Program Interns at Mercy Corps

Location: Nairobi, Nakuru & Kisumu

Mercy Corps implements high-quality, analytical development work in very difficult places. We have been operating in Kenya since 2008 and are presently implementing development programs across the Central, Rift Valley, North Western and Northern Eastern regions of Kenya.
Mercy Corps is implementing a Kenya Election Violence Prevention and Response Program (KEVP) which is working to mitigate the risk of escalation of election-related violence in the lead up to, during, and immediately following the Kenyan elections scheduled for August 2017.

KEVP will shore up ongoing efforts of Kenyan civil society organizations, including student organizations, youth bunges (parliaments) and the local private sector, religious groups, as well as current USG partners in Kisumu, Nakuru, Nandi and Nairobi, to ensure that youth and communities are able to remain resilient to political manipulation and ensure a peaceful election.

KEVP will work with these key stakeholders to create communications materials such as film to be used in workshop trainings and for public screenings.

The program will establish and strengthen existing local networks, including the 2013 Champions for Peace networks in Kisumu and Nakuru, establish county level Early Warning Early Response (EWER) Hubs, and link them to Uwiano platform, leverage different players and networks to preempt political manipulation by providing administrative and logistical support to enable them to monitor risks, and develop actionable plans for prevention and response.

Purpose of Internship: The objective of the internship to offer a learning opportunity in preparation of program reports, developing of concept notes and have an understanding of peace building and the stakeholders involved in the implementation of peace building activities.

Responsibilities:
The intern will support the team through the following activities:

• Support the KEVP team in drafting, reviewing and editing program reports;
• Support with reviewing partners’ reports and supporting program partner’s whenever called upon;
• Support the program team with drafting concepts, background papers and other background materials for the program;
• Support the program team with planning coordinating and providing logistical support during meetings, workshops, roundtables and learning;
• Participate and support in trainings and workshops related to KEVP;
• Assist the program team in tracking, reporting and monitoring incidences in areas of operation by ensuring that all the tools to be used are updated;
• Support program reporting, peer learning on key cross cutting issues within programs and keep abreast of changing political scene and its impact on the program;
• Contribute to the development of a success stories and best practices;
• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to positively acknowledge Mercy Corps and to support its humanitarian mission;
• Any other duties as assigned by your supervisor.

Learning Objectives:
At the completion of this internship, the intern will:

• Have an understanding of peace building and the roles played by both state and non-state actors;
• Have a clear understanding of conflict dynamics in different contexts and implementation of peace building initiatives;
• Gain knowledge and experience in report writing, developing concept notes, planning and coordinating multiple stakeholder workshops;
• Gain facilitation skills.

Deliverables:

• Well planned and coordinated program activities;
• Timely progressive reports;
• Updated program activity files;
• Internship report.

Ideal candidate should possess the following qualifications:

• A recent graduate or a student in the final year of study undertaking Bachelor’s degree in conflict/peace studies preferred, or appropriate Social Science discipline, community development, or related field;
• Ability and commitment to team work;
• Ability to interact effectively with the diverse project stakeholders especially within the security sector and electoral bodies;
• Strong analytical and report writing skills;
• Knowledge of Kisumu, Nakuru and Nakuru Counties is an added advantage;
• Good interpersonal communication skills;
• Good knowledge and skills with the of MS Office applications such as Excel, Word, PowerPoint , Outlook and Access