6 Lessons from my Internship at the Uganda Response Innovation Lab
Written by Saul Kabali, Co-Founder of SafeBangle
Over the past year, I have been carrying out my internship with the Uganda Response Innovation Lab (Uganda RIL) and Save the Children in Uganda (SCI). I have faced a variety of challenges and have grown through every experience while developing myself and an innovation I co-founded - SafeBangle. As I conclude my internship, I want to share 6 lessons I learned for a few reasons:
To showcase to organizations and leaders the value of supporting interns
To show students what soft and hard skills they can gain from an internship experience
For social entrepreneurs and innovators to see the value of learning from others in their work
At the start of the internship, I introduced myself to an audience of over 70 people. For the first-time, I tested my confidence and learned how to align my personal story with the overarching mission of local and international practitioners. Two weeks after the start of my internship, I attended the launch of a report on “The Digital Lives of Refugees” by a telecommunications company, GSMA Mobile 4 Development. Their research was conducted in refugee hosting areas in Jordan, Kiziba camp of Rwanda and Bidibidi settlement of Uganda. I absorbed rich information on how GSMA is changing lives. At that moment, I realized my dream was to contribute to changing the world.
Interning at RIL has allowed me to develop SafeBangle, an innovation I co-founded with colleagues from my university. Together we have developed from ideation to production and now piloting of a wearable safety bracelet which supports potential victims of violence by providing them with access to immediate help from trusted relatives and friends.
“We have developed from ideation to production and now piloting of a wearable safety bracelet which supports potential victims of violence by providing them with access to immediate help from trusted relatives and friends.”
We called it the SafeBangle! Designed to camouflage among existing African bracelets, the SafeBangle bracelet is worn on the arm and comes with a panic button, allowing the user to immediately be traced by a selected list of individuals who automatically receive an alert with the exact location of the bracelet user. The SafeBangle bracelet brings light to cases of violence that may have gone unreported and provides users with confidence knowing that their location can be tracked by trusted individuals at any moment of threat or insecurity. The SafeBangle bracelet is an affordable innovation compared to other smart-watch devices and mobile safety applications.
Response Innovation Lab’s work environment and my relationship with the Uganda lab manager, Charlene Cabot, has encouraged me to discover my unique strengths and improve my communication, organizational and teamwork skills. I have gained valuable experience by:
Being involved in decision-making processes. Together with the RIL manager, I determined the priority of upcoming tasks and key learnings from previous endeavors. As a result, I was able to make an achievable weekly work plan and increase my efficiency and performance at completing assigned tasks. This helped build my skills to work under no supervision and ensure high productivity.
Liaising with specialists, particularly in the fields of electronics. Connecting with Brian Turyabagye, the Founder of Mama Ope, opened up the opportunity for SafeBangle to work with Mathew Ocheng, a developer who had previously worked with Mama Ope, and other innovators. The ideas and ambition of the innovators served as a source of inspiration to me. They helped me handle and deliver three aspirant goals:
Develop the SafeBangle innovation
Advance the United Social Venture Accelerator Program
Excel in the university internship program, supervised by the RIL Uganda manager
Working with other innovators exposed me to different ways of balancing work and life and impacted my professional approach. These individuals include; Brian Turyabagye and Olivia Koburongo from Mama Ope, Arnold Leon Mugagga from Zetu (Seat Pack), Businge Joshua Muleesi from Akaboxi and Gitta Brian from Matibabu.
1.Applying Save the Children policies on anti-harassment and child safeguarding to the SafeBangle procedures and guidelines. These policies are embedded in our code of conduct and are integral to our engagement with SafeBangle end-users and other innovation partners.
2. Public relations. I represented RIL at local events and wrote feedback reports on meetings. Public speaking taught me that it doesn’t matter what others think you can do, but rather what you set your mind to. Acting as an RIL representative significantly helped me grow as an innovator.
3. Pitching SafeBangle to a wide variety of people, including potential funders, has dramatically improved since the innovation’s inception. Along with the development of my public speaking skills, documentation of evidence and research, including personal testimonies and visuals, have contributed to the external presentation of SafeBangle. The resources can be accessed freely from the RIL website. Click her to access these free resources.
4. Improving my soft skills, especially research, communication, presentation and organizational skills. Joining RIL allowed me to practice and develop my public speaking skills. At the Montrose 10th Anniversary Celebrations I gave a five-minute presentation on Response Innovation Lab and SafeBangle, putting my presentation skills to the test. I am happy to report that the speech was a success and my confidence as an innovator has grown as a result. Additionally, through workshops hosted by RIL and other partners, I learned how to structure and conduct meetings, helping me activate my leadership skills.
5. Learning new techniques and professional tools like; Canva, Microsoft Teams and digital timesheets to optimize activity tracking. I have used these softwares to improve the operations of SafeBangle and have greatly impacted SafeBangle operations since joining RIL.
6. Celebrating team members. Celebrating birthdays has not always been something I look forward to until I was surprised by Charlene and the rest of the SCI team singing for me and rejoicing with me. I enjoy and love working with RIL because I believe RIL is the best place for me to work as it is supportive towards me and my innovation, SafeBangle.
Interning at RIL has introduced me to a network of creative innovators, developed my soft and hard skills, and provided me with opportunities to grow my leadership abilities, which will all benefit me in my future professionally and personally. As the co-founder of SafeBangle, I am grateful for the mentorship, guidance, and opportunities that RIL has provided me with. The self-starter attitude I acquired through this experience will be crucial in my career as an innovator who seeks to have a meaningful impact in the NGO sector and support vulnerable communities. I hope sharing these lessons provides some guidance to other social entrepreneurs and innovators, leaders of organizations, and other students on the value of internships, their role, and the opportunities for the emerging workforce in Uganda.
More Information
Visit the SafeBangle innovation page: www.responseinnovationlab.com/innovations-marketplace/safebangle
About Saul
Saul is the co-founder of SafeBangle, an innovation being developed in Uganda to protect women and girls from violence by quickly notifying their family or friends in an emergency that they need help and their location. While not working on his innovation, Saul is a part of the Response Innovation Lab team.