In October 2025, RLRH launched its first Graduate Traineeship at the Nairobi hub, welcoming seven trainees with lived experience of forced displacement: Simba Graca Elizabeth, Hoth Benson Tayin, Fartun Abshir Hussein, Emmanuella Mwiza, Mutudu Rebecca Prefina, Abdullahi Mohamed Abdi, and Elizabeth Nyamal Koang. Over six months, they developed research and professional skills through workshops, peer discussions, and mentorship, before specialising in research or project coordination and presenting capstone projects to each other and the wider RLRH team.
Below, the trainees share their reflections on the programme in their own words.
“Indeed, every beginning must eventually conclude. Six months ago, we embarked on the RLRH traineeship journey, and now we are poised to reap the rewards of our efforts. This period has been transformational, a time of learning, unlearning, and relearning. We joined the programme with limited exposure, but we left feeling more confident, skilled, and empowered. The guidance and mentorship from the facilitators were exceptional, and we are proud to have learned under their instruction. As it is often said, “The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.”
During the foundational phase, we developed a strong mix of soft and technical skills, including public speaking, personal branding for professional growth, ethical use of artificial intelligence, time management, and professional presentation. We strengthened project planning, coordination, and data-driven problem-solving while learning to set SMART goals. The weekly peer discussions on refugee studies, policy, and self-reliance sharpened our critical thinking, research, analytical, and communication skills.
Key highlights included hands-on training in project planning, coordination, and implementation, which refined our project management skills. As one lesson reminded us, “Growth begins where comfort ends,” Ruth.
The designs for the research and operation and coordination pathways were well-structured, insightful, and enlightening. The mentorships, check-ins, and workshop sessions under the Operations and Coordination for those in this pathway taught us to effectively plan, format documents, and coordinate tasks and develop work plans. While the concept notes, strategy document, and prototype were a fundamental platform required in building a project. And everyone who took this pathway can attest that indeed, the three tools differ, and they all contributed to establishing a well-developed project. The concept note helped us define the problem statement and objectives. The strategy document acted as a planning guide with detailed information on all the steps required in establishing a capstone project. Finally, the prototype was a retrieved part from the strategy document whose purpose was to demonstrate the activities involved within the project.
During the specialisation phase, we spent three months unpacking the underlying context of developing strategy documents for our respective projects, which taught us how to work proactively and effectively. We learned how to refine our problem statements, objectives, and target audiences, and how to critically build our needs assessments while properly crediting authors who provided information about existing gaps in our projects.
Additionally, we learned how to create budgets as well as Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) plans, which involve tracking the feasibility of our projects. As another powerful reminder puts it, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”
As a result of this outstanding achievement and the holistic professional skills we gained, one of our colleagues, Abdull, secured a job at the Mastercard Foundation, one of the most reputable charitable organisations in the world. He is heard saying, “I feel empowered, more confident and professionally acquainted to serve in any role.” Another colleague, Fartun, has also achieved success, having been awarded a grant to implement her research project on the effects of language barriers among students in the Dadaab refugee camps. We proudly celebrate her milestone with great enthusiasm.”
