Peter Mayeso Jiyajiya - SGSAH Research

HEI: University of Glasgow, School of Critical Studies

Host organisation: Scotland Malawi Partnership and the Botanic Gardens University of Dundee

Duration of the internship: 3 months Full time.

Why did you decide to undertake an internship?

My internship was hosted by two institutions: The Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP) and the University of Dundee Botanic Gardens (UDBG). The reason for undertaking the internship at these two institutions was that the institutions have different mandates insofar as project management is concerned. SMP is a coordinating institution and therefore does not directly implement projects. However, they hold a very significant and crucial position in ensuring that their membership is building partnerships that respects the communities that they work with. University of Dundee Botanic Gardens is involved in implementation of different projects, and it was necessary to learn from them on how they build their engagement practices with the communities.

What was your internship and what did you do?

The internship at the UDBG was aimed at exploring how the BGUD operates in the context of botanic gardens as living laboratories. The BGUD takes a different approach to botanic garden, that is, from a traditional approach to more human-nature approach. It provided me an opportunity to learn and experience nature-based landscape designs and the intersection of the 6intrinsic value of people-nature design approach and citizen science. Being both a research and conservation institution, I had the privilege of attending research seminars on sustainable nature-based solutions and also practical meetings aimed at implementation of projects. I attend various seminars including Education for Sustainable Development: Teaching for Sustainability across Disciplines.

The internship has been a success because from my perspective, I have learnt quite a lot from the experiences that I have had. I have also shared with other stakeholders my experience working with communities in order to build sustainable futures. Some of the outcomes include the Community Engagement Handbook. This toolkit outlines the best practices that NGOs and individuals wishing to work on projects in Malawi would make reference to. The idea was to help stakeholders build genuine beneficial partnerships with the communities they are working with as per aspirations of SMP. This is a product of input from multiple stakeholders and my observations from working with the communities. My work at UDBG helped to provide insights into how to work towards sustainable futures from the perspective of Africa. Through this, it was recommended that I should work with the RBGE to 9review their horticulture curriculum that will be used to train horticulturists through the UDBG, RBGE and NHBGM MOU.

What aspects of the internship did you find most rewarding?

The internship has been very beneficial to me and to the institutions in various ways. For example, working on the toolkit has been a great experience, learning from both practitioners and researchers. I am confident, thus, that the Toolkit stands to benefit not only SMP members but also other institutions that work in Malawi and other countries as the proposed approaches are scalable and transferable. In this case, its significance transcends time as it will be applicable in times to come. I intend to continue working on the Toolkit as I consider it a living document because people evolve, so is their practices.

In addition, the internship opened so many doors for me as I have been able to interact and network with many stakeholders within the field of international development. Not to mention the invaluable experiences that I got from the SMP team led by Mr Stuart Brown, as well as from the University of Dundee Botanic Gardens team led by Mr Kevin Frediani. Going forward, I aspire to continue engaging with different stakeholder to cement the work that we have started so as to achieve sustainable development.

What are some of the skills you have picked up or improved through the internship?

Since my professional life has been in academia, it was necessary to have this internship to learn and improve on some skills. These skills include: Project management; Community engagement; Development of toolkits; and Network building.

Has the internship influenced your future plans at all?

The internship has opened great networking opportunities. I have learnt a lot from different experts and institutions as they have also learnt from me. Through the meetings that I had with different institutions, I have been asked by the officials from the International Climate Change in the Directorate of Energy and Climate Change, Scottish Government to present to their team the Toolkit that I have been developing so that they learn and appreciate how community engagement in the context of Africa, particularly Malawi would be enhanced.

Do you have any tips for researchers looking to do an internship?

I would encourage them to first identify their areas of professional need. Internship is there to help us give us the skills in those areas of need. Thereafter, they can apply to those internships that are announced on SGSAH webpage, or they can design their own just as I did. This second option is better in my opinion because it addresses the exact gap that you have identified.