Internship for seed system resilience in the context of fragility and climate change

Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty. Together we save, protect and rebuild lives. And we won’t stop until every person on the planet can defeat poverty or any type of inequality or discrimination.

Oxfam Novib is part of an international confederation of 19 organizations (affiliates) working together with partners and local communities in the areas of humanitarian, development and campaigning, in more than 90 countries.

At Oxfam we respect and celebrate each other’s differences. We know that a diverse workforce enhances our success. We are conscious that having the freedom to be yourself is the basis of sustainable growth. To us, it doesn’t matter where you were born, what you believe in, how old you are, what you look like, or who you love. We believe that different perspectives and backgrounds actually increases our way of thinking for a better world of work. Join us, as there is a place for you here!

Application deadline:   30th of November 2024

Location:                     The Hague and hybrid

Duration:                      6 months, starting on 1st February 2025

Hours:                         32 – 36  hours per week

Internship

This internship is hosted by the Seeds for Resilience program team within the GREEN/Climate Resilience unit at Oxfam Novib. The foundations of the seeds work stems from the SD=HS program (www.sdhsprogram.org) and are now used in three projects: Cultivating Change, Rooted in Diversity and Crop diversity for food in West Africa. The focus of the internship will be the Crop Diversity project currently implemented in fragile contexts in Mali and Nigeria. The main objective of the internship will be to explore and document lessons learned in strengthening seed system resilience in the context of political instability, conflict, insecurity and climate change. This work will enable you to understand farmer seeds system in the context of fragility and contribute towards developing a track record and elaborate various communications and advocacy materials towards State and humanitarian actors.  The colleague providing support and guidance is the Seed Systems and Markets Advisor of the Seeds for Resilience program team.

Background

Environmental and socio-economic conditions in many zones of West Africa are rapidly changing.  Unstable governments and unprecedented variability of weather conditions are affecting millions of farmers, who are already facing food insecurity on a regular basis. To mitigate these risks and optimize food production by adapting cropping systems, farmers will need access to new and more diverse crop varieties. Therefore, the overarching aim of the Crop Diversity for Food Security in West Africa project is to strengthen the resilience of (female) farmers by diversifying and improving access to & production of their preferred seeds (including sorghum, pearl millet and their companion crops cowpea, groundnut, and Bambara nut). The longer-term aim is to catalyze the transition from short term emergency relief to self-reliance and resilience in local seed systems and support this in humanitarian action.

Main Objectives

The objective of this internship assignment is to understand and document experiences of farmer groups and cooperatives in Mali, and Nigeria with variety innovation, seed production and dissemination in their local areas, considering gender roles.

Tasks

For this internship you will work with the seeds systems and markets advisor, Mali and Nigeria country teams and the rest of the Seeds for Resilience program team with CRC. They will also link up with colleagues from the learning unit. Your main tasks and responsibilities will include:

• Explore and document achievements/lessons learned. To facilitate this you will be working with Oxfam country office colleagues and Mali and Nigeria partner organisations to collect data to documentation the results of the project and lessons learned;
• Case study articles: Based on telephone interviews with Mali and Nigeria teams, prepare and complete at least four short articles to be presented as case studies. Two of the case studies should capture stories of the experiences of individual farmers in the project as human-interest stories and build evidence for policy recommendations required for an Oxfam briefing paper.
• Support project: This will be in support of project implementation as needed and will also enable gaining an understanding of the dynamics of the project working with partners in West Africa.
• Participate in the Seeds for Resilience program team: you will be part of the team on daily basis and be involved in several ongoing trajectories

During the internship period, the intern will have the opportunity to engage with Oxfam staff working with different affiliates, in various country teams, and with the Seeds partner organizations.

Your Profile

• Currently following a master’s degree in food systems development or a related study
• A good understanding of seed systems and agrobiodiversity issues
• Experience with literature reviews, data collection and analysis
• Good command of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Power Point, Excel and Word)
• Good communication skills in English and French
• Strong planning and organizational skills and ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Highly motivated, result-oriented and a team player.

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants to the internships at Oxfam Novib must meet the following requirements:

• Be a student of 18 years or older
• Be enrolled at a Dutch educational institution (first level university degree, higher schools (HBO) or other) for the whole duration of the internship,
• This internship is formulated as work experience to develop an understanding of career objectives. Not meant to be a thesis internship
• Have the legal right to live and work in The Netherlands or be prepared to obtain the right to follow an internship as part of their study in the Dutch educational institution. A three-partite internship agreement (between Oxfam Novib, the educational institution and the student) will be signed to that effect.
• Have less than 3 years of relevant full-time work experience.
• Not having been in employment with Oxfam Novib previously.

Our Offer

An intern in Oxfam Novib is offered an internship contract for the duration of the internship based on 36 hours work week, pro-rated in case of less hours, and a monthly allowance. This allowance is €450,- per month, calculated pro rata. If the intern does not have a student OV card, a reimbursement of commuting costs will be offered. Oxfam Novib works on hybrid basis – partly from office, partly from home. Interns are expected to be on-site in The Hague at least two days a week, with remote work flexibility.

During the internship, the intern is supervised, overarching by the Project Coordinator (Connie Formson) with daily support of the seeds team lead (Eco Matser).

 Additional information

• If you have questions over this internship, please contact Connie Formson, (connie.formson@oxfamnovib.nl) or Eco Matser (eco.matser@oxfanovib.nl)
• Please note that an intern at Oxfam Novib must be enrolled as a student at a Dutch educational institution.
• Only applications submitted on Oxfam Novib website and before the deadline will be considered. If you are interested, please apply by no later than 30th of November 2024 by submitting your CV and cover letter using the “Apply” button below. Applications submitted by e-mail will not be considered.

• Oxfam Novib aims to attract great talent that not only fits the job but also Oxfam’s high standard of values and principles, who shares and demonstrates Oxfam’s commitment to prevent and eradicate any type of misconduct including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, any other type of misuse of power or lack of integrity and financial misconduct.
• We are committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.