Research Associate Community Energy in Remote and Displacement Settings

About Hudara

Hudara gGmbH is an independent and impartial organisation working in locations where people’s lives are impacted by poverty, conflict and climate change. We believe that the foundation for a peaceful and just future is to build actions on equal partnerships. This includes respect for diverse ways of life and appreciation of manifold positive social and cultural expressions, practices and solutions globally.

Our Vision // We strive for a world in which people experience good mental wellbeing, live in peaceful communities and in balance with the natural environment.

Our Mission // We support communities in reaching a sustainable and peaceful way of functioning through mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), social cohesion (SC) and community-based adaptation (ACC) and mitigation to climate change (MCC).

About our work in Community Energy in Remote and Displacement Settings (CERDS)

Technological and institutional changes, depletion of fossil fuel resources, and climate change make it paramount that the way we use energy across the globe is going through a radical transformation. Our energy projects are funded through the European Horizon 2020 and Green Deal programmes, UNHCR as well as EWS Schönau, aiming at facilitating a just energy transition for all.

• The ENERGICA project involves three different demonstration sites: a rural context in northern Madagascar where the project is focused on developing productive uses of energy for improving the Water-Energy-Food-Nexus, an urban context in Kenya where the focus lies on environmentally-friendly mobility through renewable electricity, and a peri-urban context in Sierra Leone where the project aims to demonstrate positive environmental and socio-economic impacts of biomass-to-energy and water purification systems. More about ENERGICA.
• The MAESHA project is implemented on the island of Mayotte (Fr), located in the northern Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Mayotte faces the common challenges regarding energy transformations on islands and a high dependency on imported fossil fuels. Hudara is supporting the development of different kinds of community energy initiatives to facilitate the transformation of the energy system and support people in disadvantaged situations. More about MAESHA.
• The SUNNY project on sustainable energy in displacement settings involves refugee camps in South Sudan, Rwanda and Uganda where basic energy needs of refugees are not met. The lack of sustainable energy for cooking, for the use of cell phones and communication, for household lighting and for night-time lighting of communal areas across the camp severely impacts wellbeing, food security, safety and health. Jointly with refugee-led organisations in the camps, needs and priorities are being worked out and pathways to improve the circumstances are being co-designed with the concerned persons. (SUNNY; The project just started, and the project webpage is under development).

Your tasks and responsibilities

• Support project activities in the ENERGICA, MAESHA and SUNNY projects. This includes content work on the contexts and concepts, drafting of deliverables, communication with partners, coordination of activities and travel to the project locations.
• Develop research articles out of the project outcomes.
• Participate in proposal writing and fundraising for future energy projects.

What we are looking for

• A person with a master’s degree in the field of renewable energy, economics, environmental science or other relevant studies.
• Fluency in written and spoken English is obligatory, another language, especially German or French, is an asset.
• Openness to travel to project sites.
• Interest in doing research, writing articles and developing new projects.
• Commitment to work in a community-based way, using critical methodologies and recognising decoloniality and social justice as essential for the establishment of sovereignty of marginalised people, especially in the Global South.