Start Date: 1 April 2025

Vision and Role

Good Governance Africa is a research and advocacy think tank. Our vision is to drive improved governance performance across the continent to deliver broad-based social and economic benefits for all citizens.

As an intern at GGA, you will be part of the Governance Insights and Analytics (GIA) team. This is an entry-level position. Your primary objective will be to support the GIA team in a variety of tasks, including secondary data collection, data cleaning, analysis and visualisations. These will relate to taking a data-driven approach to understanding various governance, social, demographic, economic and political issues relevant to the continent. Where relevant to these tasks, writing (descriptive) will be required. You will report to the Head of Programme: Governance Insights and Analytics at the GGA SADC centre. The role also requires close work with the GIA programme’s Senior Data Analyst. The intern position will be based in Johannesburg. Travel will occasionally be required. The terms of your contract are limited to 20 hours per week.

Responsibilities and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

  • Provide quantitative analysis and development support to the GIA team.
  • Provide GGA research teams with insights into how legal frameworks impact critical aspects of governance, policy frameworks, and economic development.
  • Assist the GIA team with the development of the Governance Performance Index (GPI), a method of evaluating local government performance. You will also participate in a post-production methodological review of the existing South African GPI.
  • Support work on commissioned research projects GGA is responsible for undertaking. This includes profiling major urban centres in the region.
  • Write at least one op-ed article per year and substantively contribute to the GIA team’s annual Intelligence Report (designed for the private sector to aid corporate investment decision-making), and annual Policy Briefing (designed to inform policymakers on governance issues pertinent to individual countries or regional economic communities).
  • Ensure timeous submission of monthly reports and quarterly reviews in accordance with the standard operating procedures specifying how these are to be written.
  • Produce other data visualisations – and brief description/analysis where required – as requested by GGA research teams. This includes assistance in the development of grant applications and reports as and when required.
  • Enhance Monitor and evaluate the impact of your team’s work through eliciting stakeholder feedback. This includes keeping track of GGA social media posts of the GIA team’s work.
  • Attendance and participation at relevant conferences, seminars and events where feasible. At these events, you will also be engaging with relevant stakeholders encompassing governments, international organisations, the private sector and civil society.

Key skills and knowledge required:

  • Honours Degree or equivalent degree. Enrolment for a master’s degree is an advantage. 
  • Knowledge of advanced quantitative analysis.
  • Strong verbal and written communication in English 
  • Analytical and problem-solving skills. 
  • Strong data visualisation skills, especially within R and associated packages. 
  • Experience in cleaning, assimilating, manipulating, and aggregating large data sets using SQL, R, SPSS, STATA, Excel, or similar tools (R and Excel are preferred).
  • Knowledge of data analysis techniques, such as time series analysis, correlation analysis, variable transformations, regression (linear, logistic, multilevel, etc.), and interpretation & creation of probability distributions.
  • No prior work experience is required.

Successful applicants must have a valid South African work permit and necessary residency or citizenship requirements.

Please submit the following:

  • Your curriculum vitae (CV) including three referees.
  • Proof of identity—a valid ID document or passport.
  • A one-page cover letter clearly summarising your skills and what you would bring to the role given the outlined roles and responsibilities.
  • One data visualisation created by the applicant (basic line graph, basic bar graph or scatterplot is sufficient). Please send through the visualisation in a PNG or JPEG file format.

Please email your application to Mmabatho Mongae (mmabatho@gga.org). Candidates who fail to submit the requested documents will not be considered.

Closing Date: 14 March 2025