Internship experiences with World Federation of Science Journalism (WFSJ)

First African Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation

April 25, 2012

By Violet Mengo,

Zambia

Violet, 2012

People speak highly about their internship but it was never the case with me because I have never gone through one. The opportunity only fell through recently under the peer-to-peer mentoring programme. The destination was Kenya, at the Hotel, SIX EIGHTY (680) to cover the first African forum on Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) on youth empowerment, Human Capital Development and Inclusive Growth.

Later that night, we had a meeting with the mentor on how we would proceed for the week. It was a busy programme ahead, which I digested with passion. Our mentor emphasized the use of social media, twitter and Facebook to be precise. In the morning, we were set for the meeting which was attended by a cross section of delegates, mostly ministers of S, T&I from the African Continent.

For the first time, I used the social media tools; twitter, face book on the proceedings of the conference. I was excited and these helped me to concentrate unlike previous meetings where during the proceedings I would start dozing.

Violet and Vivian

From the conference, it was amazing to see the zeal of African leaders to move the science, technology and innovation in the African agenda. The three days attendance at the conference was busy, motivating and also interactive. Busy in the sense that in I was required to present at least an article to my mentor who kept advising on how to do good stories and interview from sources.

Motivating because of the involvement of people at the conference and how they were willing and dedicated to their calls for science and development in Africa. Interactive because it helped broaden my network and meet new people and make friends.

Esther Nakkazi with mentees, 2012, Kenya

After the conference, we also had the opportunity to visit Science Development Network offices where the African Editor took us through how the online publication was managed.

He said told us the traits of a good journalist like some of the qualities found on the online course I did in the first phase of the SJCOOP programme. As always, I was motivated but still complained that each time I pitch an idea to scidev.net, it is short down but will try again and again.

Save the best for last; the trip to ICRAF was amazing and full of intelligent people who know their subject well. In all these activities the mentor kept encouraging us to have an eye for news.

a night to remeber in Nairobi, Kenya, 2012

I wanted the programme to continue and I asked Esther if she could ask WFSJ to extend the internship for another week. The programme WSFJ in general has been a transformation phase in my career development. It has also helped me increase my network and source base

Violet, 2012

 First Africa Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation held in Nairobi, Kenya 1st to 3rd April 2012 covered by World Federation of Science Journalists from Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia and Mozambique