IRIO Placement Report

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IRIO Placement Report

Name: Nina van Zyl Student Number: S3567680

Placement: African Foundation for Development Placement Coordinator: Mr B. Aardema

Duration: 1 October 2018 - 13 February 2019 Location: London

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My interest in International Political Economy crystallised in my final year of my BSc Economics & Politics. The inextricable relationship between economic and the political sphere provides fascinating linkages, linkages which I decided to pursue further in the International Political Economy track of the International Relations and International Organisation Masters. A more specialised interest of mine is the continent of Africa, being South African, I have always leaned toward how the Global North interacts with the continent in my academic studies. My two research essays for the first half of my masters delved into the continent, and my dissertation revolves around perceptions of South Africa. With all of this in mind, it was a simple decision to look for an internship in this field.

I am primarily based in London and felt it would be a perfect place to look for an internship. This unique moment in history, a time where the UK is looking to strengthen existing, and build new partnerships in Africa as they prepare to leave the EU. As the UK has special commonwealth links with many countries in Africa, it is a unique base to consider Western engagement with the continent.

After deciding on the sphere I was interested in, and after I was sure I wanted to be based in London, I commenced a search of charities and NGOs in the sector and reached out to them. Attaching my CV and detailing my interests, I found two suitable positions. One was at Alive and Kicking, a charity which made footballs locally in Kenya with health information printed on them, and another at AFFORD (African Foundation For Development). When weighing up the two options, I looked closely at their ethos and how they approached their work. In the end, I considered my motivations would more closely align with the work of AFFORD (more extensively outlined in the next chapter). Through comparing and contrasting the two organisations, it helped me to fully understand my own motivations and what kind of non-profit I would like to contribute to. While Alive and Kicking was in the right general field, it mainly worked with a narrow focus of a small amount of job creation (manufacturing a small number of footballs), and dissemination of health information. Although worthwhile work, I felt I might be frustrated with the narrow scope, and impact, of the work. AFFORD’s wider purview and concentration on the diaspora’s role in African development especially spoke to me on a personal level due to myself being part of the African Diaspora.

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African Foundation for Development (AFFORD)

This organisation was founded in 1994, with the idea to “expand and enhance the contributions Africans in the diaspora make to African development” (AFFORD 2019). With a recognition that the African diaspora had a vital role to play in the development of the continent, through political manoeuvres and influence, or through advantages gained through applying their knowledge and experiences back in their home country. They do this by focusing on four key areas, with this in mind, the organisation has several sub-teams that focus on these goals.

Enterprise & Employment (Grants- Stella, ABC- Elvina)

A series of grants are given to African diaspora entrepreneurs, who are looking to set up or grow an existing business which employs people on the continent. One of the identified great obstacles facing African development is a lack of decent jobs, and so this is a vital area to channel investment into.

Diaspora Remittances and Investments (Rwanda Bond Team- Kenny)

Remittances make up huge inflows into developing countries, like those in Africa, however, there is leakage of the value of these transfers to transfer companies through taxes. AFFORD has worked on several projects looking at increasing the efficacy of diaspora remittances. While I was working at AFFORD they were busy creating a very exciting development impact bond with the government of Rwanda. The £5-10M bond fund will be used towards building 2-4 bedroom units which will be offered as a priority to key government workers such as nurses and teachers. The far-reaching implications of this project would be felt through construction job creation, creating affordable modern housing for around 400 families, and providing an opportunity for the diaspora to engage with African development. AFFORD’s mission is to turn diaspora remittances and investments into a sustainable form of international development finance.

Diaspora Engagement and Capacity (Diaspora Experience Team- Jacqueline)

Creating an acknowledgement from diaspora individuals that they are a resource who can play an active role in development is a part of their work. Our diaspora experience manager had tasks like talking about our work at local council’s events with large diaspora communities, and while I was an intern, she was creating volunteering trips to learn a variety of skills on the continent such as a Swahili course in Tanzania.

Action-Research, Policy and Practice (APPG- Paul)

Being in conversation with key influencers and policymakers, and guiding the conversation about African development, is vital to this part of AFFORD’s mission. Prior to their

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founding, the role of diaspora was overlooked, and at best underestimated. Setting up APPGs (All-Party Parliamentary Groups), and creating campaigns to disseminate information are the core parts of this work.

My Role at AFFORD- Expectations

While being interviewed for the role, a preliminary chat was had about what my role might be. The organisation often takes on interns and are keen to work around what they would like to focus on. After this discussion, my coordinator Haja suggested I start on a campaign they were putting together for Global Entrepreneur Week, she explained there would be opportunities to move around and work on different projects over my time there. I was keen to move around and experience different sectors of the charity, as I have outlined, they have a variety of projects being worked on at any one time, while also being a small and intimate team of around 15, this creates a flat structure which means an easy transition from project to project is achievable.

I expected to largely do admin style work, as this is what I imagined interns to do, and I also expected that I would be taking orders and have little input into the outcome. Although the office seemed friendly and informal I was under the impression that the small staff size would lead to me receiving masses of grunt work to compensate.

I had been seriously considering the non-profit sector as a destination for me to go into work once I had graduated when I sought this internship out, and an objective of working at AFFORD was to feel out the industry and get a clearer picture of whether I could work in such an environment. I had done an internship in Finance several years previously and found it hugely beneficial in ruling out the field. I had however identified from this that I might be interested in project-based work and that I did not appreciate big office dynamics.

My initial impressions of the organisation at interview were positive, they have offices in a cultural centre in central London, and everyone seemed friendly and grateful for the help of an intern, something which I hoped would translate into being respected as a member of the team.

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My role at AFFORD began as an assistant to the Comms team, as they were working on a campaign for Global Entrepreneur Week (GEW). The campaign centred around highlighting the work of African Diaspora in creating jobs and industry on the continent. Identifying the entrepreneurs that would showcase the role of diaspora as a form of Development Finance was initially contracted out, and a shortlist chosen, however, Haja was unhappy with the list as there was only one woman on a list of ten. I was given the task of finding and researching ten women that could be included in the campaign. This involved an academic researching of African diaspora entrepreneurs with special consideration given to those who had created many decent jobs, as this is one of the central tenets of AFFORD’s work.

Things became difficult with my role when my manager (Haja) became ill about four weeks into my internship. Her assistant Yasmin took over the managing of me, and so my role began to shift with this. With Haja away, the bigger campaign got downgraded to an internet campaign, with social media being the vehicle through which to share the GEW African Diaspora Entrepreneurs, where it was originally intended to be an event. I helped write social media posts, identified and contacted influencers on Twitter and Instagram to ask them to share our posts, and helped at a Facebook live roundtable we hosted in the offices. Finding and contacting publications and journalists was part of my role. After GEW, I compiled a report of social media analytics. With Yasmin managing me I did a lot of work on their social media, using software to line up posts and create content, as well as identifying other social media accounts relevant to our work to follow, and create an excel file of which accounts were relevant to different aspects of AFFORD’S work. An important part of my work at this juncture was researching past projects done by AFFORD and writing summaries for the website. I was able to gain insight into what the organisation had done in the past through this, and also researched the current projects being done, as I could more fully understand the inner workings of the company. Throughout my time at AFFORD I was looking for opportunities for African Diaspora to publicise through our newsletter, or write ad hoc pieces for our online presence, for example writing an obituary for an ex-Board member, Efua Taylor. Managing Yasmin’s intense workload due to illnesses, was difficult and could have been better managed.

My role evolved and changed again when Yasmin also began an extended absence. Becoming more ad-hoc I would work on one project for a few weeks and then move on. Although unsettled, it suited me as I could work on several different projects. In this time I helped Diaspora Experience with creating social media posts, using imagery and text, to publicise their upcoming trips and initiatives. Creating a leaflet to send to schools and

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educational organisations to further highlight upcoming opportunities was part of this. I enjoyed this task as it was weekly and gave some structure to my placement, as well as giving me a chance to use my artistic side. I studied art to a high level at school and always volunteer for tasks that allow me to use these skills in some small way.

My favourite project that I was a part of, was the preparation of the Minister for Africa visit, in which Harriet Baldwin, the UK minister for Africa came to AFFORD offices to attend a roundtable chaired by AFFORD, and discuss how the Africa-UK relationship might look in the face of Brexit and the Africa-UK summit in 2019. In the lead up to this, I compiled a contact sheet for all involved, which had bios of those attending, a plan for the day and an outline of the discussion. On the day of the meeting, I helped greet the minister and the other guests, set up the room with refreshments and was able to sit in on the meeting and take notes. This was a fascinating experience. I was initially confused as I could see a huge amount of discussion by all involved, but almost they said their own pitches for the organisations they represented, but important issues were raised and discussed. I had considered it unsuccessful due to a lack of outcomes, until I discussed it afterwards with the team, where they explained it was successful since there were lots of discussions and key people stated their work and they said the outcome is more likely about being thought of in the future when they need an expert on diaspora engagement, especially in light of the upcoming Africa-UK 2019 Summit. There was some networking after as well for the people we convened.

Second to the Ministerial visit, my most interesting task was working on an APPG note. These meetings are where members of the UK parliament from any party meet to discuss specific issues. Prior to one of these meetings, Paul asked me to collate and edit the briefing note for the meeting, which would be on visas for African Nationals. It centred around the bias against African Nationals getting UK visas, and how it hampered the willingness for African academics etc. to come to academic conferences in the UK. I was given about twenty documents from organisations which had been affected and academics who had been affected and had to write a policy briefing note. This work was reminiscent of my work at university, reading large amounts of text and summarising in a readable manner. However, this was even more interesting as it dealt with real-world problems and experiences and was going to be used in a genuine meeting with UK Ministers.

One of the last events I was involved in was an event where a titan of business, Mossadeck Bally came in to speak to the members of the ABC (AFFORD Business Club). The event was also streamed on Facebook for members who couldn’t attend the meeting. While I

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helped set up the room and ensure the technical aspects were working, I sat in on the event and took notes to later write up to be circulated on our website. While the talk was geared towards entrepreneurs thinking about investing on the continent, it was still fascinating for me, and he spoke a bit about how he considered the real world business realities difficult but not entirely prohibitive. Having first-hand experience on the matter, made it an invaluable experience for me to be a part of.

Relation to course

It was interesting to discuss politics with my colleague Paul who worked on the APPG team, as he had huge amounts of experience working in conjunction with UK parliament, and was willing to explain and discuss issues such as Brexit with me. He is a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and I felt he provided almost a bridge from university to work. I found him approachable and encouraging, as he seemed to really value my input. Having these debates in the workplace helped to place our work in a wider context. Asking longer questions about the impact of things such as the APPG meeting was also hugely beneficial to me understanding how the non-profit sector operated. Paul’s area of expertise centred around francophone Africa and this was fascinating in exploring how the UK interacted with countries with a different colonial past to sub-Saharan Africa, (my area of particular interest), in an academic way, but then bringing it back to the work we were doing.

How the global North interacts with the global South, is my area of interest and has been a focus in my studies since entering university, this was always academic, and so turning to a more practical mindset, debating what work in development and what doesn’t in practice, was finally like applying what I had learnt to the real world. The emphasis on minimising relative poverty rather than absolute poverty was something I have been drawn to as it is about investing in long term growth and giving Africa its independence back or giving it the means to minimise poverty in a sustainable way.

The emphasis on diaspora Africans was something that I found fascinating, as I am South African by birth, but have lived in Europe for 17 years now. Considering my own role in African development was invaluable, and especially the highlighting of remittances as a form of development finance is something I can take back to my own studies as I finish up my thesis. The interdisciplinary nature of the course has lead to a questioning academic mind, and to look for linkages in academia, and now it was applying this to real world work in the nonprofit sector.

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Supervision & Working Attitude

There were several negative aspects to my internship, in relation to supervision. While the organisation was practised at having interns, I had a smooth intake, with a clear and informative HR meeting to discuss the building and other arrangements, such as a lunch allowance, problems arose with staff absences.

Haja was my initial contact at the company, and who took me on to be her intern. She was very helpful, and clearly used to having interns on her team. My biggest issue at first was chronic underestimating how long tasks would take me, but I would often finish tasks in half the allotted time, and then have to interrupt their work for more work. This was inefficient and I did not like constantly having to ask for new work, as it felt disruptive to others in the office, but since many of the tasks were ad hoc, it was impossible at some stages to take initiative and get on with work without guidance. If I felt that the comms team had overestimated how long a task would take and they were hard at work, or commonly at long meetings, I would take on small peripheral tasks from other people in the office. By about week three I had been given a task with a very loose endpoint (making a list of twitter handles useful to our work), and I would work on this when I had finished one task and felt unable to start another due to a lack of supervision. Another mechanism I used to overcome this was to give my own estimation on how long something would take so that my team would be better prepared for when I was looking for new work. The best thing for this, however, was at some points I would be given a list of tasks to get through in my own time, and this would cover me for the week. I preferred this as it suited the style of the office and I felt more able to manage my time. Being given ad hoc tasks, while it kept my time in the office interesting, made it difficult to properly

Something that I definitely improved at over my time, was asking enough initial questions when being given work to do. I was shy at first to ask, for example, how the work should be laid out, as it seems quite straightforward, but I learnt that Haja preferred me to work on excel even for word processing tasks. After a few tasks that I had to make revisions to, I found my voice to really understand the tasks given to me during the instructions.

These issues were things that by my second week I had highlighted as areas I needed to try and fix, and could largely correct or minimise the issues from these. My next issue was Haja’s extended illness. This was difficult in several ways. No one properly clued me into what was happening, when I asked where she was they would say she was ill, and so I would get work from her assistant, however, she was actually taking an extended leave of absence due to a surgery. After three weeks of her absence, her assistant also began to be absent, for roughly

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four weeks. During this time I didn’t know what the arrangements were about me, and I had no communications from themselves to let me know each day that they wouldn’t be in or what I should focus my attention on. They would also get into work two hours later than me often when they did come in, and this led me to struggle to fill my time until I could see whether they would be in that day or not. If I had been better informed during all of this I could have sat on another team, as there were definitely other tasks in different departments I could have been doing, had I known I would be unsupervised for a week. I would, of course, ask around and get work for the day from different departments, but for example, I could have just sat on a different team for a month and returned when they were back from their absences. They did eventually come back, but they both put their notice to resign about two weeks after that and again I felt a bit neglected by them. By this time it was easier as I had made strong relationships with others in the office and I was able to fill my time effectively. It was more frustrating at the lack of communication and the fact that every day I would have to use my initiative to find myself some work. Although it meant my time was varied and I was able to get an excellent working knowledge of the work there.

Weekly one-hour staff meetings helped me to understand how other projects were progressing and made it easier to be helpful to everyone on the team, in these meeting I would be caught up on what they had done since I had last worked with them and allowed me to work more seamlessly.

My contribution

During my time at AFFORD, I worked two days a week at another job doing sales and social media/ social media content. The two were surprisingly symbiotic, and I found each complemented the other. In both, I had an active role in social media, and by doing it in the other role it helped me to bring fresh insights, for example after a social media campaign at AFFORD I suggested collating the analytics on all of our platforms and analysing how our followers engage with us.

I helped on several vital projects, including doing new research into key African diaspora entrepreneurs who would be highlighted in GEW and collating important research documents of UK visas into a Policy Brief for UK ministers. With both of these tasks and more, I could demonstrate my own interest, as well as my own independence.

Being flexible and having a clear overview of the organisation was helpful in me fully aiding AFFORD, with flexibility came an ability to change projects as and when I was needed. I

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also think that due to being largely unsupervised I had to develop strong time management and organisational skills to deliver on promises to several different projects simultaneously.

Living in London

My undergraduate degree had been done in London, and I stayed with my parents for the duration of my placement. This was in order to take an unpaid internship like this one, while expenses were paid I was given no salary, this is quite common in the non-profit sector and I thought it would be worth it in order to see whether I would like to pursue a career in this once I had graduated. In order to support myself, I worked a second job where I predominantly worked on sales.

What does this mean for my career?

Before starting my internship I was quite keen on the idea of non-profit work. I considered the work to be valuable and meaningful, and while I still think this I have developed doubts as to whether the working environment suited me personally. Initially I liked the idea of mainly project and ad hoc work, however over the course of the placement I struggled with the unsettled nature, however, I do accept that a large part of this was out of anyone’s hands. Further, I found it disheartening that without fail, the time it would take me to do my tasks was overestimated, there were definitely times where I felt unstimulated and underworked. I would have rather been over rather than underworked. Since discussing the sector with my friends from my undergraduate degree who have gone into the working world, I have become suspicious it is a non-profit sector issue. Although under the right supervision in AFFORD I think my experience would have been rather different. I think the fact I was an intern helped to worsen this, and I was overlooked at a time when there were obviously big structural changes happening within the company.

I have not totally ruled out the sector, as I had fascinating tasks amongst my larger complaints, and I enjoyed the motivation of feeling useful and like my work and time were making a difference.

Conclusion

My daily tasks were varied, although centred largely around content creation for our social media. Throughout my time I had several bigger projects which served to keep my tasks interesting and varied. Bigger projects like the briefing note were the most relevant to my

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studies, and something I found the most fascinating, in understanding how these documents are prepared and where it goes on to advise MPs. I met many interesting people during my time there and made friends who I still keep in contact, these people helped me when I was unsure of what to do next when I was under supervised.

Feeling ineffective or underutilised was my biggest problem, but this would come and go, and after I became more assertive in offering my time to those in need, this became less and less important. It was frustrating, as I felt capable and at the beginning of my time I was unsure of how to deal with the situation, but after speaking to other members of staff I began to be more assertive and at my mid-term review, I further clarified that being assertive was the answer.

I felt that I was considered a full member of the team. I was always included in any team events, even though I was only part-time, and people were warm and friendly. I was invited to events where they didn't need me, but thought might be interesting, so would include me. This atmosphere assuaged most of my complaints, and I had a good time being part of the team.

My expectations were wrong in how I would be treated, and also incorrect on my workload. Although it varied during my time, everyone was sensitive to how much work they were giving me, when in reality I could have handled more. Even when I asked for more, and after some weeks where it must have been evident that I was a fast worker, I still had to seek out work when I had finished. Prior to starting the placement, I thought that I would have more supervision than I had, the organisation seemed practised in taking on interns and I thought this would translate into having strong guidlines of what my work would exactly be. The lack of daily routine tasks helped to give the placement the unsettled nature, but in the end, I think this suited me and I learned more due to the task based work.

Due to a lack of supervision, I did have problems, and the difficult part of this was its temporary nature, if I or the other staff members had known how long it would go on for, I think better changes could have been made to compensate for this. It also made the placement more flexible in that, I was able to choose where I would like to work and with who. It made me be more assertive and clear in what I needed to do work and contribute meaningfully to the company.

Overall, I enjoyed the placement, and aside from some teething problems, I found it invaluable in helping me gain experience in a sector I had no prior knowledge of, this knowledge will directly influence my job search in the future. Another vital impact, is how it has helped me prepare for the realities of working life, the office dynamic, and what you actually do day-to-day in an office.

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Bibliography

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IRIO Placement Report

IRIO Placement Report

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