The City of Cape Town’s 2011 Environmental Internship Programme culminated with an award ceremony on Friday 24 February at the Royal Cape Yacht Club.
The following environmental interns received awards:
- Most Outstanding Intern of 2011: Helen Curran
- Best Written Assignment: Saul Roux
- Best Oral Presentation in a group: Verusha Suknandan
- Awards for their Outstanding Contribution to the Internship Programme: Cassandra Sprague, John Thorpe, Kirsten Nortje and Winston Harris
On Thursday 1 March 2012, 31 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; and Sustainable Transport.
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.
The programme is in its seventh year and has proven its success and effectiveness in producing exceptional young professionals. Since its inception, more than 35 interns have been employed by the City and several are employed by the Provincial Government of the Western Cape, various National Government Departments, private companies and NGOs.
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.
As part of the overall programme, there is a comprehensive 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.
