Internship Position in Waste Management and Circular Economy

For

“Support for sustainable waste management and the circular economy in Rwanda” Project

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. The GIZ Office in Kigali covers GIZ’s portfolio in Rwanda and Burundi. GIZ Rwanda/Burundi implements projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and other commissioning authorities in the following priority areas: Sustainable Economic Development; Good Governance; Climate, Energy and Sustainable Urban Development; Digitalization and Digital Economy; and regional projects in the Great Lakes Region.

Summary of the Project:  The project is building the capacity of public and private actors in the inclusive, climate-smart waste management (WM) and circular economy (CE) sector through technical, organisational and in-process consulting. The major work targets are:

• The empowerment for the implementation of WM and CE capacity of state institutions
• The enablement of private enterprises to adopt WM and CE approaches and to find new business opportunities as well as to improve the access of SME to finance for investing into sustainable business ideas and
• Introduction of strategies and plans for circularity in the waste management sector in Satellite cities.

To support the implementation capacities of the project and to build up expert resources in Rwanda the project is searching for a suitable candidate for position of two Intern. One Intern with background and expertise on Solid Waste Management (SWM) and Circular Economy (CE) operations and while other Intern with background and expertise in economics and private sector engagement.

The WCE project explicitly aims to empower and gives equal opportunity between female and male candidates, and as such, female applicants are encouraged to apply. With this internship opportunity, the WCE project provides young graduates and professionals with the chance to gain a foothold in the development sector and to acquire knowledge and experience in a cross-disciplinary professional working environment.

Location: Kigali

Fixed Term: 6 months

Position: 2

Start date: 01.03.2025

The Intern performs the following responsibilities and tasks:

Responsibilities and areas of technical expertise

The major areas of independently and pro-actively carrying out tasks and implementing technical expertise are:

• Support of local implementation of innovative waste management approaches and circular economy, specifically supporting local pilots for realizing up-to-date waste management and circular economy structures, adopting innovative approaches for organic waste fractions and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the waste management sector.
• Support of coordination of project activities on waste management and circular economy
• Supporting activities with financial intermediaries on topics related to waste management, recycling and circularity
• Assisting in economic data for solid waste management, e.g., costs of waste management infrastructures, operations, follow up costs, etc.

Tasks

Implementation

The Intern:

• Assists in co-leads the activities promoting circular economy in Rwanda
• Supports the coordination of the project’s short-term experts
• Support in facilitating and moderating of community meetings and workshops
• Assists with planning, coordinating and documenting meetings, workshops, seminars and other project activities with a focus on technical aspects
• Support monitoring the transportation of organic waste from households and markets to the composting site, ensuring efficient and timely collection and transport and composting process at the composting site, ensuring efficient and timely collection and transport
• One of two interns will support WCE project to explore waste management costs in selected pilot cities

Research 

The Intern:

• Support the preparation and implementation ofqualitative research projects (developing survey instruments, field trials, training field staff, organisational preparation in the field, collecting and analysing data) as part of monitoring and reporting duties
• Support the preparation and implementation of research projects aimed at providing economic data (developing survey instruments, field trials, training field staff, organisational preparation in the field, collecting and analysing data) as part of monitoring and reporting duties
• Support WCE project in conducting desk research wherever needed on topics relating to waste management and circularity in Rwanda and the larger region

 Knowledge management 

The Intern: 

• Assists in drawing up reports for the project’s political partner
• Assists in organizing and maintaining up-to-date project documentation and supports the management of the project’s data management system
• Supports project monitoring and reporting activities

Other duties/tasks

• Assists other experts, if necessary, as translator Kinyarwanda – English
• Performs other duties and tasks at the request of management
• Carries out other tasks that are within the project responsibility, even if these are not explicitly cited in the job description

Required Qualifications, Competences and Experience

Qualifications and professional experience

• Recent university degree in a technical discipline related to Environmental science, Agriculture and Economics.

Professional experience 

• Good knowledge of one or more of the following topics: sustainability/environmental studies, Environmental science, Economics, waste management, circular economy, project management
• Knowledge of Rwandan waste sector and circular economy area
• Understanding of business cases on circular economy and waste management
• Deep understanding of the stakeholder landscape of Rwanda’s waste sector

Other knowledge, additional competences 

• Very good working knowledge of MS Office(Outlook, Word, Excel, MS Teams, etc.)
• Fluent in Kinyarwanda and English
• Experience of project management and research experience in an area related to the project’s/programme’s requirements is desirable
• Willingness to learn on the job and ability to deal with constructive feedback and adapt to different tasks
• Represents the interest of the GIZ-assisted measure and always acts on its behalf

Interested candidates should submit their application (motivation letter, updated CV, certificates and references) via our electronic job portal by using the button “Apply”; until 23^rd January at 4:00 PM. All attachments should be put together in one PDF file not larger than 2 MB.

GIZ is a signatory of the Diversity Charter. Recognition, appreciation and inclusion of diversity in the company are important to us. All employees shall be valued - regardless of gender and gender identity, nationality, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, social background, age or sexual orientation. We support equal opportunities and welcome applications from people with disabilities.

This includes the provision of reasonable accommodation, if needed, in order to participate in the job application and interview process and to perform essential job functions. Please let us know, if you have any particular requirements should you be invited for assessment/interview or that you wish us to consider, when considering your application.

Women and persons with disabilities are particularly encouraged to apply.

 Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for test and interview.

GIZ Office Rwanda

KN 41 St. / Nr.17, Kiyovu

P.O. Box 59, Kigali,

Rwanda