City’s Environmental Internship Programme celebrates successes

The City of Cape Town’s 2012 Environmental Internship Programme culminated with an awards ceremony on Friday 22 February 2013 at the Kristo Pienaar Education Centre in the Tygerberg Nature Reserve. The following environmental interns received awards:

Most Outstanding Interns of 2012:

• · Aidan Esau
• · Kate Posthumus
• · Nicole Georgiou
• · Nusrat Harnekar
• · Vernon Moonsamy

Best Written Assignment: Matthew Moody

Best Oral Presentation in a Group: Mark de Wet

On Friday 1 March 2013, 42 new interns will start work within the City of Cape Town’s Departments of Environmental Resource Management; Planning and Building Development Management; Urban Design and Spatial Planning; Economic Development; Strategic Development Information and GIS; and the World Design Capital 2014 Programme.

These interns will work in areas such as biodiversity management; coastal and heritage resource management; environmental compliance; nature conservation; environmental communications and education; urban design; landscape architecture; sustainable livelihoods; sustainable transport planning; planning and building development; and quality public spaces, knowledge management and GIS.

The programme is in its eighth year and has proven its success and effectiveness in producing exceptional young professionals. In some instances, interns have contributed to the development and implementation of strategic programmes and projects in the City during their one-year stay. Since its inception, more than 40 interns have been employed by the City and several are employed by the Western Cape Government, various National Government Departments, private companies and non-governmental organisations.

Each intern is placed with a specific City employee who manages and mentors them for a 12-month period. Although highly qualified in a specific environmental field, the intern is usually fresh out of university and often lacks practical workplace skills and experience.

“These interns are some of the most driven and professional people I have met. Their commitment to public service, alongside their passion for environmental conservation and sustainability, is coupled with a deep knowledge and ever-growing expertise that is of enormous benefit to the City and its residents,” said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Economic, Environmental and Spatial Planning, Councillor Garreth Bloor.

As part of the overall programme, there is a comprehensive training, capacity-building and support programme for the interns. The aim of this component is to provide the group of interns with ongoing support that includes mentoring, skills development, practical exposure to real-life situations on the ground, and specialised training. This enhances, reinforces and strengthens both their academic knowledge and their practical skills during the course of their year-long internship contract with the City.

A well-established and comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system is also part of the programme. It is very thorough and ensures that the programme can be shaped and modified continually to obtain optimal outcomes for everyone involved.