ILCU Foundation: International Internship Programme

The ILCU Foundation is a registered Irish charity that supports the development of credit unions and other cooperative projects in Africa and Eastern Europe.
CCA (Canadian Cooperative Association) is a national association for co-operatives in Canada, representing more than seven million co-operative and credit union members, which also supports credit union development in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

About the Internship
The ILCU Foundation and CCA work in partnership on credit union projects in Africa and the Internship Programme is the most recent collaboration for both of these organizations.  This programme is an excellent opportunity to work overseas  whereby each intern receives a monthly allowance to cover travel and living expenses for the six-month overseas placement.  Therefore this is not a paid role.  The chosen candidate will also receive the opportunity to travel to Ottawa, Canada in advance of the programme to participate in training seminars in preparation for the placement.  In Canada the Irish intern will meet the 11 other Canadian Interns.  The interns will be working in various countries in Africa and Asia.  The Irish intern will be placed in Mongolia.

Location of the Internship – Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Description of Host Organization - The Mongolian Co-operative Training and Information Centre (MCTIC) was established as an NGO in 1998 to promote and strengthen co-operatives and the co-operative sector in Mongolia and is now well established in its role as a national leader. MCTIC provides training and access to information for members, managers and boards of co-operatives throughout Mongolia, and to others such as government that impact the co-operative sector. ILCUF and CCA are now supporting an internship through the primary co-operatives in Mongolia to focus on poor and vulnerable people, primarily female headed households, to consolidate their learning and progress to date, and to strengthen their skills and access to markets.
Length of placement - 6 months, starting at the end of September 2010

Job Description – The intern, under the supervision of the Executive Director of MCTIC will implement the following activities:
Improve and develop the project training handouts together with trainers which will be held in next couple of years
Work on the consistency and integration of training materials from various sources to ensure a unified and adapted training curriculum
Conduct training of trainer sessions to improve facilitation skills of subject experts
Work onsite with primary Credit Unions in Mongolia requiring assistance in the areas of finance, management or government reporting and data collection
Document best practices and lessons learned from the credit unions in Mongolia.

Qualifications - The Credit Union Development Officer will need to have the following qualifications:
1.    Undergraduate degree from a recognised university or have equivalent experience
2.    Strong familiarity with microfinance and specifically the credit union model
3.    Understanding of cooperatives or member-based business enterprises
4.    Ability to communicate and effectively interact with people of different cultures.

Eligibility Criteria - To be eligible for the ILCU Foundation and CCA Internship Programme, an intern must:
Be an Irish citizen or permanent resident legally entitled to work in Ireland
Be a university graduate or have equivalent experience
Be willing to work for the ILCU Foundation on return from the Internship programme on a 6-month paid contract role, if an opportunity arises
Ideally be experienced in developing and performing training sessions.

Deadline - Please submit an application form, cover letter, CV and two reference forms to Margaret Byrne by post to ILCU Foundation, 33-41 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2 or by email to mbyrne@creditunion.ie by 30th July 2010.  Application and reference forms are attached.

Attachment
Internship Programme - Application Form - MONGOLIA.doc
Internship Programme - Reference Form - MONGOLIA.doc