Johanne (on the right) and Kristell (on the left) have spent the last two months doing their internship with Kijani, in the Geita region in Tanzania. They are both enrolled in Public Administration (BA), where the fourth semester focuses on international relations in practice.
“Getting the chance to work hands-on has been incredibly exciting. Our education puts a great emphasis on mediation, cooperation, and on finding new solutions for different issues. In this sense, the application of theory to practice has provided us with new knowledge and expertise”.
Excel sheets and soil under the nails
Since this is the first time that Kijani and DIB hosted interns in Tanzania, the focus was placed on establishing a good structure as well as to identify those areas where Kijani can develop as an organization. This has been carried out for example through establishing more clear structures in relation to research for fundings, development of project proposals, evaluations and Excel skills.
“Among the practical work in the office, we have taken part in interviews, joined the Kitchen Garden project, which Kijani is about to establish, and visited the greenhouses that are part of the Nanenane project”.
As the Nanenane project, of which DIB has been part of with funds from CISU, ends in April, the focus has been on the evaluation of the project. The goal of the project was to increase the knowledge of young farmers on Climate-Smart Agriculture in the Geita region, and through that building greenhouses. The cultivation of vegetables in simple greenhouses provides farmers with the opportunity of more stable crops cultivation and decreases the risks related to droughts and floods. The project is concluded with an investigation on whether the new knowledge has been established and whether the farmers put that into practice.
Moreover, much attention was given to foster a positive learning environment, where Kijani has worked together with Kristell and Johanne so that the solutions for the different projects came out from shared decision-making.
A cross-cultural meeting place
Johanne and Kristell have lived in Buhalahala, a small farmland village 12 km out of Geita town. This has raised the curiosity among the locals on how the two Danish students ended up in their village.
“We talked daily with our neighbors and the locals on the reason why we are in Tanzania, and our work with Kijani. Our language skills were also tested, since english is not the most used language in that context. Therefore, we have learned the basics of swahili and Scuma, the local dialect, in order to communicate. Notwithstanding the language barriers, we were met with open arms by the residents of Buhalahala, which we now consider our home in Tanzania.”
The internship ends at the end of March, when an exam awaits them home in Denmark.
Read more on DIB’s work in Tanzania here: https://www.dib.dk/projekter/tanzania/
