The Kiisi Trust Fund was established in 2009 by Trust Africa as part of a United States Federal Court Settlement in the
Southern District of New York. The settlement arose from a lawsuit against the Royal Dutch Shell Company by survivors and family members of people who were victims of human rights abuses arising out of Shell’s Nigerian Operations in Ogoniland in southeast Nigeria, the homeland of the Ogoni people. The Ogoni Plaintiffs included victims of torture and arbitrary detention as well as the survivors of husbands, brothers and fathers who were summarily executed for their role in protesting the cultural and environmental devastation of Shell’s operations in Ogoniland.
The Trust was created from a $15 million settlement reached with Shell, $5 million of which was used by the Plaintiffs to create the Kiisi Trust to support programs in education, health, community development, and other benefits for the Ogoni people and their communities.
The name “kiisi” means “progress” in Ogoni. This Trust will allow for initiatives for education, health, community development and other benefits for the Ogoni people and their communities, including educational endowments, skills development, agricultural development, women’s programmes, small enterprise support, and adult literacy.
Objectives of the Ogoni Nextgen Internship Program
The Kiisi Trust Fund seeks to build the next generation of active and responsible civil society practitioners in Ogoniland. In this pursuit, the NextGen Ogoni 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 programme is aimed at building the interns capacity in the following areas:
1. Leadership
2. Research and Report Writing
3. Training and Facilitation
The internship programme will expose the interns to research in the funding areas of the Trust Fund throughout the year, but they can expect to routinely work in the following thematic areas:
- Adult literacy
- Agriculture development
- Community development
- Education
- Health
- Skills development
- Small Enterprise Support
- Women’s programs/Gender issues
- Peacebuilding/Conflict Mitigation
Eligibility Criteria
Kiisi Trust Fund seeks Ogoni youths with creative minds and a hunger to make a positive impact on social development and in improving the lives of Ogonis. This internship is for two (2) programmatic interns. The interns should have the following qualities:
- University degree in the Social Sciences
- Strong interest in one of the focus areas of the Trust
- Curious, open mind
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Capacity to take constructive criticism well
- Punctuality
- Initiative and drive
- Effective time management skills
Grants/Monitoring And Evaluation Intern
- Support with grants documentation, tracking, updating of files and templates.
Support editing and collation of workplans and monthly reports from grantees.
Provide field support to grantees.
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 activities of grantee partners.
Assist with the preparation of the Kiisi Trust Fund monthly and quarterly reports.
Attend and represent Kiisi Trust Fund at meetings with partner organisations/grantee partners.
Collect relevant information to support training preparation.
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.
- Support editing and collation of workplans and monthly reports from grantee partners.
- Assist with the preparation of the Kiisi Trust Fund monthly and quarterly reports.
- Attend and represent Kiisi Trust Fund 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.
- Contribute to the design and development of concept notes, proposals and any other relevant documents for grantee partners.
- 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
Guides for Applicants
Interested Ogoni applicants should send a CV and cover letter explaining their interest in the position and the value they would bring to Kiisi Trust to
kiisitrust@trustafrica.org . Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview; please no phone calls or emails seeking status of your application.
Ogoni women are encouraged to apply.
Deadline
30th November, 2017.
The Organiser
TrustAfrica is an Africa-wide grantmaking foundation that is dedicated to fostering democratic governance and equitable development and works principally through collaboration and partnership with like-minded institutions and donors. It is incorporated in the United States as a 501(c)(3) taxexempt organization and has a location agreement with the government of Senegal. It has program presence in several African countries, maintains partnerships with several of Africa’s leading institutions, and has built a formidable reputation as a strategic grantmaker and an effective convener.
Further Information
Visit the official page of the NextGen Ogoni Internship program
