A few months ago, a friend shared the RLRH Graduate Traineeship opportunity with Amani. Before applying, Amani explored the RLRH website and was immediately struck by the organisation’s commitment to supporting the professional growth of people with displacement backgrounds. “A few organisations invest in long-term professional development beyond livelihoods,” she writes. “When I saw this, I knew this was a place where I needed to be.”
Now nine weeks into the programme and based at the RLRH Kampala hub, Amani describes the experience as one that is changing her perspective in significant ways. She has attended workshops on a range of topics including AI and plagiarism, writing essentials, professional communication basics, and basic presentation visuals. Each workshop is followed by take-home exercises, completed as a team and individually, that put learning into practice.
A particular highlight has been the one-to-one check-ins with a facilitator and personal mentor. “Being assigned a personal mentor has been a great experience,” Amani writes. “It reflects a strong sense of care and individual attention to each of us, and it quietly communicates: ‘We care about you. You are not alone. You can talk to me.'”
With guidance from her mentors, Amani has begun defining her professional development goals more clearly and has started writing a blog, which she hopes to publish in the near future. Looking ahead, she is eager to engage with the remaining workshop sessions throughout the programme.
“I strongly believe that I will not be the same after completing the programme,” Amani writes. “I am hoping that at the end of the programme I will be able to successfully publish my blog. I hope that this blog will inform decision-making and provide insight into a topic that many people are unaware of.”
You can read more about the RLRH Graduate Traineeship programme here.
