Internship at the University of Malawi (Jungmi PARK)

I had the opportunity to conduct my internship at the Centre of Education for Research and Training (CERT) at the University of Malawi from the 14th of July to the 3rd of October 2014. This was my second visit to Malawi. During my stay, I had two main activities: (1) to assist the supervisor, Dr. Dorothy Nampota, Director of CERT; (2) to participate in the cooperative projects between UNICEF and International NGOs. At the same time, I also collected data, conducted interviews and obtained documents about girls’ education based on my research topic of interest.

Initially, I participated in the projects sponsored by UNICEF and Plan Malawi. I visited 5 schools in the Machinga district and 6 schools in the Mulanje district respectively. My interviews were conducted with head teachers, teachers and also with girls at schools who came back to study after giving birth. Students from University of Malawi also participated in this project to help to collect data.

Following this, to obtain datasets for my master thesis, I visited the Malawi National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB). I got datasets of the following demographic and health Surveys: DHS, the Integrated Household Survey: IHS3 and student results of the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE). I also visited the Malawi Institute of Education to get copies of their curricula.

I then conducted interviews with key persons related to girls’ education issues in the Ministry of Education, UNICEF, The Forum For African Women Educationalists (FAWE), local NGOs (Youth Net and Counselling – YONECO and the Creative Centre for Community Mobilisation – CRECCOM). Each institute gave me the latest reports and information that they had issued.

Finally, I attended and participated in the Education and Access Conference, held by the University of Malawi and the United Kingdom Agency for International Development (UKAID) in Lilongwe. Participants and presenters were not only from University of Malawi but also from other institutes. There, I was able to gain new knowledge and to get to know the network of researchers in the field of Education in Malawi.

I would like to convey my deepest appreciation to Prof. Keiichi Ogawa, my academic advisor, who gave me this opportunity again this year and to my supervisor in CERT, University of Malawi, Dr. Nampota, who kindly supported whole period of my internship. I also would like to thank to all of the members of CERT and MOEM. Finally, many thanks to Yukari Goshima who conducted this internship with me, and to everyone who gave me their advice and precious time.

Master Student
(Authored by Jungmi PARK)

Related Link
http://www.chanco.unima.mw/