Africa minigrid internship pilot to place five to ten interns inside AMDA’s own work

The Youth Sustainable Development Network and the Africa Minigrid Developers Association will run four to six week remote placements from later this year, across regulatory coordination, research, sector support and access to capital. Whether it grows depends on an evaluation neither organisation has run yet.

Between five and ten young professionals will work inside the Africa Minigrid Developers Association later this year, on placements of four to six weeks, contributing to policy and regulatory coordination, research and data, sector coordination and company support, and access to capital.

Those are AMDA’s own operating areas, and both organisations point to that as what separates the scheme from a training course. The Youth Sustainable Development Network and AMDA announced the YSDN-AMDA Youth Internship Programme on 16 August, with structured mentorship and periodic performance feedback attached to the placement itself.

The programme will be largely remote. Damilola Hamid Balogun, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of YSDN, has said that design is deliberate, since it allows young professionals from different African markets to take part instead of restricting the cohort to whoever can reach one office.

Responsibilities are split between the two. YSDN leads recruitment and screening, prepares selected interns for placement, maintains engagement with participants and coordinates monitoring and reporting alongside AMDA. AMDA provides the placements, assigns supervisors or mentors, and gives interns assignments of substance along with feedback through the programme.

Applications are not yet open, and YSDN and AMDA will publish the process and the start date in due course.

Balogun said the organisation is intentional about ensuring young professionals are “not simply beneficiaries of this transition” but are equipped to build and lead it, and framed the partnership as the point at which learning becomes industry experience. John Ouko, Chief Operations Officer of AMDA, said the pilot follows a partnership begun last year and reflects a continued commitment to “building real pathways to youth employment across the sector”.

Both organisations will assess intern performance, mentor feedback, participant experience and how effectively young professionals integrate into AMDA’s day-to-day work before deciding whether to widen the programme. Any expansion depends on that assessment and on the resources available.

Balogun has said the longer-term ambition is to broaden the programme’s reach across African markets, with greater participation from Francophone Africa.