@Rhoda Nakhosi Nakosi Thank you for framing this so clearly. Asking ourselves what value we actively bring before expecting a seat at the table is the exact accountability we need.To your point about KM and employment policies—these are crucial structural questions.…

This framing is powerful @Shamim Kowa Talla. Internships as engines of continuity and impact, not just individual career launchpads.You\'ve named the two sides of this equation perfectly:For the intern: It\'s about moving from \"stepping stone\" to \"foundation\" building skills, networks…

Well said @Bivon Momanyi, this captures exactly what we\'re aiming for. Internships shouldn\'t be a one way street where we take experience and leave; they should be a cycle where we leave behind knowledge, ideas and contributions that outlast us.The question…

Exactly @Nonvicks Ochieng, co-authorship protocols are the missing link between \"support staff\" and \"intellectual partner.\"The challenge is enforcement. Without a formal policy, co-authorship depends on individual supervisors\' goodwill, which isn\'t sustainable.What if we proposed a standard intern contribution tracker, a simple document…

@Joseph Kwendo Charo Thank you for pushing this discussion deeper. Before we suggest solutions, we need to honestly answer two foundational questions:1. Do we have the right platform or ground to document and harvest institutional knowledge? How does the Knowledge…

Thank you for sharing this @Desmond Angira Angira. This is really proof that internships become foundational when supervision is intentional and boundaries are flexible.Your growth happened because: (1) your supervisor recognised your talent and created space to explore(2) you had the curiosity…

@Rhoda Nakhosi  This is a nice discussion. For point number one, i support the documentation of our insights and skills as interns. So the questions here are, do we have the right platform or ground to support this? How does the…

I really value this insight. I am adopting this strategies and also learn beyond my job description. Thank you so much @Desmond Angira 

What made my internship experience stick was the opportunity to go beyond the boundaries of my job description.Coming from an IT background and working within the Capacity Strengthening team, I was fortunate to have a supervisor @Benard Ondiek  who allowed me…

Youth unemployment is rising, and internships are often the first bridge into the labour market. But internships shouldn’t just be stepping stones; they should be foundations. At APHRC, we can shift from ‘arrive, learn, leave’ to building legacies: documenting skills…

Great perspective! I believe internships should be about more than gaining experience, they should also leave behind knowledge, ideas, and contributions that future cohorts can build on. Let\'s collaborate, document what we learn, and create impact that goes beyond our…

I absolutely love this paradigm shift. It connects deeply to how we approach capacity building in general: valuing actual contributions over formal titles. To your third point about recognizing intellectual input, the key is institutionalizing co-creation from day one. Interns…

Great perspective! I believe internships should be about more than gaining experience, they should also leave behind knowledge, ideas, and contributions that future cohorts can build on. Let\'s collaborate, document what we learn, and create impact that goes beyond our…

Internships shouldn\'t just be a stepping stone, they should be a foundation.

Let\'s shift from \"arrive, learn, leave\" to building lasting impact that outlasts our contracts. Three questions to start:

1. What skills or insights should we pass to the next cohort? How do we document them so knowledge doesn\'t walk out the door?

2. What collaborative projects can we start now across cohorts, disciplines and countries that we can continue after we leave? Think joint papers, policy briefs, or mentorship chains.

3. How do we ensure interns\' contributions are recognised as genuine intellectual input, not just \"support\" and carry that into our next steps?

Former interns: what made your experience stick? What do you wish you had built while here?

Let\'s build something that grows with us.

#Cohort2Cohort #BeyondTheInternship #APHRCInterns

While Mendeley and Zotero are essential for organizing citations, the real capacity-strengthening question is whether we\'re also teaching early career African researchers how to critically engage with the literature they cite not just format it correctly. Tools are only as…