DESCRIPTION
Heshima Kenya specializes in protecting refugee children living in Nairobi, Kenya. Our safe shelter, education and life skills programs and community outreach services enable and empower adolescent girls to live healthy lives. As a result of Heshima Kenya's programs, young women who are often survivors of tremendous adversity and trauma go on to become catalysts for change and leaders within their own communities.
Although Heshima Kenya's programs take place in Nairobi, Chicago is an integral part of the organization. The main responsibilities of the Chicago office include: development and fundraising, advocacy to raise US awareness of the issues we are tackling in Nairobi, maintaining the communications campaign to provide our supporters and a wider audience with information and updates on Heshima Kenya and our population of interest, and hosting events.
Heshima Kenya welcomes undergraduate and graduate students with a background in grant writing and/ or research and an interest in refugee, immigration, human rights and women's rights to apply for the Grants and Research Intern position. This role will support Chicago-based grant research/ writing, community outreach initiatives, and office administration. We are currently seeking internship applications for the 2013 summer semester, with the possibility to continue part-time through the fall of 2013.
Anticipated Tasks:
- Grants management - researching potential new venues for funding, maintaining the current database, writing Letters of Interest and proposals for funding, and subsequent reports.
- Donors- work to identify and cultivate new donors. Maintain appropriate upkeep with current donors, including updating the donor database and sending follow up letters.
- Attend local events, conduct communication campaigns, and partner with US-based groups to ensure representation of issues facing unaccompanied refugee girls and women.
- Research relevant articles, news stories, and updates and pass these along to the Heshima Kenya staff and supporters
- Participate in U.S. Advocacy working groups, along with the Grants and Advocacy Officer, to share information pertinent to our mission, and to pass along advocacy pieces and reports created by Heshima Kenya.
- Assist with spotlight pieces, statistical analyses, and research reports produced by Heshima Kenya
Desired qualifications/experience/interests
- Grant writing
- Strong research/ analytic skills
- Attention to detail
- Strong writing abilities
- Ability to work both collaboratively both independently and with a group
- Academic or grassroots background in issues pertaining to refugees, international affairs, human rights and sexual and gender-based violence
- Sensitivity to diverse cultures
Time commitment
For summer internship: 30-35 hours per week for 8-10 weeks
Due to the nature of the internship, we generally ask that interns be able to commit a 3 - 4 hour block of time in either the morning or afternoon.
