About EPRI’s Internship Programme

What do interns do?

The majority of EPRI’s current projects focus on social protection. Broadly speaking, this means policies and programs that are designed to reduce poverty and vulnerability by providing assistance to groups who need special care, or by helping people protect themselves against hazards and loss of assets or income.

Interns at EPRI contribute to a variety of quantitative and qualitative projects. Recent interns have:

• contributed to a large-scale impact evaluation of South Africa’s child support grant;
• provided research assistance to a feasibility study on expanding the developmental impact of social security payments mechanisms for grant beneficiaries in South Africa;
• analysed national data-sets to determine the reach of various HIV-sensitive social protection programmes to vulnerable households within five African countries;
• explored viable policy options for the “vertical expansion” of the South African Child Support Grant (CSG);
• helped research, write and edit a 20 year review of social protection programmes in South Africa;
• worked with South African Members of Parliament enrolled in EPRI’s Parliamentary Capacity Building Programme

What background does an intern need?

EPRI interns are both undergraduate and master’s-level students, and have come from a variety of academic backgrounds, including economics, political economy, political science, development, and social policy.

Successful research interns have exhibited either strong qualitative skills and/or strong quantitative skills.Applicants with excellent command of English (written and spoken) and advanced experience with writing and editing have an advantage. A background in econometrics, statistics and knowledge of STATA or any other statistical package is particularly useful. While interns do not need working knowledge of social protection, prior experience in social protection research, monitoring and evaluation offers an advantage.

Interning in Cape Town

Cape Town offers a unique socio-economic context for interns to grapple with key issues of social justice in addressing the legacy of apartheid. Coupled with the research they engage with at EPRI, interns personally encounter and learn about globalization from a perspective that is unfamiliar to most– one where opportunities for a better future struggle with realities of dramatically uneven levels of development and prosperity. One of the most unequal societies in the world, South Africa is a microcosm of the new global village, with all its opportunities and risks.

Interns are welcome to either arrange their internship through a coordinating agency, such as Connect 123 or the Volunteer Adventure Corps, which help arrange accommodation and organise weekend activities, or to arrange the internship directly with EPRI. If arranging directly with EPRI, interns should contact internship@epri.org.za for more information about housing and other logistics.

The EPRI offices are very near Cape Town’s bus, mini-taxi and train routes, and interns can travel safely to and from work via public transport during normal work hours.

How do I apply?

If you are interested in interning at EPRI, please ensure that your application includes the following documents/information and send a completed application to internship@epri.org.za.

• A 2 (two) page Curriculum Vitae
• A full transcript of your academic qualifications from each post-high school educational institution you have attended, detailing the courses you have taken and the grades you obtained for those courses (official or unofficial versions accepted)
• A writing sample of a maximum of 5 (five) pages on a topic of your choosing
• The dates you would be available to intern at EPRI (specific start date and end date)
• A 2 (two) page cover letter that outlines what you are able to offer the organisation during your internship and what you expect to accomplish/ gain/ learn on this internship
• Your personal and contact information.

Kindly note the following regarding the Internship Programme at EPRI:

• The Internship offers no remuneration.
• The Internship is based in Cape Town, South Africa.
• The Internship does not offer any formal assistance with housing.
• The minimum duration of the internship is 10 (ten) weeks of full-time work.
• Applications are dealt with on a rolling basis; if you are considering applying at a peak-application time (May-August), try applying as early as possible.

You will receive a confirmation email within a week of submission. If you do not receive this email, please re-submit your application to the same email address.