Every year, Aga Khan University’s International Internship Programme gives students from around the world the chance to learn new skills and develop their leadership abilities while working at agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network around the world.
With the rise of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many mobility programmes have come to a standstill while others like AKU’s Internship Programme have pivoted by going completely virtual.
AKU’s Virtual Internship Programme (AKU-VIP) represents a new model of interning for students. Interns have been placed in research, communications, strategy, and resource development departments and are working on projects across areas including the health sciences, media and communications, education, hospital administration, climate change, partnerships, and fundraising.
As our interns adapt to this new model, so are our mentors! Providing one-on-one consultation whenever needed, mentors continue to help our students shape and guide their professional interests, understand and tackle real life issues and build their skillset as they get ready for this new world.
Razia Velji, senior adviser to the Office of the Chief Development Officer, is also a mentor in the Resource Development department. “It has been great to have an extra resource to inform our work particularly at a time of resource constraints,” Ms Velji said. “It is also wonderful to work with a new generation of students who are so enthusiastic and so hardworking, but also extremely skilled and savvy. I am looking forward to continued engagement with the interns and also watching them grow and develop their skills and passions.”
Ms Velji highlights the work of AKU-VIP interns Noah Pirani (Brown University) and Lina Maria Zuluaga (Simon Fraser University) who have both proven to be extremely dedicated, hardworking and passionate in their roles thus far.
Mentor Gitonga Mbijjewe, the director of strategic initiatives at the Aga Khan University’s Graduate School of Media & Communications, agrees it has been quite a stretch to maintain regular work schedules, focus, and provide sufficient guidance virtually. But mentors like Mbijjewe are actively trying to think of ways to make virtual guidance as meaningful as possible for interns.
Mentors try to have weekly follow-ups, regular staff meetings and virtual coffee chats to create a truly immersive environment for interns to feel comfortable and productive during their time with AKU and AKDN.
Mr Mbijjewe says: “Our intern Janette Lee, a student of Simon Fraser University, has been an invaluable asset to our operations, primarily enhancing the School’s (GSMC) communication channels. Her adaptability to the situation is highly commended especially considering the brutal shift in our work cycles. However, her skillset, maturity and knowledge of technology has made for a pleasant experience.”
Dr Evans Kituyi, director of the Aga Khan University’s East African Institute (AKU-EAI), and another one of our programme mentors, has been overseeing projects about interventions against household air pollution from fuel use. Dr Kituyi agrees that the VIP model has been interesting to adapt to, and significant progress has been made by his interns. His two student interns, Cecilia Mweka (Colorado College) and Obianuju Nwadike (University of Toronto), with Kituyi’s guidance, have been able to make an impact on imparting knowledge and skills around household energy and health challenges in LMICs, methodology for databases searches and data analysis, and webinar organisation and presentation.
In providing quality experiences and exposure through vast resources and networks, all of our programme mentors continue to pave new and creative paths for their interns. The unique virtual model established by AKU-VIP is allowing both mentors and interns to be innovative and productive.
Receiving over 300 applications, the AKU-VIP recruited 45 interns for placements in 2020, 30 interns worked on the first cycle between May and August and 15 are involved in the ongoing virtual cycle.
Applications for our fall cycle are currently open and can be submitted till September 11, 2020.