Internship 2026 · La Liberté Arts Group
Inside the Internship: Writing Their First Funding Project at LALIG
By Let's Talk Tech · August 2026 · 7 min read
A project-writing session at La Liberté Arts Group, Bamenda.
Five Let's Talk Tech graduates spent ten days at La Liberté Arts Group. They left having written and submitted a real grant proposal, built the organisation a LinkedIn page, and shot a product advert.
LALIG is an arts-for-development organisation led by Mr Akumbu Bubu, working to the motto mirroring society to effect change. It uses theatre, film and research as tools for education, healing and social change, standing on three pillars: applied theatre, film-making and research. Its programmes reach into youth development, justice and peace, gender-based violence and environmental education.
What they did at LALIG
5
Interns placed at LALIG
10 days
12 to 21 August 2026
1
Grant proposal written and submitted
3
Areas they rotated through
2
Videos produced at W Studios
1
LinkedIn page built from nothing
Learning to write something fundable
Working through a project-writing session.
Muyang Birence, Fon Ryan, Derek Mujoh, Okele Chikere and Chop Blandine started on 12 August 2026, welcomed by Mr Akumbu Bubu and the production manager Mr Afese Emmanuel. The director took project writing himself, in sessions running three hours at a stretch.
He walked them through where an idea comes from, how objectives, input and output connect to real impact, and then the harder parts: the difference between results, outcomes and impact, sustainability planning when the funding is limited, risk management, justification, references, limitations and beneficiaries. He also showed them where the money is, sharing funding and scholarship links including DAAD.
Camera training at W Studios
Setting up for a shoot at W Studios.
LALIG partners with W Studios, headed by Mr Afese Emmanuel, who also heads production at LALIG. He trained them on camera shots and angles, on intentional camera movement, and on the unglamorous basics like how to hold a camera so it stops shaking.
They learned CapCut templates as a faster route through an edit, and picked up a lighting rule from the director worth more than most tutorials: the light belongs behind the subject, not in front of them.
“Writing a project should not only solve a specific problem. It should also drive innovation.”
From the interns' report
Two films, made to order
The training was not theoretical for long. On 18 August the group was told to film and produce an advert for a liquid soap product, which meant working to a brief, a product and a result somebody would actually look at. The same day they filmed a session of musical instruments being played in the studio.
Their own notes are honest about where it was hard. Getting an accurately angled shot took them several goes, and they were not always told in time where a session would be held. They worked around both.
The Togho Festival paperwork
A good share of the fortnight went on LALIG's Togho Fashion Festival, run with its partner NOFADA and set for December 2026. Derek Mujoh and Muyang Birence edited and addressed letters from NOFADA to CAMTEL and to the Director of Customs about the project, and later built the festival's budget plan in Word. Chop Blandine edited a further letter seeking sponsorship.
Fon Ryan, Okele Chikere and Chop Blandine worked on the document covering the student edition and the activities planned for 1 December in Bambili and at Polytechnic Bambui. On the final day the whole group learned Google Forms and built one to collect entries from Togho designers wanting a place at the festival on 5 and 6 December, with Fon Ryan setting up a dedicated email address to catch the responses.
The proposal they actually submitted
Alongside all that they rebuilt how LALIG looks online. Okele Chikere, Derek Mujoh and Fon Ryan updated the website's team page, taking off people who had left and adding photographs of newly appointed staff. Muyang Birence and Chop Blandine went through the Facebook page and picked articles on women and culture for the site, while the others pulled pieces on film production, the environment and cultural topics. Okele Chikere created a LinkedIn page for LALIG and designed its banner. They also wrote two articles of their own, after Mr Akumbu taught them to build one on a catchy heading and the five W questions.
The last thing they did is the one that counts. Working from an idea the whole group argued out with the director, they wrote a funding proposal titled Improving Mental Health and Dignity Through Reusable Pads. Derek Mujoh typed it, Muyang Birence edited it, and it went out as a real application. Ten days earlier none of them had written a project proposal at all.
Questions about this placement
What is La Liberté Arts Group?
An arts-for-development organisation in Bamenda, led by Mr Akumbu Bubu, which uses theatre, film and research for education, healing and social change. Its three pillars are applied theatre, film-making and research, and its programme areas include youth development, justice and peace, gender-based violence and environmental education.
What did the interns actually produce?
A funding proposal titled Improving Mental Health and Dignity Through Reusable Pads, submitted for review; an advert video for a liquid soap product and coverage of a studio music session; an updated website team page and curated articles; a new LinkedIn page and banner; two written articles; edited correspondence and a budget plan for the Togho Fashion Festival; and a Google Form for festival entries.
How do I join the next Let's Talk Tech cohort?
Get in touch with the Let's Talk Tech team through the contact page. Every cohort ends with a two-week placement inside a local organisation, like this one.
With thanks
Thank you, La Liberté Arts Group
Our thanks to La Liberté Arts Group for opening its doors to five of our trainees, and to Mr Akumbu Bubu and Mr Afese Emmanuel for giving them real work and real responsibility rather than a seat in the corner. A placement only teaches anything when the host is willing to make room, answer questions and let people get things wrong on the way to getting them right. We are grateful they did.
Let's Talk Tech Internship 2026
Read the other placements
Nine groups of Let's Talk Tech graduates spent two weeks inside local organisations in August 2026. Each group wrote up what they did.
