HELP International

2012 Green Technologies Development Volunteer Internship Program

I) Introduction
HELP International’s volunteer internship program offers a four to six
month volunteer internship program at HELP International’s farm based
Center for Ecology Research and Training at Weyburn, Saskatchewan,
Canada. The program is open to both international and Canadian interns.

The internship provides aggressive on-the-job apprenticeship training,

leading green research opportunities and HELP Certification for hands on
expertise gained in a wide range of green technologies, appropriate
technologies, modern technologies, combined with on-the-job training in
logistics, performance management and NGO administration and finance.
The program covers a wide range of applied research and programming in
green and modern technologies relating to forestry, horticulture, construction
and recycling technologies (depending upon the season). The program
focuses on HELP's mandate of developing and modeling a method for
communities to live sustainably. This model employs simple new
technologies for manufacturing new products or buildings from waste,
proliferating trees at low to zero cost and in proving the efficacy of trees and
other plants in a wide range of phytoremediation applications for salinity
control, nutrient recycling, and habitat development. The program also
develops and models low cost intensive organic farming techniques for
small holder and subsistence farms.

II) History of the Program

The program has been running for 19 years since HELP's inception in
1993/94 and has hosted several dozen interns from Africa, Asia, Europe,
Canada and the far north.

The program currently negotiates volunteer internships for periods from

four to six months year round with the bulk of forestry and horticulture
programming applicable for the April through October period.

About HELP International

The voluntary non-governmental organization HELP International was
founded by an emergency aid worker who had worked with large scale
programs in the UN, WUSC and CARE International in war zones and
drought stricken countries of Africa. The founder believed and continues to
prove that it is possible to carry out more effective aid and poverty
alleviation at far lower cost with far more sustainable results for both human
communities and the natural environment.

In Canada, HELP created a five part environmental protection program

designed for communities to live sustainably. HELP carried out portions of
this program with 15 rural and twelve urban Canadian municipalities which
resulted in:
a) The largest stream margin forestation of cultivated stream margins in
Canada with 220 km of stream margins forested so far.
b) The first living landfill forest caps and landfill forest filters in Canada.
c) Salinity Reversal Applied Research: The first field trials that proved
that trees can reverse severe soil salinity in as little as seven years.
d) Effluent Irrigation: The first woodlots for community wide effluent
irrigation in Saskatchewan.
e) The first zero waste research facility in Canada where applied
research is carried out to convert 100% of household waste into new
products.

In Kenya, Africa HELP focused its attention on two problems that have
defied solution for government, NGOs and private industry. These
included slum conversion and devastating deforestation. In these two
areas, the small Weyburn based organization HELP has achieved the
following:
a) Carried out a slum conversion program involving acquiring land
tenure for slum residents; compound housing and school construction,
zero waste community management, urban forestation and more than
a dozen recycling micro enterprise start ups.
b) Carried out a national agro forestry program in fourteen districts
involving circa 450 communities.
c) Designed and implemented a forestation and food security program
for arid land districts.

Both major programs in Kenya involved organizing both urban homes and
rural farms into predominantly women led home associations for purposes of
training, programming, marketing and accessing group credit.
 III) Location of Internship
The program operates on HELP’s ten acre riverside property just outside
Weyburn, Saskatchewan. Dozens of deer inhabit the property. Adjacent
properties include the Weyburn Riding Club. HELP’s property referred to
as: Center for Ecology Research and Training (CERT) includes the
following:

A Simulated African Village (seven mud and thatch houses) where students
live and work for one to three day sessions during the June program.

Two guest houses plus two cabins for intern accommodation.

Other buildings for instruction and waste industries.

Interns participate with HELP in carrying out partnership forestry on private

and public properties in communities throughout the southern half of
Saskatchewan.

IV) Certificate Program

The program provides HELP Certification in five levels.
Level One: Novice: The intern has been introduced to the safe use of select
technologies which the certificate recognizes.
Level Two: Intermediate: The intern has the ability to work with the
technology efficiently and safely under supervision.
Level Three: Proficient: The intern has worked independently on a number
of occasions in the proficient, safe and effective, organized use of select
technologies or methodologies, site set up, clean up and the maintenance and
logistics associated with that technology and its products.
Level Four: Trainer: The intern has taught others in a number of occasions in
the safe, efficacious use of technologies or methodologies that the certificate
recognizes and takes care of the post production care of products, equipment
associated with the technology.
Level Five: Innovator: The intern has completed level one to five and has
additionally assisted in an innovation of the technology or methodology that
is considered by HELP to be strategic.
Level Six: Inventor: The intern has created the drawings and actual
prototype for what HELP considers to be a new strategic green technology
or methodology.
 V) Challenging Programming Environment
This volunteer environmental internship program is considered the most
aggressive and challenging in Canada and is not for everyone. HELP looks
for physically/emotionally/psychologically robust people who are service-
driven and who have significant life experience to show they can handle
serious challenges and steep learning curves. Farm background,
environmental sciences background or human service background are
serious assets.

Many less seasoned interns find the physical demands, the sometimes hot
sometimes cold/dry/windy climate and the wide diversity of programming
very challenging for them. Many interns thrive in this environment, others
with little or no significant work experience would might find the program
too challenging for them.

Sharing of Domestic Duties

HELP is run by community volunteers and volunteer interns. All volunteers
and interns share all domestic duties including cooking, cleaning, site
maintenance. When properly organized select interns can be relieved early
from work sites to prepare meals and carry out other maintenance as part of
the work day.

Interns and Community Volunteers as Managers

HELP wants good managers rather than good subordinates. The program
therefor seeks people who are self directed. Let us use the simple example
of a driver in our Kenya operation. The driver is not considered a driver but
the manager of transportation services which implies far more such as
vehicle servicing, cleaning, fueling….knowing and managing itineraries of
various people who have transportation needs….knowing protocol for
airport pickups etc. Imagine in your more advanced mature intern positions
what manager would mean.

Interns as Research Leaders

Each intern is asked to select one or two items of research to be in charge of
in addition to their normal group green activities. Each intern takes up new
green research considered strategic to HELP and the intern and his or her
sponsoring institution or organization in their home country. Each and every
intern is given their own green sector or sub-sector to head up which can
consume between 10 and 20% of their time at HELP depending upon the
sector. Sector manager interns (meaning all interns) sometimes are required
to carry out their responsibilities alone (under the coaching and supervision
of the HELP CEO). Interns will be expected to delegate their roles to other
interns if they must be absent from the center and to negotiate when they
need larger team support in their sector. All this is done under the training,
coaching and quality control back up from the CEO or more experienced
interns.

VI) Outline of HELP’s Programming Season in Canada

A) April 1 to 15
1) De-winterizing of the ten acre farm based Center for Ecology Research
and Training (which has a similar appearance to seasonal camps) occurs in
early April.
2) Harvesting cuttings from stooling beds and other trees.
3) Attending farm auctions to acquire adaptive technology and materials for
HELP programs.
4) Facilities construction and ongoing zero waste recycling industry.

B) April 15 to May 31
Intensive field forestry (phytoremediation) with a range of private and
municipal partners typically occurs from mid April to end May.

C) June 1 to 31
Intensive live in school programs at HELP’s Center for Ecology Research
and Training (CERT). This involves the training of students in a wide
diversity of a combination of traditional, appropriate and green technology
practice and research.

D) July 1 through August 31

Setting up and maintaining a low cost outdoor 100,000 tree proliferation
nursery. Some of this corresponds with the seeding out period of various tree
species so some of this work will also occur in May and June for elm and
cotton wood for example. Sign up landowners for forestry in fall 2011 and
2012.

E) September 1 to October 31
1) Fall Forestry
a) Carry out installation of up to 50,000 trees, and with grass and
mulch.
 b) Assess this year’s forestation installations and recommend follow on
programming on these sites for the next season.

2) Winterizing strategy for nursery tree stock

F) November 1 to 30
Harvesting cuttings from HELP stooling beds.
Cutting cuttings to size and placing them into styrofoam blocks.
Produce nursery soil and fill styrofoam blocks.

Note: Six month internship programs normally start on or before May 1.

Additional programming that runs throughout all the above seasons

1) reception of voluntarily delivered community waste
2) sorting milling, processing and packaging of new products from waste
3) Construction: building cabins or upgrading existing privately owned
or HELP owned buildings using modern and recycled
materials/processes
4) managing zero waste in HELP living quarters (includes separation of
waste in houses, maintaining organic pits as well as vermiculture)
5) Maintaining and documenting current low cost tree proliferation
experiments
a) watering and measuring growth rate of tree nursery (hybrid
poplar, elm, cariganna, evergreen and more)
b) documenting variety of silviculture experiments i.e.: differential
growth rate of poplars potted in variable size containers and
many more.
6) Management of HELP's recycling program
a) Sorting, cutting, bundling wood
b) monitoring and aiding composting materials dropped off.
c) try out new HELP technology i.e.: motorized paper mill/plastic
extruder
d) mill stryrofoam.
e) Produce potting soils, mulch pads etc
7) Carrying out residual live ecology camps and eco park and field tours.

VII) Setting and Maintaining World Class Performance Standards

Performance standards are set by several means:
Commercial Standards in the industry
 Government Regulatory standards
Past high expectation of program partners
Seasonal Strategic Plans (as noted in A to F above)
Weekly to Monthly Group Planning Sessions (using MBOs setting
and reviews of same)
Weekly to Monthly: Formal written and verbal narrative feedback
sessions that cover a multitude of areas of the intern’s ongoing
experience.
Daily Activity Tracking System

VIII) Caliber of Volunteer Interns Sought

Minimum qualifications: University or Technical Degree and/or in a post
secondary institution requiring an attachment (internship) for course
completion.

The program looks for mature, hard working individuals who can handle
adverse climatic and work conditions, and a wide range of learning
opportunities. The program can involve the use of over one hundred
technologies from operating a car and truck, tractors, cultivation equipment,
mowers, mills, simple appro-tech brick press, roof tile form, fiberboard
maker, tree planter, tree mulch applicator, power tools: wood saws, drills,
presses, metal chop saw, arc and oxy-acetylene, welder, plus traditional
technologies such as mud and thatch house building, traditional tool making
and stone carving. This all forms part of an understanding of where we have
come from and what decisions our societies have made along the way that
brought us to where we are. Armed with this in-depth understanding, we
can make confident new informed decisions for helping communities
develop ways of living sustainably into the future.

So the people we need are those who can handle great diversity in the
program and those who can handle and thrive on a steep learning curve. The
interns must be able to be willing to be corrected several dozens of times due
to trying so many new things. Making small mistakes and being corrected is
normal and the intern needs to be patient with themselves as well as with
their coach and their host organization.

Note: HELP is also open to one or two interns who have interests and
capabilities in HRD, marketing and finance.
 IX) Intern Obligations
The following is the sole responsibility and financing of the prospective
volunteer intern:
i) obtaining of passports
ii) travel permits
iii) any health clearances
iv) payment of their own airfare to and from Regina,
Saskatchewan.
v) Payment to HELP of CAN$1,000 Retainer fee (returnable only
upon completion of full program AND return to country of
origin)
vi) give 40 dedicated hours of volunteer internship work per week
vii) In off time, share household cooking, cleaning, zero waste
duties with the HELP team in residence.

X) HELP Obligations
i) Providing an engagement letter and a letter to the Canadian
High Commission to familiarize them with the program
suggested visa category etc.
ii) Accommodation, food and a small volunteer stipend of $5/day
iii) Certificates and/or a detailed performance assessment are
provided for technologies mastered while in the program.
iv) Ongoing field supervision, coaching, technology and safety
training are provided.

XI) How to Apply

If you are interested in joining the program for a portion of the 2011 season
which runs year round but the main season from April 1 to September please
provide:
1) Application letter giving compelling reasons of what you can contribute
to HELP programming and research and concretely what you hope to
gain.
2) Resume including
3) two letters of recommendation to HELP from former employers (one
may be from a post secondary school instructor) vouching for your good
character, your work ethic, your ability to work well with others, and
your expertise). This is not required if you are recommended in writing
by your university or polytechnic for an attachment that fulfills an
official requirement of your university or polytechnic.
4) One page biography of your family background and life experiences.
5) Application/Declaration of Intent filled out and scan emailed to HELP.
6) You must identify areas of research considered most strategic to yourself
and/or your collaborating organization or university.
7) Send the above in electronic form to rsidloski@help-international.com

Each application goes through three screenings relating to:

Potential to contribute
Potential to gain
Potential to transfer skills and carry out follow on programs in their
own country or region.
Maturity/durability/proven evidence of work ethic and physical fitness
Ability to live and work in group to create a safe, happy, productive
program
Ability to work without supervision
Commitment and Dedication
Sincerity of Application/Ruling out non-HELP program motives for
applying

Acceptance
Formal acceptance is legalized by an approval letter and Volunteer
Engagement Contract including length of internship agreement, research
areas of interest, terms of reference for the program, volunteer declaration,
research disclosure and mutual liability waiver signed by the applicant and
HELP.

Find more information about HELP on our website: www.help-

international.com