ABOUT TRUSTAFRICA

TrustAfrica is an independent Pan-African Foundation headquartered in Dakar, Senegal and strongly believes that Africans must set the agenda for the Continent’s development and take the lead in implementing it. As a Foundation that is firmly grounded in civil society, transformative governance, and equitable development, TrustAfrica’s main mandate is to secure the conditions for democracy and justice across the African continent. TrustAfrica operates from a firm belief in democratic principles, a deep commitment to social justice, and a clear understanding of the need for economic vitality.

ABOUT THE KIISI TRUST FUND

As a donor-advised fund managed by TrustAfrica since 2016, the Trust had its genesis in the environmental rights struggle of the Ogoni people of Rivers State, Nigeria in the 1960s. The Trust was created from a $15.5 million settlement reached with Shell in the Wiwa vs. Shell lawsuit in 1990; $5 million of which was used by the plaintiffs to create the Kiisi Trust Fund to support community development in Ogoniland. Today the Trust is a grantmaking fund dedicated to the benefit of the Ogoni people and currently gives out grants for education, health, community development, skills development, women’s programs, environment, and other benefits for the Ogoni people and their communities.

OBJECTIVES OF THE OGONI NEXTGEN INTERNSHIP PROGRAM:

The Trust seeks to build the next generation of active and responsible civil society practitioners in Ogoniland. In this pursuit, the Ogoni NextGen Internship program will offer 3 – 12 months’ paid internship to young Ogoni’s at the start of their professional careers, who are interested in one of the Trust Fund’s focus thematic areas, and who desire to have a career in the development sector. This internship program is aimed at building the interns capacity in the following areas:

1. Research and Report Writing
2. Grant Management
3. Communication

At the end of the 12 months internship program, the interns will be tasked to produce a research paper on the topic of their choosing that connects directly with the thematic areas of the Trust. The papers will be evaluated, and successful papers will be published on the Trust’s website.

WHO WE SEEK:

The Kiisi Trust seeks Ogoni youths between 21 – 27 years old with creative minds and a hunger to make a positive impact on social development and in improving the lives of Ogonis. The ideal candidate would have between 1-3 years of professional working experience, have an open mind willing to learn new skills, a strong interest in the development sector, and is a team player. In addition, they should have the following:

• University degree in the Social Sciences
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Capacity to take constructive criticism well
• Ability to take the initiative and drive
• Have a strong and effective time management skills

Nigeria is not a Socially Cohesive country: More needs to be done to promote Trust, Equity, Inclusion and Hope – New API Survey

There are two different internship positions open and their responsibilities include:

GRANTS/MONITORING AND EVALUATION INTERN:

• Support with grants documentation, tracking, updating of files and templates.
• Support editing and collation of work plans and monthly reports from grantees.
• Provide field support to grantees-partners.
• Coordinate development of and adherence to proposal development, calendars, and budgets.
• Ensure timely updates on any changes to deliverable due dates from grantee-partners.
• Provide timely information and feedback as needed on the activities of grantee-partners.
• Attend and represent the Trust at meetings with partner organisations/grantee partners.
• Collect relevant information to support training sessions.
• Support the monitoring and evaluation of grantees and ongoing projects in Ogoniland.
• Contribute to the design and development of concept notes, proposals and any other relevant documents for grantee partners.
• Any other duties that may be assigned.

COMMUNICATIONS AND RESEARCH INTERN:

• Conduct and support background/desktop research and analysis on any focus area as assigned.
• Assist with the preparation of the Trust’s bi-annual newsletters to grantee-partners and other stakeholders.
• Attend and represent the Trust at meetings with partner organisations/grantee partners.
• Assist in the development of materials and toolkits for convenings and trainings.
• Assist in the coordination of convenings and training programmes, including handling of logistics and report writing.
• Support the monitoring and evaluation of grantees and ongoing projects in Ogoniland.
• Support all internal and external communication for Kiisi Trust and TrustAfrica, including assistance in providing content across all branded social media accounts.
• Any other duties as assigned

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested Ogoni applicants should send a CV, a cover letter explaining their interest in the position and the value they would bring to the Trust, and a writing sample to kiisitrust@trustafrica.org with “Ogoni NextGen Internship 2020” as the subject of the email. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview.

Please no phone calls or emails seeking the status of your application.

The deadline to submit application materials is February 28, 2020.