World Vision Ghana adopts internship programme

In line with the organization’s drive to acquire more talent, one of the strategic initiatives that the People and Culture (P&C) department of World Vision in Ghana embarked on this year, was the implementation of an Internship programme. The objective of this exercise was to gain insights into any potential talent who could fit into the organisation for roles, and externally bring more visibility to the organization as a whole.

The programme, which was scheduled to run for 8 weeks commenced on June 10th, 2019 and ran untill the end of July 2019. There were seven interns (4 females and 3 males) who joined this programme from various institutions including, the University of Ghana, Valley View University and University of Professional studies. The criteria used in accepting them were: they were Christian, believed in our Core Values and their programs of study are in line with careers within the organisation.

The first week consisted of them learning about World Vision as an organisation, which equipped them with the knowledge as to what the organisation does and also to inform them in terms of their career paths which particular department where they would like to gain practical experience for the subsequent weeks.

The next five weeks were spent in the various departments, where they gained valuable practical work experience. The final week consisted of them returning to the People and Culture department where they participated in practical exercises that entailed practice interviews and C.V writing. The structure of the programme and its impact was such that it was of benefit to both the organisation and the interns.

For the organisation, the interns served as an extra pair of hands for the departments which needed the support. A few were also identified as potential staff who could fit into future roles within the organisation. The programme demonstrated the Act of Good Faith by the organization as we will be seen to be contributing to shaping the lives of the future generation by giving them first-hand working experience and aiding them to explore careers choices and propel them within their chosen careers.

The interns gained first-hand knowledge and better understanding about the work of World Vision in Ghana which would go a long way to refine their skills, build confidence, network with professionals in the field and give them an edge in the job market and also a good transition into the job market.

When asked how the program impacted one intern, she said:

“I am very much privileged to have had the opportunity to intern with the communications department. All my expectations which were to learn photography, story development and marketing the organisation through social media posts and website management were met. I was able to write some impact stories for child parliament, empowered world view, savings for transformation group and child protection. At the end of it all, I learned new skills which are photography, social media posts, and story development. My learning objectives where fulfilled” -Pearl, student at the University of Professional Studies 

In this light, they would serve as great ambassadors for the organization. Moving forward, there is the plan to have an MOU with certain institutions to be sending interns with specific areas of study that will feed into the skills and knowledge that we need for future roles in the organization.