One Year Fixed Term internship:
Supporting an integrated systemic resilience approach to
natural resource management in the Olifants River Basin
AWARD, Hoedspruit Limpopo

This internship opportunity is offered through the Association for Water & Rural Development (AWARD; www.award.org.za) under the 5-year RESILIM programme. AWARD is a research-based NGO that has had a 15 year focus on water resources policy, management and livelihoods. More recently we have an increased focus on biodiversity. We work on systemic and social learning approaches to water issues at local and catchment-scales at both national and international levels (mainly water-sharing between South Africa and Mozambique).

Some examples of key areas of focus have included:
• Understanding the relationship between wetlands and livelihoods;
• Understanding factors that enable and constrain water resources management in the Lowveld
rivers;
• Guidelines for the Catchment Management Strategies that are to be developed by all CMAs in
South Africa;
• Understanding the role of social learning and collective action in water resources management;
• Developing and testing approaches to examining water-related ecosystems services;
• Developing and testing a Wise Use approach for wetlands within the context of Working for
Wetlands.

AWARD has recently been awarded a 5-year grant from USAID known as RESILIM (Resilience in the
Limpopo Basin). The objective of the programme is to improve trans-boundary management of the
Limpopo River Basin resulting in enhanced resiliency of people and ecosystems. This will be addressed
through:
1. Reducing vulnerability to climate change through improved water resource management;
2. Conserving biodiversity and ecosystems; and
3. Building stakeholder capacity to undertake and sustain (i) and (ii).

We will focus specifically on the Olifants Basin which is an international watercourse shared between
South Africa and Mozambique. RESILIM-O is a SAPECS-affiliated project – for more information please visit the RESILIM-O project page on the SAPECS website.

The internship opportunity: Supporting an integrated systemic resilience approach natural resource management 
In the second year of the research phase, AWARD will continue building an integrated systemic picture of natural resources in the Olifants River Basin as a basis to strengthen natural resource management practices that build resilience. AWARD has commissioned research on drivers of change of the natural resources in the Olifants, ranging from climate change and the political economy to mining, agriculture, and waste water treatment works, to understand how these drivers affect natural resources, ecosystem services, and human well-being.

The intern will analyze and synthesize some of this commissioned research to be incorporated into an assessment about which natural resources and related livelihoods are vulnerable, which AWARD calls a resilience assessment. The intern will further support the resilience assessment tasks by developing and narrating diagrams showing the casual links between characteristics of the natural resources, ecosystem services, and outcomes in the basin and determining the likely impact of various future scenarios. This support includes desk-top research, scribing for meetings, and organizing materials for field visits.

The final two aspects of the internship are: reporting regularly on current practices of natural resource management and providing support for the organizations governing water resources. This support includes coordinating meetings and workshops, assisting in writing reports, and presenting about the RESILIM-O project at meetings with strategic partners. They will work as part of a broader team.

For more information, please download the full advert here.

NOTE: THE APPLICATION DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL 24 MARCH 2015.