Power Trade Intern - West Africa Energy Modelling

Focus of the Role

The work location will either be Accra, Ghana or Kigali, Rwanda

The Intern will be a member of TBI’s Energy Practice. The Practice consists of nine experienced advisors providing embedded support to to Government’s across the continent:

· Gives exposure to working at the heart of a fast-paced African government;

· Is about working as a part of a wider team across government, offering exposure to different agency roles and elements of the investment promotion process;

· Offers coaching and mentoring from experienced TBI Advisors and Country Head; and

· Provides an opportunity to engage directly both the public and private sectors.

Job Introduction

TBI’s Energy Practice have recently undertaken a detailed modelling of the power systems of West and East Africa and concluded that around $30Bn of savings could be achieved through more effective power trade in West Africa alone. There are technical, commercial and political barriers to this trade but one of the more fundamental challenges is access to the information on where surpluses and deficits are likely to occur to help Governments plan.

The Intern will work alongside TBI Energy Practice and turn this modelling / analysis into an interactive online tool which can help policy makers both within West Africa and from Donor organizations not just understand the macro level benefits of power trade but also to identify specific transactions that could save millions of dollars for countries in the region.

Key Responsibilities

The Intern will support the TBI team and their government counterparts through:

• Designing and delivering an interactive online tool to display the complex information to decision makers such as Government officials
• Provide training and capacity building to ERERA (the West Africa Regional Power Regulator) to use and edit the tool.
• Establish simple robust processes for data management, to ensure that relevant national data such as on Generation investments, availability of resources such as gas or hydro or projected energy demand.
• Identify enhancements to the tool though engagement with Government officials.

Person Specification

• Currently pursuing a master’s degree in IT, electrical engineering or similar.
• Ideally 2-3 years of experience developing visual user interfaces, database management.
• Strong analytical skills, including sound knowledge of data analysis
• Knowledge of power systems / power trading an advantage.
• Strong communications skills, including delivering high quality presentations as well as effective cross-cultural and interpersonal communication
• Effective inter-personal and leadership skills. Team player with an ability to develop and foster relationships with counterparts across a large organization
• Above all, we are looking for individuals with high levels of enthusiasm, resilience, and a can-do attitude. Experience of living and working in developing countries is desirable but not essential

About The Institute

At the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change we are dedicated to making globalisation work for the many, not the few. We do this by helping countries, their people and their governments, address some of the most difficult challenges in the world today – beginning with those where we think we can break new ground, offering leaders new thinking and new approaches. Our staff – over 200 of them, based all over the world – are working on some of the most intractable problems around issues of co-existence, governance, the peace process in the Middle East and renewing the centre.