Volunteer: Microfinance Project in South Africa

Location: Cape Town, South Africa OR Swaziland

Duration: 2-12 weeks

Cost: from 1514 GBP

Fee Includes: all food, accommodation, pre-departure + in-country support, orientation and all project related activities

Does not Include: flights, travel insurance, personal spending, visas and vaccinations

Benefits

* Setup and implement a micro finance initiative to address issues of poverty
* Bring knowledge and expertise to the project, whilst taking away hands-on experience
* Collaborate with our 6 Neighbourhood CarePoints to helpvulnerable and orphaned children

Please note: This opportunity is designed to give you the contacts and experience to help further your career. You are not replacing any member of staff, but helping alongside them, whilst learning new skills. Simply click the APPLY Button to submit your application, and ask as many questions as you need.

Introduction

The Kingdom of Swaziland has the worlds highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate which has taken its toll on the population leaving many children orphaned or vulnerable. It also has an unemployment rate of about 30% which rises to over 50% among the youth. These factors combine leading to approximately 63% of the population living below the poverty line. Social enterprise and small businesses are vital to help the economy and to bring income into families.

The project you will working with is setting up a micro finance initiative to address some of the issues mentioned above, and we need interns to set up, develop and implement the project. Whether you are looking for experience to further your career or looking to make a difference in a much needed part of the world, this internship is designed to be beneficial for all involved. Therefore if you have any special interests, skills or goals, let us know and we will do whatever we can to integrate them into the programme.

As an intern, your role with us is to bring knowledge and expertise to the project, whilst taking away hands-on experience and adding to your achievements. You will be working on a strategic level to develop local capacity so that the project can continue long after you have left. You will be expected to take on responsibility and to create goals that you will be involved in or lead. You will also have a mentor assigned to you to guide you throughout the internship.

Upon arrival, our team will assist you with getting started, meeting project partners, and advising you on next steps. You will then have the flexibility to create your own schedule with partners, and together create a plan of action of goals to achieve whilst working together. For this reason, it is important that the word partner remain key throughout the experience. Our interns have a world of expertise to offer, however all goals should be created together with the in-country partner so the outcomes are sustainable even after the intern returns home. We do not expect our interns to take on a job position, but rather take on the role of advisor ; offering advice, suggestions and assistance in creating strategies that will make long term impacts.

The focus of the Micro Finance Pilot and Development project will be to work in collaboration with our 6 Neighborhood CarePoints (NCPs), which operate in rural areas of Swaziland and cater to vulnerable and orphaned children. These NCPs were set up by the All Out Africa Foundation, in and effort to keep children stay in school longer, do better in school and hopefully influence their lives as adults. These NCPs are community based facilities and include assistance from local volunteers in the form of cooking staff, teachers and assistance who often work towards our common goals with little to no incentive. The Micro Finance project offers these local volunteers a way to earn an income. This internship would assist the NCP and Sponsorship Coordinator in designing a marketing workshop/ educational to interested parties, and develop of system of evaluation to award a new micro finance loan to a new community group. Interns would also provide additional support and continued learning after the loan was awarded to increase success of the business en devour.

Some of the activities you may get involved in may include:

* Assisting with the development of guidelines for the project
* Facilitate educational trainings about basic marketing techniques such as bookkeeping, profit analysis, product development, branding etc
* Support the NCP Coordinator in conducting basic data analysis
* Prepare periodic evaluation reports for AOA Swazi office

Please note: all information above is subject to change. Please check the most up to date information on the Global Nomadic website when applying. Simply follow the link on the Apply Button above.