Co-authored by Elizabeth Babalola, African Leadership University (ALU)

“With minimal resources and the need to grow, interns can play a critical role in an organization. Gugulethu [an intern from ALU] came in at a time when we had a communications gap and no resources to hire someone. She successfully helped UCRT to finish and design our annual report and review our website.” 

-Paine Makko, Executive Director of UCRT

June to August is the common ‘internship’ season, where students are on break from their classes and are seeking out opportunities for hands-on learning experiences.

Internships are important opportunities for both the individual intern looking to learn and grow as well as for what are often under-resourced and over-stretched organizations in need of extra hands and minds. Yet internships require time and intention, and so organizations can sometimes shy away from offering them. But when done right, internships can be real win-win opportunities where both the intern and the host organization benefit.

We reached out to ​​Elizabeth Babalola, Director of Operations at African Leadership University’s School of Wildlife Conservation, to get her advice on how to get the most out of internships. Here’s what she had to say:

Why are internships important?

For the intern 

Experiential learning opportunities like internships are crucial. Research tells us that 70% of our learning happens through challenging experiences and assignments. This is why one of the three pillars in ALU's strategy for education is learning by doing. Internships provide a platform for students to test their dedication and passions in the real world while contributing to an organizational vision that is bigger than themselves.

For the host organization

Organizations benefit in three ways. First, they benefit from having the fresh perspective that bright young students bring to organizational issues and processes. Secondly, many organizations have important projects that get pushed to the back burner in favor of other more pressing tasks. Internships can be a way to leverage youthful energy for such projects. Lastly, some organizations have shared with ALU that interns actually encourage full-time staff to push themselves and be exemplary models to the interns - an unintended but beneficial consequence.

Advice for interns to get the most out of their internship

Have a learning mindset:

Go to work every day with a mindset of humility, respect, and continuous learning. Every day at work is an opportunity to learn from experts in the field by observing and asking questions.

Know your offer:

Make an effort to define and present to the organization the skills and knowledge you would like to absorb from your internship. Refine them through conversations with your supervisors and colleagues and regularly track your progress.

Be professional: 

Communicate effectively and efficiently, be on time and be prepared for all meetings/engagements/deadlines, and ask for regular feedback on your performance. For virtual working environments, aim to create a work-life balance; maintain a rhythm, be available online when you are supposed to be, but also be flexible enough to work with different time zones.

Manage expectations: 

If you don’t understand what is expected of you in terms of different tasks/overall, ask questions and ensure that there is clarity on both sides.

Advice for organizations to get the most out of an internship

Have a clear plan:

Work with your interns to define a clear Terms of Reference (TOR) for them so that expectations are clear from the start. Along with the ToR, ask the intern to develop an aligned workplan, with a breakdown of tasks, timings, deliverables, etc.

Assign a point person:

Assign a clear point person for the interns and give him/her the support and time necessary to provide guidance to the intern. It is really helpful to set up regular calls and meetings with a clear agenda to make the most of the time.

Make it efficient:

Consider setting up a shared google drive with relevant documents as this can promote more efficient collaboration between the organization and the intern.

Look for growth opportunities:

Beyond their assignments, look for other opportunities where they can learn and gain experience. Consider inviting them to your team meetings or any work-related events, ask them to develop a presentation about their internship to share with the team, or give them drafts of documents to review and provide feedback on.

Give feedback:

Conduct regular reviews of TORs and deliverables to ensure you're on track to succeed. Providing constructive feedback to interns encourages them to learn and grow. Ask the interns for feedback as well as their new, fresh perspective can provide invaluable feedback to organizations.

Be patient:

Exercise patience in the pursuit of excellence with the interns. They may be young but they can add value with a careful balance of guidance and discipline.

You can kick start the process of hiring ALU student interns here by contacting jobs@theroom.com and also share any available opportunities here.

Maliasili partners with ALU’s School of Wildlife Conservation to run an internship program for our partners. We help find and place interns with our partners and support both the organization and the intern throughout the internship. Learn more about what we do by contacting Richard Ndiga: rndiga@maliasili.org 

Read the full newsletter here: Maliasili Reader Issue 29

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