Daiki "Taji" Tajima

Location / Country: Kigali, Rwanda
Organization: Africa Entrepreneurship Collective

SONG: "This summer, I did my summer internship at African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC). AEC is an American NGO which supports entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Tanzania. AEC was founded by Ms. Julienne Oyler (CEO, Yale MBA) and Ms. Sara Leedom (COO, Oxford MBA) in 2012. Under AEC’s umbrella, there are three organizations; Inkomoko, the affiliate for providing business consulting in Rwanda, AEC Rwanda Trustee, which provides low-cost loans to entrepreneurs by collaboration with KIVA, and Anza, the affiliate for providing business consulting in Tanzania. Strictly speaking, I did my summer internship at Inkomoko among these three organizations.”

“Supporting entrepreneurs in Rwanda has three different stages. For the first stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs provide workshops for training basic business skills such as setting vision, mission and goals, building effective team, and basic accounting. During the first stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs also conducts initial meetings with the clients. For the second stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs analyze the business of entrepreneurs in terms of sales and marketing, operation, people, finance and accounting. During the second stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs also deliver the business assessment reports with recommendations to the clients. For the third stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs set the priority of the consulting service based on the feedbacks from the clients. During the third stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs also provide actual consulting services such as developing market strategies, making financial projections in order to get external funding from banks, providing advanced accounting workshops, etc. As a summer internship member, I mainly involved in the second stage, i.e. delivering the business assessment reports. “

Responsibilities & Accomplishments

“I was in charge of supporting four Rwandan entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs are chosen by Bank of Kigali’s entrepreneurship support project. Under this project, the eight winners among fifty entrepreneurs will be provided the interest-free loans by Bank of Kigali.”

“Although there are many challenges for entrepreneurs in Africa, international organization, governments, and private companies are cooperating each other to unlock the great potential of entrepreneurs in Africa in order to create more jobs and achieve sustainable development of the continent.”

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Conclusion

“My summer internship at African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) / Inkomoko was an amazing experience for me. I learned a lot from the NGO and people in Rwanda but at the same time I tried to do my best for contributing through supporting clients of AEC through business assessment reports, providing internal training about Japanese economic growth and developing networks with IFC and JICA. I would like to contribute more to the beautiful country, Rwanda, as wells as the amazing African continent after graduating from Fletcher.”

Miran Song

Location / Country: Mbale District, Uganda
Organization: Discipling for Development (D4D)

SONG: "As a Blakeley fellow this past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Mbale District in Uganda as a research intern with Discipling for Development (D4D), a department of The Navigators, an internationally recognized NGO. D4D is a community-based development organization focusing on empowering people in rural villages with sustainable knowledge and skills. Their mission is to help community people grow in their ability to solve their own problems in various aspects of their lives. As a catalyst for development, they assist the community people in identifying the resources they don’t realize that they have and building on those resources for improving their lives. Their approach is unique and sustainable in that it helps people stand on their own feet by taking ownership of the resources, knowledge, and skills that they identify themselves.”

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Internship Goals

“My main goal that I wanted to achieve during my internship was to experience first-hand how sustainable development is being lived out in rural Uganda and to help the D4D team document impact through my research. Other goals included:

• To learn about Ugandan and East African culture

• To actively engage in the communities with development perspective

• To observe how D4D transforms communities

• To document the impact of the D4D projects with a focus on how women in the communities have been empowered by D4D

• To hone facilitation/leadership skills ”

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Responsibilities & Accomplishments

“For the first half of my internship with D4D, I was given the chance to give workshops on the phases of a D4D program to the staff and visitors. The five phases of a D4D program (preparation phase, exploration phase, mobilization phase, empowerment phase, and reproduction phase) have been the foundation for the work of D4D community development. Learning about the phases and teaching on them myself was a good learning opportunity to get a better understanding of the organizational vision and values and enhance my facilitation/leadership skills. I also could learn more deeply about the work of D4D through attending community workshops, trainings, and project follow-up meetings in the villages.

For the second half of my internship, as a research intern, my main task was to do an impact study/research on how poverty has been alleviated and lives have improved in the communities that D4D has been working with. The research was conducted mainly through formal and informal individual interviews and group discussions over the period of one month. Through my research, I was able to get a vivid picture of how the people in the rural villages have been transformed and impacted holistically by D4D over the past three decades. My research focused on areas of environment, agriculture, and health, with a focus on women’s empowerment. “

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Conclusion

“Overall, my internship with D4D was a very rewarding and enriching experience that changed my view of development. Professionally, my experience working with Ugandan locals for 10 weeks dramatically changed my narrow, pre-conceived notion of what development truly means to local beneficiaries, thus helping me refine my definition of development. And through my encounters and interviews with local people in Mbale, I made the conclusion that health issues in Uganda and other Sub-Saharan African countries are what I want to devote my future career to and where my passion lies. Personally, I feel privileged to have been able to develop meaningful relationships with the staff and local people in the villages. I still have much more to learn, but I am sincerely thankful that I got a glimpse into what it means to put myself in those people’s shoes that I am trying to help. I am beyond grateful to the Blakeley Foundation for this incredible, life- changing opportunity that I had this past summer!”

Angga Martha

Country: Indonesia
Organization: Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI)

ANGGA: The Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) is an institution that serves as the center for national development strategy analysis in Indonesia. It involves creating innovations and strategic initiatives that will help accelerate the implementation and achievement of the 2030 Global Goals on Sustainable Development (SDGs) as a whole and specifically the implementation of development interventions in the area of health and youth engagement. As part of CISDI’s mandate, they facilitate and drive cross-sector collaboration between public, private and civil society organizations integral to achieve development goals that are widespread, equal, and sustainable.

My role for this internship includes the following aspects:

1. To assist CISDI in facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships on SDGs, specifically non- state actors, such as youth groups, the private sector, and philanthropy organizations in the SDGs implementation.

2. To assist strategy development on SDG implementation into the local development plan with a concentration on public-private partnership and youth engagement

I got an opportunity to visit and work together with a team of Pencerah Nusantara in Pototano, West Nusa Tenggara and to see their direct contribution to the local community in this area. It is evident to me that youth participation is a pre-condition for sustainable development and the youth need to be co-owners of the future. Inclusive participation will not see youth as an object or target, but more in developing a mutual partnership with young people as a subject and partner to development.

Private sector and philanthropy organization has crucial role in shaping development, especially in this rapidly evolving global environment where information is open and free for everyone.

SDGs can act as guiding principles for the work of private sector philanthropy organization, and provide a platform for the private sector to implement long-term goals and partnerships that will make a significant contribution towards achieving sustainable development for all.

Anjali Shrikhande

Country: Uganda
Organization: Yunus Social Business

Anjali Shrikhande worked as a Social Business Consultant for Yunus Social Business in their Kampala, Uganda office. Her main goal for the internship was to gain a better understanding of market-based approaches to development, specifically the social business model, and to investigate how the model works on the ground in a developing country.

Anjali: “I was able to form contacts through YSB and independently that will also be valuable in trying to find jobs in this field. I found the entrepreneurs that I met and worked with to be truly inspiring and passionate about creating change in their own communities.”

Julia Leis

Country: Burkina Faso
Organization: Millennium Challenge Corporation

Julia Leis was selected to work on the Diversified Agriculture Activity, a $30 million project of the $490 million Millennium Challenge Compact with Burkina Faso, designed to increase rural incomes and employment and to enhance the competitiveness of the rural economies in the Sourou Valley and the Comoe Basin. She completed an extensive value chain analysis of the project’s deliverables, synthesizing different activities along the supply chain within certain sectors, providing insight on the multitude of interventions taking place in the regions over the past few years.

Julia: “Working with MCC and Burkinabé colleagues was an incredible experience. I gained an understanding of the complexity of contract management and program implementation in the field. While I have studied international development during my undergraduate years and now graduate school, it was incredibly valuable to see how complex projects are managed and implemented on the ground, and learn about the importance of partnerships with local communities. I now feel more prepared and committed to pursuing a career in development in West Africa and I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity.”