Interning with UNICEF in Burundi gave opportunity to young people to develop their skills
In order to contribute to capacity-building by providing a professional environment and mentoring, and generate interest in UNICEF's work, the organization has implemented an internship Program
- English
- Français
This program aims to give young Burundians the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the professional world within an international organization, to strengthen their capacities.
Interning at UNICEF has been an incredibly rich and exciting experience. My work consisted in proposing, implementing new functionalities of the Kiramama application but also push & track administration. I also supported in identifying innovation opportunities in the office and system administration computer used by the office. Apart from IT-related activities, I also participated in consultancies with children for the development of the CPD (2024-2027). Through this internship, I learned to handle complex challenges that seemed impossible to solve, new ways of working in a team and had the chance to work with a brilliant one, thanks to the working spirit I found in ICT team, I learned to step out of my comfort zone to solve these problems and gain experience along the way. I am very excited to finish this internship as it has increased my skills.
The best part about interning at UNICEF has been working as a part of the Adolescent Empowerment and Community Resilience team. Learning from them was a better and great opportunity for me as I was able to develop other skills in communication, teamwork, organizational, ability and knowledge of some UNICEF tools. I was involved in the participation and engagement of adolescents through partnerships, online and face-to-face consultations, conducted with adolescents and young people in order to achieve programmatic results. Being able to contribute to ensuring that the voices and capacities of adolescents are incorporated into all facets of the Adolescent Empowerment and Community Resilience work has been exceptionally rewarding. My internship has given me the passion and skills to continue this work in the next phase of my career
My time interning with UNICEF was unforgettable. I was part of the multidimensional child poverty analysis: MODA and in the construction of the budgetary bases. I learned to be at the service of each Burundian child with statistics, to act well you must first plan and for that you must be aware of the real situation. I feel proud to have worked with UNICEF for the well-being of Burundian children. I now have more confidence in the skills acquired and strengthened with UNICEF. The multicultural environment has allowed me to be more flexible and to learn as much as possible socially. My stay here has given me a sense of direction in my professional development, I have faith that the future is more than achievable.
Working with UNICEF has been a tremendously rich experience and a unique opportunity to work with skilled professionals for the better life of children in Burundi. While I feel that I was involved in a lot of different projects, I would say that my main contributions involved supporting partnership management activities, contributing to advancing innovation, providing a space for children to express their preferences during consultations, and developing knowledge management material.
What I learned here, especially working in a very cross-sectorial team, is to think outside of the box, be flexible, quick, and creative. I loved the fact that my team supported me but also let me take initiatives. After this experience I am confident about the future because, what UNICEF does, is to get you out of your comfort zone and that’s why I believe I am well equipped for whatever will come next.
My experience as an intern has helped me immensely with my personal and professional development. Everyone works hard, and have great sense of purpose. It was awesome to be able to gain a further understanding about UNICEF work in Burundi. I had the privilege to contribute to the collection and dissemination of results of UNICEF program activities through writing articles, press releases, human interest stories, social media animation for donor reporting and other advocacy/communication materials. During my internship, I really feel like I learned a lot, I learnt to have reasonable expectations of what I can accomplish in a day, and also learned to be flexible and adaptable. I was part of an amazing team and had direct contact with a brilliant and supportive supervisor. It is with a sense of gratitude and satisfaction that my internship comes to an end, grateful to UNICEF for this program and satisfied with the experience acquired.
According to the recruited interns, this program was an opportunity for them to discover the professional world, to understand how a company really works, to understand its codes, to learn how to integrate into a team, to develop their interpersonal skills, etc.
With that, the interns thank UNICEF Burundi for the opportunity. According to them, their internship at the service of every child of Burundi was very interesting. The activities in which they took part allowed them to discover concretely its functioning.
