Digital Innovation Internship Program (DIIP)
The purpose of the program is to empower and train future technology leaders in Uganda and beyond, EYIT developed hands program designed to equip University students with an in-depth understanding of technology and how they can use it to become efficient problem solvers
Over the course of 8 weeks, the selected students will undergo in-depth training in the areas of software development and entrepreneurship skills in order to produce viable prototypes for the selected community challenges. The focus of this years program is to help you learn how to generate a tech business idea, develop a prototype, and pitching.
This year, the program will involve both local and international instructors to facilitate a blended learning experience.
The approach will include;
Collaborative Learning: Through group projects, discussions, public speaking, and events;
Practical Learning: Through one on one mentorships, hands-on application, and field experiences.
Instruction-based learning: Facilitator-led sessions in a classroom setting
Learning Schedule
Leadership and Entrepreneurship Skills – This area of learning is designed to enable the internees build their leadership and entrepreneurial competencies in order to challenge themselves and get out of their comfort zones.
Design Challenge Presentation – Participants are presented with a community challenge by partner organizations which they work on in smaller groups. This part is crucial because it equips internees with the community problem-solving techniques.
Through various interactions, the internees gain a deeper understanding of the challenges the organization is experiencing in order to adequately meet their stakeholders’, clients’, or customers’ needs.
The internees are provided with the tools and knowledge on how to approach the identified challenges using a Human-Centered approach to innovation which is to Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.
The internees are introduced to foundational software development skills in either web or mobile applications using any of the programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, React, and Flutter.
The final weeks of the program are geared towards consolidating the learning from the preceding weeks. The internees are challenged to come up with strategies on how they can put into practice the skills and knowledge they have gained.
They are also helped to build their presentation skills so as to be able to present their final prototypes to a panel of judges and potential partners. The focus during the final weeks includes;
- Pitch Preparation
- Group Project Presentations
EYIT also hosts special events during the program. These include networking events, guest speakers, and end-of-the-program picnics.