***THIS YEAR'S INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP INTAKE IS FULL. TO APPLY FOR A POSITION IN 2014 PLEASE SEND APPLICATIONS FROM SEPTEMBER 2013 ONWARDS. KENYAN APPLICATIONS STILL BEING ACCEPTED ***
INTERNSHIPS
Each year, we accept a small number of interns and volunteers to Save the Elephants in Kenya. From 2014, program will run in two cycles. We will accept applications for internships between January to July from the 1st August until 30th September, and then from 1st March to 30th April for the August to November period. If you are interested in applying for an internship please read this document carefully to understand your options. Please contact us to apply by emailing your CV and a cover letter at interns@savetheelephants.org
In a nutshell:
Internships: 1-2 month professional placements with a specific research project in Kenya, designed for university students or graduates pursuing a career in conservation, with skills in scientific data collection and analysis. We don't encourage school pupils or pre-university gap year students to apply. Intern costs are heavily subsidised by STE, we ask for a minimum donation of US$35 per day to cover your food, water, accommodation, and Internet usage. You are required to do your own laundry. Interns are required to cover the costs of international flights, full medical insurance, country visas, internal flights/transport and personal spending money.
Save the Elephant Professional Internships - Kenya
Who can apply for an Internship? Our interns are over 18 years of age and are selected by their academic qualifications as listed on their CV’s and cover letters explaining why they want to work for STE and, in particular, what skills they can offer our organisation. We normally expect our interns to be studying a degree at a reputable university in the fields of zoology, biological sciences, environmental sciences or geography and to be intent on pursuing a career in this field. Most of our interns come to us during the long summer university holidays and we prioritise students nearing the end of their degrees. We are particularly interested in accepting postgraduates and career-break interns who are trying to get more experience in the field of conservation biology and ecology or who may be interested in doing Phd research. We do accept interns in our Nairobi Head Office who can help us with fundraising, marketing, website and office based projects such as managing our African Elephant Library. Interns have come to us from all over the world including Kenya, USA, UK, Australia, Netherlands and Germany.
How Many Internship positions are there each year? We have up to 12 internships positions available at Save the Elephants every year and these are usually divided half/half between international and Kenyan interns. The most competitive internships are the months of June-September each year. Potential candidates should apply for the summer internship program before the end of April but earlier applications are considered and good applications will be accepted before the end of April. We accept applications all year round and internships usually start on the 1st Monday of each month.
How long is the STE Internship? We require interns to commit to at least 1 month of work. Depending on the project work assigned to you, this may be spent in either Nairobi or our Samburu research camp. Most Nairobi interns will have an opportunity to visit the Samburu research camp during their time in Kenya. The longest intern we have had volunteered for us for 6 months.
What will I be doing? STE internships are highly competitive and therefore we only select the best candidates. We would put you onto at least one main project that fits your experience, interest and skills base. This varies enormously from year to year and from intern to intern. Have a read of our website and past intern’s experiences to learn more about the project work conducted at STE of which you could be a part of.
Can I do a Masters project as an STE intern? Yes, we have managed to work with MSc students in the past to help them complete a discrete project in the time available. MSc students should provide us with their course details, the structure needed for their research project and the topic area. We are not able to accommodate all applications from MSc students so you should apply to us in plenty of time if you wish to complete your own project during your internship. Please note that the biggest constraint is an MSc student who needs to use our research vehicles to collect their data. This is very difficult to accommodate around all our other research commitments and we recommend that MSc students fundraise to hire their own 4x4 from Nairobi for the duration of their fieldwork data collection. This enables greater flexibility to conduct your research and we can help you to find a personal field assistant to assist you with data collection. Please note that we will only support MSc projects that fit within STE’s mission and research aims.
How much do I have to raise for an Internship? Overseas interns will have to raise funds to pay for their international flight to and from Kenya and for a return flight from Nairobi to Samburu. This internal flight is 1.5 hours and usually costs around US$290. Interns working at the Samburu Research Camp need to raise a minimum of US$35 per night that they stay at the camp. This is a heavily subsidised contribution towards your food, drinking water, accommodation, laundry, security, internet access and any equipment that is used to collect data. Interns usually manage to raise an extra donation on top of their daily camp fee to support the ongoing work of STE but this is not compulsory. US$5 from your daily camp fee is put into a fund to support the costs of Kenyan interns who apply to Save the Elephants but who are not able to raise the funds. This fund enables us to fully subsidise one Kenyan intern for every 2-3 overseas interns that we accept. Kenyan applicants who are financially unable to pay our subsidised camp fee should apply in the usual way with a CV and cover letter but explaining your financial constraints.
What should I bring? We will send you a more comprehensive list of equipment once you are accepted as an intern. However, you should expect to bring a laptop with wireless internet capabilities, a good camera with zoom lens, a pair of binoculars, a GPS and a comprehensive first aid kit. Please note that interns with any kind of medical or physical condition must inform us with full details during the application process.
What happens after my Internship is over? Every intern is responsible for writing a brief report to the wardens of Samburu and Buffalo Springs Reserve describing the activities undertaken. This should be submitted before leaving the reserves. In addition we ask most interns to prepare an A1 poster on his or her project work and to submit a small paragraph for our Annual Report, which is published every September. Any MSc interns should post us a full copy of their complete thesis with appropriate acknowledgements. Interns often help our long-term researchers with data analysis or collection. Occasionally we will publish papers or reports on this data and there may be a chance for exceptional interns to be listed as authors or acknowledged on research papers. Several interns have returned for a second year after successful completion of a first internship. We are very grateful for interns who go on to help us with fundraising activities in their own countries once they return home.