PAMELA STEELE ASSOCIATES

Lise Cazzoli, St Anne’s College, Third Year Postgraduate, DPhil International Development, Remote working

Work Projects

During my internship with PSA, I worked on a

variety of research projects that aimed at

supporting public and private sector agencies

in ensuring reliable, effective and equitable

healthcare delivery in Africa. I worked on two

individual projects (a blog post and a draft

research paper on donor collaboration and healthcare supply chains in Africa) and one

group assignment (a research paper on universal healthcare coverage in East Africa), which

occupied most of my time at PSA. For this project, I worked with two other interns to write a

case-study comparison of the challenges and achievements of three East African countries

(Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania) in expanding healthcare coverage.

We were given a lot of freedom in developing the research design and conducting the

empirical research, as well as to experiment with methods, country contexts or approaches

we were not necessarily familiar with. Whilst the paper was a collective project, we were all

responsible for our respective case study. My own contribution was to collect and analyse

data related to healthcare coverage, policy and supply chains in Rwanda, as well as to

develop the methodology of the research paper based on some general guidelines our

internship supervisors had given us at the begining of the project. Writing a full-blown

research paper (or at least a draft of it) in less than 8 weeks was a challenging task, but Jo

and Andrey were very available to answer our questions and supportive regarding any

challenge we faced in the process. In fact, PSA tries to make sure interns are part of the

team and our weekly meetings were a great opportunity to brainstorm together about the

direction of the research project.

Daily Life

My internship was remote but I ordinarily live

in Oxford, where PSA is located. In terms of

socialisation, PSA organises bi-weekly "online

coffee and catch-up meetings" to allow

everyone to chat in a more informal

environment. I am guilty of not participating

much to those meetings as I am not too comfortable with talking on Teams, which was an

almost daily occurrence. However, the Research Team's weekly meetings were also an

opportunity to catch up, and it was great, for instance, to meet PSA's CEO, Pam, during one

of those meetings and discuss our experience of the internship in relationship with our

aspirations and personal circumstances. During that time, I tried to keep a strict schedule to

make sure I made it to my desk every day motivated and on time.

My alarm was set at 6.00 am so that I had plenty of time to relax, think about my goals for

the day and how they relate to my aspirations, and get ready to start the day. Initially, I

tended to leave Teams permanently open on my desktop in case a new meeting was

scheduled, but ultimately, I found it too distracting and decided to turn it off whilst I was

working on the research paper. In addition, I tried to schedule most of my work in the

morning, so that I could enjoy a more relaxed afternoon.

Lasting Impressions

Despite the challenges I encountered during this placement, I enjoyed working for PSA and

thought the internship was very well organised and meaningful. As interns, we were also

invited to meetings organised by PSA's in-country programme officers, which gave us great

insights into the more practical aspects of their work beyond research. I found it very

valuable and equally enjoyed the challenging character of the main research project, which

had a clear deliverable at the end of the line. In addition, I learned a lot from PSA's overall

approach to healthcare delivery, as it is fairly new in the field and very pragmatic.

As a DPhil student, it is easy to let ourselves immersed into the theoretical aspects of

development research and lose sight of the potential deliverables our research might

produce; from that perspective, working with PSA really helped me define the nature of the

contribution I wish to make through my doctoral thesis, as well as clarify my overall

perspective on the empirical problem I am studying.

I was very inspired by some colleagues at PSA, who always seemed very excited about their

own project. I thought they were examples of people who are independent-minded but

pursue a common goal and are collaborative in doing so. Overall, I would say this internship

has confirmed my career ambitions in that I would enjoy working towards building a project

with lasting impact rather than on research alone.

Creating something with others and for others feels much more important to me, and I

enjoyed that in this internship, research had a more pragmatic focus. However, it changed

my career ambitions in that I realise I might want to privilege working for smaller-scale

organisations with people who are very passionate about supporting the most vulnerable

people in our society, and who have a positive mindset about it. I think it is more reflective

of who I myself aspire to be.

Chloe Curtis, Regent’s Park College, Final Year Postgraduate, MPhil Medical Anthropology, Remote working

Work Projects

The main task of this internship was the

completion of a new research project about

the role of the health supply chain in

universal health coverage. This was a

collaborative project with two other interns.

We were in charge of every aspect of this

project, from initial design, chosen methodologies, analysis and final write up. A large part

of this project was the collection of data, both via literature reviews and interviews with key

informants.

My main tasks involved, literature research, analysis, conducting interviews, transcribing,

and writing a case study for the research paper. I also was in charge of writing certain

sections for the paper, including proofing and editing the rest of the paper. Aside from this

main project, I also wrote blog posts covering previous and upcoming research, and edited

ongoing research publications. My main achievements were the completion of all my own

objectives and parts of the research project, and the publication of a blog post. I received

support from my host organisation via weekly online meetings and emails whenever

needed.

Daily Life

I received a number of inductions on the

first couple of days, and spent the first week

reading over previous and ongoing research

to become immersed in the aims of the

company and the style of work. This was

very important to recognise how my own

contributions would be successful. It was very helpful to have several inductions with

different areas of the company to meet new people and to try and grasp the whole

company and how departments worked together. There were also mid-morning coffee and

catch up sessions twice a week for anyone to join, which was a nice way to meet and

socialise with colleagues.

I was mainly working with other interns on our own collaborative project, so we organised

our own meetings and, importantly, socials. As this was a remote internship, I set up my

desk to provide a good work atmosphere, keeping it clean and tidy in order to work

successfully. To try and manage working at home I always ate away from my desk, and

made sure to go on walks after the work day had ended.

Lasting Impressions

I enjoyed this experience. The work that the company does was hugely motivational and

really invaluable to learn about for my career ambitions. A lot of the work that I was

engaged with involved research and built from my own existing skill set, but I was able to

learn how this work was integrated for the goals of the wider company and a consultancy.