KOUNKUEY DESIGN INITIATIVE

POSITION: 2012 SUMMER COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INTERNSHIP

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Language: Fluency in English (Kishwahili a plus)

Dates: June 2012 September 2012

Application Due: March 6, 2012

Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) is an innovative international partnership specializing in the practices of architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, and urban planning. We partner with residents of impoverished areas to develop and implement design solutions that improve physical, economic, and social quality of life. We call these low-cost, high impact environments - Productive Public Spaces. Our practice is rooted in participatory design and planning. By working collaboratively with communities from conception through implementation we build on their ideas, enhance them with technical knowledge and design innovation, and connect them to extant resources.

Since 2006, KDI has been working in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenyas largest slum. Kibera is the largest informal settlement in Sub-Saharan Africa. Home to approximately one million residents in thirteen villages, it occupies a space two kilometers from downtown Nairobi that is two-thirds the size of New York Citys Central Park. Kibera has no formal trash collections system or dumping site and only one toilet per 250 people. Most families live on one dollar a day and unemployment is over 50 percent. Land tenure is particularly precarious in Kibera.

KDI now has two completely constructed and operating Productive Public Spaces in Kibera and one more Productive Public Space slated for completion in early 2012. We will be rolling out three additional projects during 2012-13. Each project combines basic amenities like toilets, community centers and water, with spaces for economic activity like vending kiosks and community gardens. We work with community groups to build both the physical structures and the businesses that will operate at the site, as work with them to ensure they are able to sustainably operate and manage the site.

The Community Development intern will working closely with a community group at one of our new sites, to help leaders create organizational strategies and structures, and develop and implement action plans for the growth of their site and group. The intern will also work with the groups to document their results. Previous interns in this position have helped groups: organize politically to secure land tenure; develop operations and maintenance plans/structures for their site; and develop accounting and banking systems for residents. The Community Development intern will gain substantive, hands on experience in community building, international development and outreach.

QUALIFICATIONS

·       Current Graduate or Undergraduate student in Urban Planning, International Development or related field.

·       Experience in setting up organizational structures, policies and procedures.

·       Excellent understanding of participatory planning principles.

·       Experience in community organizing.

·       Experience in management or operations, a plus.

·       Experience working in development in low-income communities, a plus.

COMPENSATION

Though this is an unpaid position, we are able to provide interns with lodging and we may be able to assist you in finding outside funding.