Urban Resilience Initiative (RIA) Project Internship

Background

The Resilience Initiative Africa (RIA) is a regional project commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The project aims to increase the capacities of regional, national, local state and non-state actors for risk-informed urban development in Africa through fostering technical exchange and coordination across countries by bringing together relevant actors with existing and proven approaches to reduce, mitigate and manage risks.

RIA has defined four areas of work to strengthen urban disaster and climate risk management towards more risk-informed development:

(1) Set-up of an agile Africa-wide learning and exchange platform on risk-informed urban development.

(2) Support of the African Union (AU) and member states in developing inclusive and gender-equitable guidelines for risk-informed urban development.

(3) Implement participatory measures to analyse and reduce risks and to prepare for disasters in informal settlements.

(4) Collaborate with climate change adaptation and climate risk finance actors like the African Adaptation Initiative (AAI) to increase their institutional capacities.

RIA ensures close alignment with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and its respective action programme for the regional implementation adopted by the AU. All results will be shared on the learning and exchange platform to allow for scaling up or regional replication of measures in other sectors.

The project aims at strengthening the most at-risk population in urban areas through liaisons and change agents. These include among others, decision-makers at regional, national, and local level as well as specialists at multilateral organisations, regional economic communities, civil society, and self-advocacy groups. In this regard, the project pursues a gender-equitable and inclusive approach and involves people in urban areas affected by multiple discrimination and disadvantages.

Summary of responsibilities

The Intern will support the implementation of RIA activities in Kenya as well as other tasks assigned by advisors in the different work streams. This opportunity is 6 months, full-time paid internship. The role requires a self-motivated, creative, solution-oriented person who can manage multiple tasks. The individual should be a team player with motivation to learn while
adapting to shifting priorities.

The tasks entail:

1. Technical Support

• Support the technical input in the implementation of activities as assigned by RIA’s project manager and advisors. This will include but not limited to topics around climate action, urban resilience etc. Specifically:
  • Support the implementation of activities on enhancing urban resilience in selected urban areas in Kenya.
  • Keep tabs on emerging trends related to climate change, disaster risk reduction, and relevant financing in Kenya to continuously inform the project.

• Support in procurement and contractual processes for the RIA project through various steps, including:
  • Contract initiation: support in drafting terms of reference for experts.
  • Drafting required documents for GIZ contracting processes.
•  Support the conceptualization, preparing and implementing workshops, seminars, conferences or other events on subjects relevant to RIA activities, including:

• • Drafting workshop materials including concepts, agenda and stakeholder lists.
  • Organizing the related logistics.
  • Coordinating with invitees and stakeholders where relevant.
  • Compiling event proceedings and dissemination of feedback and associated materials to the respective interested parties.
  • Support in compiling and entering data for monitoring purposes.
• Support in knowledge management and communication:
  • Summarize and document relevant project activities for different audiences.
  • Processes relevant information for the RIA project.
  • Coordinate closely with the project communication focal person in preparing communication content.

2.  Other Tasks

• The Intern will undertake any other additional tasks at the request of the project manager and advisors to support the implementation of the project, including administrative tasks.

Qualifications

• University degree in a relevant field (e.g. natural or environmental sciences, climate change studies, urban planning, Geoscience, Geo-Informatics).
• Should be a recent bachelor’s degree graduate (less than one year).

Skills, knowledge and additional competence

• Good knowledge of climate change and particularly with regards to adaptation and/or mitigation measures, as well as urban resilience in general.
• Good understanding of sub-national level structures and dynamics is highly desirable.
• Competency in Microsoft (MS) Office Suite (Office 365).
• Very good working knowledge of ICT technologies (related software, phone, email, internet and computer applications).
• Understanding and knowledge of climate policies and disaster risk reduction frameworks at international, national and sub-national levels.
• Knowledge and understanding of relevant stakeholders in the climate change and disaster risk reduction space both in Kenya and internationally.
• Excellent command of English.
• Excellent technical/business report writing skills incl. Monitoring and Evaluation.
• Able to work independently and perform well under pressure (i.e. handling significant problems and tasks which come up simultaneously and/or unexpectedly and meeting deadlines).
• Ability to handle confidential information, using good judgement and discernment.

Duty location

The intern will be based in GIZ Offices in Nairobi