#Internship experiences with for month two

The second month of the internship journey began with clearly streamlined objectives in mind and directions. My supervisor being one of the most competitive, dynamic, and trendsetter post-docs, he ensured I had work to deliver on all the time. Weekly check-ins were put forth to discuss project progress and tasks completed. I was involved in most work meetings the supervisor attended unless they were high-end meetings. This was a great learning platform where I got to pick a lot from the meeting discussions and contribute as well.

I attended a couple of brown bag and research presentations, which the supervisor highly encouraged.  I did lots of work on literature review, protocol development, proposal writing steps, and development of project activities to inform the budget. I did lots of networking through attending; the groundbreaking of ULWAZI II, a town hall event, attending APHRC trainings, and team building for our unit. I joined synergy groups where I got involved in contributing to the projects.

by the end of my second month, I had realized the career path I wanted to follow at APHRC. Becoming a seasoned writer who can develop concepts, and proposals and support other writing staff. I also developed a keen interest in qualitative analysis of thematic data.

Lessons learned

• It is quite important to align your objectives with the help of your supervisor
• The need to network across various themes becomes necessary, this reduces overreliance on your supervisor as they can also tap into your knowledge on various aspects.
• it is fundamental to join synergy groups, this might be a source of getting work to do if not allocated by the supervisor.
• do not over-seek advice from everyone, identify a few mentors to approach for guidance if need be.
• learning is a continuous process, keep applying for various opportunities sent to your work email be it jobs or training to attend.

The second month of my internship went so fast to the point that I din't realise the time it ended. The first phase of the month I had an opportunity through my supervisor to participate in data documentation training where we delved into the importance of maintaining accurate data records, overview of data governance and data anonymization, introduction to the APHRC Microdata portal- where the documented datasets are to be uploaded, hands-on Nesstar (data documentation software), data management using Stata and Research ethics. Key lessons I took from the training was the importance of data documentation, data governance and research ethics. This are very important concepts in data acquisition, security and maintaining data standards. Through consultations and help from the experts, I was able to tackle documentation challenges.

The second phase of the month I attended Impact Evaluation training held in Naivasha, this was a golden opportunity that exposed me to different analytical approaches and made a success to two of my internship objectives. The training equiped us with practicles skills on Impact Evaluation tools and hands-on experience as we were taken through Modelling and Analytical approaches, IE models and a guide on journal preparation requirements, hands-on Stata running the PSM and DID analysis. The main objective of the training was to learn and acquire practicles skills, develop research questions, come up or have a dataset that will be analyzed using IE tools and have a manuscript as the end product of the training. I experienced a lot od challenges in familiarizing with a paper, navigating through large & complex datasets and starting the analysis on the same day using newly learned techniques. I am still learning other IE tools and doing a recap of what I took in during the training.  The most valuable lesson I learned was the importance of collaborating with national and international experts, working closely with experienced experts, evaluation specialists and continous learning. As a young Statistician and Research Intern, this was the best experience since the entire period I gained practicles experience in data management, documentation, analysis usisng IE models and participation in writing analysis interpretations. These has largely contributed to my growth and learning.

My second month internship experience has been wonderful. I started with a clear goal of interacting with colleagues and building a strong network within APHRC. Through this, I was able to attend various trainings and also got opportunities to work with various projects. The second month has presented more challenges in terms of work load and assignments with completion time frame and this has helped learn vital skills in time management and planning.

It has also been great to interact more and learn from my supervisor on how to best handle the assigned tasks without exposing myself to unnecessary pressure. The experience has been great and many skills added to my knowledge basket.

Lessons learned

• Plan and strictly stick to the plan.
• Networking with my colleagues boosts my knowledge in various topics.
• Asking for guidance is the best practice in handling complex tasks
• Work smart.