HCD Intern - Malawi

HCD Intern - Malawi

About CorpsAfrica: Founded in 2011 by Liz Fanning, CorpsAfrica is an organization that offers Africans the opportunity to serve as volunteers in their own countries, modeled after the Peace Corps. We train young, college-educated Africans and send them to live for up to a year in high-poverty rural communities, where they initiate and facilitate small-scale, high-impact projects identified by the local population. CorpsAfrica aims to promote a culture of public service in Africa by giving participants the opportunity to apply their training, skills, and energy to helping their fellow citizens overcome extreme poverty. www.corpsafrica.org

CorpsAfrica has steadily expanded its operations from Morocco to Senegal, Malawi, Rwanda, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Gambia, South Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Department Overviews The Human-Centered Design (HCD) Center at CorpsAfrica/Malawi supports organizations, partners to apply Human-Centered Design and other participatory approaches to understand challenges, identify opportunities, and develop solutions that respond to the lived experiences and priorities of communities and other stakeholders. The HCD Center provides training, facilitation, research, and design support to CorpsAfrica teams, development organizations, private sector partners, and other stakeholders. The team uses approaches including Human-Centered Design (HCD), Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD), and Community-Led Development (CLD) to strengthen locally driven and people-centered solutions.

Applications are invited for the role of HCD Intern, who will support the HCD team in delivering HCD training, workshops, research, design activities, documentation, and other departmental functions.

Role overview The main objective of the internship is to provide the intern with practical experience in applying Human-Centered Design approaches while supporting the HCD team in the planning and delivery of training, workshops, research, facilitation, documentation, and design activities.

The intern will work closely with the HCD team and will have an opportunity to develop practical skills in research, stakeholder engagement, problem definition, ideation, prototyping, facilitation, synthesis, and documentation.

Classification: Internship Allowance and Benefits

• CorpsAfrica offers a modest allowance for interns in accordance with local regulations and laws.
• Duty Station: Lilongwe
• Reporting to: Human Centered Design Manager
• Duration: 6 Months

Specific Responsibilities

1. Human-Centered Design Research & Discovery

• Support the HCD team in conducting user and stakeholder research.
• Assist with interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and other qualitative research activities.
• Support the development of research guides, interview questions, and other data collection tools.
• Assist in documenting user insights, experiences, needs, and aspirations.
• Support the team in organizing and synthesizing qualitative data and identifying key themes and insights.
• Assist in developing stakeholder maps, personas, journey maps, and other HCD research outputs.

2. HCD Trainings & Workshops

• Support the planning and preparation of HCD trainings, workshops, and design sessions.
• Assist HCD facilitators during training sessions and workshops.
• Support the preparation of presentations, participant materials, activities, and other training resources.
• Assist with setting up venues, materials, and logistics for HCD activities.
• Participate in facilitation of selected HCD activities under the guidance of the HCD team.
• Support documentation of participant feedback, learning, and workshop outcomes.

3. Documentation & Knowledge Management

• Document HCD trainings, workshops, research activities, and design processes.
• Assist in preparing workshop reports, research summaries, case studies, and other HCD documentation.
• Organize and maintain HCD tools, templates, training materials, and digital resources.
• Support the development of learning materials, presentations, and other HCD resources.
• Capture lessons learned, emerging insights, and good practices from HCD engagements.
• Support the development of case studies and stories demonstrating the application and impact of HCD.

5. Coordination & Administrative Support

• Support the coordination of HCD activities, including scheduling, participant communication, and logistics.
• Assist in maintaining HCD activity calendars, trackers, and databases.
• Support communication with participants, partners, facilitators, and other stakeholders as required.
• Assist with preparation and organization of materials and resources for HCD engagements.
• Provide general administrative support to the HCD team as required.

6. Learning & Professional Development

• Actively participate in HCD team learning sessions and reflective practice.
• Develop practical knowledge of Human-Centered Design principles, tools, and methodologies.
• Build skills in qualitative research, facilitation, stakeholder engagement, synthesis, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
• Seek opportunities to apply HCD tools and approaches under the guidance of the HCD team.
• Demonstrate continuous learning and incorporate feedback from supervisors and colleagues.

7. Other Duties

• Perform any other HCD-related tasks assigned by the HCD Manager or Leadership team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Development Studies, Social Sciences, Human Ecology, Education, Design, Psychology, Sociology, Communications, Business, or a related field.
• Demonstrated interest in Human-Centered Design, participatory approaches, community development, innovation, or social impact.
• Strong interest in qualitative research and understanding people's experiences, needs, and perspectives.
• Good communication, interpersonal, and facilitation skills.
• Strong writing, documentation, and organizational skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively as part of a team.
• Ability to listen, observe, ask thoughtful questions, and synthesize information.
• Basic computer skills and familiarity with Microsoft Office or Google Workspace.
• Knowledge or experience with HCD, design thinking, participatory research, community engagement, or similar approaches is an advantage.
• Willingness to travel and participate in field activities, trainings, and workshops where required.