development.

This report contains three main parts: The first part is the introduction and
presentation of MEF, The second one contains the tasks and duties I had to perform
during this internship and the last part has MEF’s evaluation and its impact on my
academic and professional development and a quick overview on the subjects and
courses that helped me through this internship.

As a conclusion, this experience has had a positive impact on my communication

skills and also on my professional abilities.
 Table of contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….……………… 1
Chapter I: Organization Profile
1 Background…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
2 Vision…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
3 Mission…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4
4 Values…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
5 Strategic Direction for MEF…………………………………………………………………………….. 5
6 Organizational Chart……………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Chapter II: Tasks and Duties
1 Grants mapping/Searching………………………………………………………………………………8
2 Grants Application………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
4 Meeting Minutes Preparation………………………..……………………………………………… 10
5 Archive and Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………. 11
Chapter III: Evaluation and Recommendation
1 Evaluation of the organization………………………………………………………..……………… 14
2 Internship Evaluation…………………………………………………………………………………... 15
2.1 Academic Development…………………………..……………………………………………….…. 15
2.2 Personal Development ………………………………………………………………………….…… 16
2.3 Professional Development…………………………………………………………….….. 16
3 Focus Issue………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 19
Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 20
 Introduction

As a third year Communication Student, an internship is the best chance for me

to finally apply what I have been learning these past three years of my life.

This report contains my “journey” and what I have gained throughout my

internship at the Maghreb Economic Forum which started on March 14th, 2017 and
ended on May 9th, 2017.

Before joining MEF I had the opportunity to work with a travel agency, but I
decided to have my internship at the Maghreb Economic Forum for two reasons:
First, I was convinced that having my internship at a travel agency was not going to
be as fruitful as at MEF. Second, Marouen Mjid, a friend of mine who had an
internship as a web designer there, recommended me to have a shot with MEF as it
was his best experience so far.

Since my first day, Ines Amri, my supervisor at MEF, relied on me to map the
ecosystem and search for grants as fundraising is an essential process to every NGO.
As days passed by, I was assigned more tasks, such as attending important meetings,
preparing their minutes and sharing them with the whole team. The most important
assignment I was asked to perform was applying for grants in the name of this
organization.

I learned a lot through this experience and figured out that my three years as
communication English student at ISLT were indeed helpful and important.

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 Chapter I:
Organization Profile
1. Background:

The Maghreb Economic Forum (MEF), is a Think-and-Do-Tank, founded in 2011by

Mr Kamel Lazaar.

MEF pushes to support further Maghreb integration to have a more united region
and this process would unlock a whole new set of opportunities that includes
different sectors in Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia as well as
nurturing and inspiring a new generation of responsible leaders across the MENA
region.

MEF is a non-profit organization, registered in Tunis and Geneva.

Five years after the ‘Arab spring’, This region is still going through major challenges,
and the situation of youth and women is still going downhill with increased
unemployment, the ongoing war in Libya, and the challenge of Islamic extremism.

The regions’ current challenge is hence to fundamentally restructure its social

(including educational), economic, political, and cultural systems.

Civil society is fragile, but a loose network of CSOs exist which, with co-ordination
and support are able to rebuild society, and act as a model state for the region.

MEF exists to provide that leadership - on both theory and practice – and to help the
region fulfill its potential.

The board of MEF, have identified the below Vision, Mission, and Values.

2. Vision
-Countries led by strong and effective institutions in the state, the private sector, and
civil society.

-Accountable and transparent governments alongside active citizen’s participation.

-Inclusive, competitive, job-creating and growing economy.

3. Mission

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MEF’s mission is to convene, connect and catalyze leaders and institutions in the
Maghreb. We are governed by a Board of Directors, and we have a team composed of
10 to 15 staffers, working closely with experts from different backgrounds and
regions.

In 2017-2019, MEF will operate three core programmes, strategically selected to

achieve maximum impact in the Maghreb/MENA, and to support international
priorities.

In doing so, MEF uses the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United
Nations as a basis for its actions.

These three programs are:

• Education

• Employment

• Leadership

4. Values

MEF’s primary values are that we are:

• Independent

• Non-profit

• Non-partisan

5. Strategic Direction for The Maghreb Economic

Forum:

4
The below illustrates MEF’s three core programmes, and the relationship between the
‘think’ and ‘do’ arms of the organization.

The Employment programme is the most focused on traditional ‘think-tank’

activities – policy and advocacy.

The Education programme entails a mixture of policy formation and

Advocacy and education programme delivery.

Finally, the leadership programme is heavily oriented towards the ‘do’ tank, with
activities consisting largely of convening and catalyzing networks.

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6. Organizational chart:

6
 Chapter II:
Tasks and Duties
 As an Intern at the Maghreb Economic Forum, I had to perform multiple tasks
to help the different departments of this organization. My main tasks were
mapping /searching for funds, applying for grants, preparing minutes of meetings
and organizing the archive and bibliography.

1. Grants mapping/searching:
Think and do tanks are organizations that “think” of new projects and plans
concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy and economics, and also
“do” these plans and not sticking with the theoretical work. These organizations
depend on fund raising as an essential source to kick off the ideas and projects that
are planned. The day I joined MEF, two projects were already planned as well as
partnerships were already agreed on. The IDRC project (Radicalization,
deradicalization and youth exclusion) funded by the BMW Foundation, and the
gender project (3ichra) funded by Bosch Stiftung.

My first assignment at MEF was to do a research around international

foundations/organizations (The Obama Foundation, Open Society Foundation, The
European Commission, ECT...) and look for possibilities of collaboration or funding
so that future projects could be planned easily.

I was asked to look for specific information about these organizations, such as:
-There are two types of funds. Core funding that could be used to develop the
structure of the organization and to improve it. Second type is project funding which
is only available for use to develop projects and implement the ideas. I was asked to
see which kind of funds each and every organization offer.
-See if these organizations offer funds for research, policy or development project.
-Provide the deadline dates for grants proposal.
-MEF’s Scope of work is Education, Employment and Leadership, so I had to
highlight the foundations that share the same scope of work so It won’t be required to
have negotiations in case of a funding opportunity or partnership.
-MEF’s area of intervention is the Maghreb and MENA regions, so I had to see
whether these foundations/organizations share the same areas as MEF and highlight
the regions they tend to help more.

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-Search for contact information of the CEO, grant manager or communication
manager of each organization/foundation.
-Search for contact information in Tunisia if there is any.

 Tools :

To complete this search I had to use my laptop and Internet connection as I

had to search websites for the required information. After acquiring these
information I had to put and organize it in a Microsoft office excel sheet that is clear
and easy to understand. Please see (appendix I)

 Challenges :

Some of pieces of information are hard to get as some of the websites do not
provide enough contact information as well as grant dates and deadlines. Some other
websites are outdated or simply inaccessible.

2. Grants Application:
As mentioned before, fund raising is an important process for every non-profit
organization. After mapping and searching funders/donors the next step I had to take
was sending grants applications to every organization that is willing to donate. The
most important grant application that I submitted was for Erasmus+ (European
Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) which is the new
program that combines all the EU's current schemes for education, training, youth
and sport, it started in January 2014. I also submitted application to the development
department of the Australian Government as well as many other foreign foundations.

 Tools:

I managed to make this application eligible by going through some specific

steps. Creating an European Commission Account using my information was the first
step.hen register Maghreb Economic Forum in the site to acquire a PIC number that
is only related to MEF. The last step was accessing the Eform using the PIC number
and then submitting the proposal in the name of MEF. To submit for other grants

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offers I had to draft specific formats of emails that provide answers for every different
question asked by the funders. (See Appendix II)

 Challenges:

Applying in the name of the whole organization was a huge responsibility

because any minor mistake can make the grant proposal ineligible. Following each
and every different funder application criteria was also a huge challenge as the way to
submit proposals differs from a granter to another.

3. Minutes of Meetings Preparation:

One of my main tasks was preparing minutes of meetings (MOM).During my
first days at MEF, I started writing the staff meetings minutes and after a period of
time I had the opportunity to attend two important meetings. The first was with Ernst
and Young Company which is a multinational professional services firm
headquartered in London. The purpose of this meeting was to look for a partnership
possibility and also to see if the company’s CEO is interested to join MEF’s board of
trustees. The second meeting was with Bosch Foundation which is a partner of MEF
and also the financial supporter of MEF’s current gender project “3ichra”.This
meeting was an opportunity for Bosch representatives to see the progress that the
gender project witnessed. My job was to write down the important points of
discussion and main details of these meetings, debrief them and then share them
with the whole team.

 Tools:

I had to be fully concentrated when attending these meetings. I had to use

bloc note to mark down all key points. Then organize these ideas and translate them
to English and finally type them in a word document that will be shared later on with
the whole team to keep them updated. (See appendix III)

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  Challenges:

Taking down notes and not messing any important information requires a lot
of focus and concentration. The meetings’ attendance are also using all sort of
different languages (Arabic/English/French) and that makes it harder to track down
every new information, so I had to be well prepared to not miss any key point that has
been mentioned during these meetings.

5. Archive and Bibliography:

At the end of my Internship period I was asked to help to organize the archive
and the bibliography. Currently, the project of the research department is about
radicalization and de-radicalization so I was asked to look around for books and
documents related to the subject and add them to the department’s bibliography. I
also was asked to take all the business cards in MEF’s Department and organize them
in an Excel Sheet in their different categories.

 Tools:

After acquiring a list of books related to the upcoming project, I had to put this
list into an excel sheet and upload it to google drive and share it with the whole team.
The excel sheet had the books names, date of publication and the name of the person
that is currently borrowing the book. Organizing the business cards was nearly the
same, I had to take all of them and class them in an excel sheet and divide them by
categories (Diplomats/ NGOs/ Journalists, ECT…) and then share the file with the
whole team. (See AppendixIV)

11
  Challenges:

I was not familiar with the radicalization subject so it was hard to pick the right
books. I had to go to the book fair in March and vendors there helped me pick the
right set of books. Organizing the business cards didn’t require much effort it was
only tiring as I had to sit on my laptop for hours typing names and email from the
cards into the excel Sheet.

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 Chapter III:
Evaluation and
Recommendation
 1. Evaluation of the organization (SWOT analysis):

My personal evaluation of the Maghreb Economic Forum is an essential and

important part of this internship report. Attending the meetings where current issues
are discussed and observing the way the team members work gave me an internal
insight on the potential of this institute and made me acknowledge the areas that are
open for more improvement and change. In order to give MEF an objective and issue
based evaluation, I have chosen to use a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats)

Strengths: Weaknesses:

 Trainers, experts and researchers

from different countries from
around the world with a wide set
of skills and a high determination.
 Important and famous figures in
the board of trustees.
 Highly qualified team members.
 Important and strong partners
and the high flexibility in the
partnership.
 Team members work on more
than one project at the same time
due to staff shortage.
 Lack of think tanks in Tunisia to
cooperate with.
 Lack of political science Studies in
Tunisia therefore lack of political
researchers and experts.

Opportunities: Threats:

 The success of the last project  Human resources are more costly
developed by MEF “Jobs for than ever.
Tunisia” brings a whole new set of  Brain drain and the lack of local
opportunities. experts and researchers.
 Future projects that involve the  Not recruiting the right team
different regions of Tunisia are to members.
be implemented in different
domains and fields.
 “Oubour” Project that will afford
job opportunities for youth will be
executed in the near future.

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2. Internship Evaluation:

2.1 Academic development:

My two months internship at the Maghreb Economic Forum has been

extremely rewarding and helpful. It enabled me to enhance my skills and work on
developing my abilities while learning new capacities. To fulfill the tasks and
activities I have been asked to do, I had to implement numerous and different
subjects I had already studied in my three years as an applied English student at
ISLT.

As mentioned before in this internship report, I had to translate the meeting

minutes before sharing them with the team and thanks to my translation course at
my university (ISLT) I found it easy to translate the terms and technical phrases used
in the meetings whether they were in French or Arabic (terms like ‘amortisation’,
‘monnaie de réserve’,’capital du risque’…). Oral skills has also came in handy, as I had
to listen carefully to what is going on during meetings and take down notes. These
two courses have been essential in my internship and I figured out their importance
now that I had the opportunity to use them.

Drafting e-mails has been an important part of the tasks I have been asked to
perform. My ESP course at my university (ISLT) has helped me a lot to complete my
activities. I gained the basic skills to such task thanks to this course so it didn’t take
me any time to sit observe to learn. This course also taught me the right and
appropriate terms that must be used to reach out for team members or other
organizations staff.

After finishing my internship at MEF, I came to the realization that these

subjects were crucial for me. So what I do recommend is to give more attention to
these studies and try to enrich them more and to also to keep the IT class for the third
year students as it was truly helpful to me personally. I would also recommend more
courses related to communication, courses that would enforce students’ soft skills
and communication abilities.

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2.2 Personal development:

Working for MEF has enriched me in so many aspects and ways not only in
work related matters, but also in my social life. As a young intern having his first
professional experience, I found myself becoming more confident and more social,
more eager join in discussion and not hesitant to meet new people anymore. As a
matter of professional growth, I found myself working for important business people
(Kamel Lazaar is the founder of MEF / Dr. Amel Karboul is the Secretary General)
and also meeting other important national and international figures.

Having my Internship with MEF gave me the opportunity to meet foreign

business people especially from Germany, as the two biggest partners right now are
the BMW Foundation and The Bosch Stiftung. Germans are known to be strict and
not that flexible so any time I was asked to contact a German by my boss she insisted
that I always double check everything that I wrote.

Taking part of MEF’s team has been a real pleasure as the work approach is
thorough. I was asked to perform a lot of activities and always was invited to attend
meeting or projects kick off sessions even when I am not needed to do any work.
Another important point was that the work at MEF was separate but not
bureaucratic, which means that everyone could help each other. Everyone is helpful,
there were neither corridor talks nor gossips and the whole work atmosphere was
great.

This period of time I passed with MEF will be without doubt the perfect first
step into my professional career.

2.3 Professional Development:

I would have never asked for a better place to have my first internship other than
MEF. This period of time helped me develop my professional skills and was the right
step in the right direction to start my professional life. This internship was ideal for
me because I had the opportunity to use what I have learned in the last three years,
from Translation to Oral skills.

16
 I also learned how to be a team player and help around everyone and how to take
responsibility for something important.

What I would recommend for the Maghreb Economic forum is to try and
expand the team by recruiting more fellows and team members as there is a kind of a
staff shortage. I would also suggest that the administration of MEF to provide a
motivational prize on a monthly basis for the “employee of the month” depending on
the performances.

3. Focus Issue:
As mentioned before in the report, mapping the ecosystem, drafting emails,
preparing meeting minutes, preparing presentations and helping with the archive
were the main tasks I had to perform.

To begin, preparing the meeting minutes was maybe the most challenging task I
had to face. I had to be fully concentrated and ready to mark down every important
point mentioned. Sometimes French, English and Arabic are all used in the same
meeting therefore after debriefing the meeting I had to translate it all to English. To
do this the translation course I had in my university helped me a lot as a I found a lot
of familiar terms used and I didn’t face any trouble translating them whether they
were in English, French or Arabic.

Oral skills course also was very helpful as I learned how to concentrate while
someone is speaking and how to detect the most important information. During
meetings it was like a listening exam, I only had one shot to capture the important
details and take note of them and that was exactly the same as to what we used to do
during oral skills course.

Another course that helped me a lot during my internship is the ESP course.
Drafting emails was one of the main tasks that I had to perform. Thanks to this
course I had the basic skills to draft an email, skills such as knowing the right form of
an Email to make it eligible and also the correct terms to use when addressing to
team mates or other organization’s staff.

The full pack of Microsoft office 2007 was the main tool I had to use to complete
these tasks. When mapping the eco-system and searching for grants, I had to put all
the data in a Microsoft Office Excel sheet and using all of its features. I also had to use

17
Microsoft office Excel to organize the archive and the bibliography as I had to put
contacts/business cards/books information into an excel table and then share them
on google drive with the whole team. When drafting emails or preparing meeting
minutes I also had to use the Microsoft office Word 2007. I learned how to use this
software and especially the Microsoft office Excel thanks to the IT course I had during
my first and second year at ISLT.

18
 Conclusion

My internship at MEF was in my honest opinion the perfect way to start my

professional career as it was my first step in this field. It was such a fulfilling and
rewarding experience. I learned so much about non-governmental organizations and
think tanks, how they work and what they do when mapping the ecosystem.
I also gained a lot of knowledge while attending meetings, listened to
important points that revolves around the work of NGO’s and think tanks, also while
translating the meeting minutes I learned a lot of new terms and concepts and I feel
that my vocabulary has been enriched.
My time management and multitasking has been improved too as I have been
asked to perform two or three deferent tasks and deliver them on a specific deadline.
My communication skills have also developed as I knew and met new people
and I had to engage in conversation with them.
It was easy at times and hard at others as it sometimes time pressure and stress
could affect the whole team.
I hope that this internship is the first step in a process that would lead to a
clearer professional path.

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Appendices
Appendix I: A part of the grant mapping file.
Appendix II: A part of the email received after acquiring the PIC number.
Appendix III: Ernest and Young translated minutes of meeting.
Appendix IV: A part of the business cards Excel file.