Meet our new trainees
The Saami Council and Suoma Sámi Nuorat have recruited three trainees to work in 100% positions within the Interreg project “Filling the EU-Sápmi knowledge gaps”.
– We received many high-quality applications, so it has been a tough process for us to select candidates for the positions. We are very glad to see the big interest in our project and in the work, says Niila Inga, the Project manager for “Filling the Sápmi-EU knowledge gaps”
The traineeship program will provide training in indigenous rights and international indigenous cooperation within EU, UN and Arctic Council from a Sámi perspective. Each intern will be assigned a mentor from one of the Saami Council’s units. The mentor will guide the intern through the specific assignments within their units but also the Saami Council’s work in general.
The traineeship program will last from January 1 2021 until November 30 2021.
Ida-Maria Helander is born and raised in Avvil, in the Finnish side of Sápmi. She is a bachelor’s student at the University of Oulu, majoring in Sámi culture. Helander is a vice-chair of the Central Saami Association, an alternate member of the Saami Council and the Cultural Committee of the Sámi Parliament of Finland. She’s been active voice of the Finnish Sámi Youth organizations in years 2011-2019.
Susanna Israelsson is from Jiellevárre in the northern part of Swedish Sápmi. She is born and raised in a reindeer herding family and recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Luleå University of Technology. With an interest for politics and indigenous peoples rights, Susanna has experience from advocating for Sámi youth due to her years in Sáminuorra – the Swedish Sámi Youth Association - where she has served both as vice president and union secretary. This has given her the opportunities to, on behalf of Sáminuorra and its members, represent Swedish Sámi youth on meetings and conferences with politicians on both national and international level - such as the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York and the The UN Climate Change Conference COP24 in Poland in 2018.
Anja Márjá has grown up in Guovdageaidnu, in the Norwegian side of Sápmi. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in Geography at NTNU in Trondheim, where she writes about reindeer herding and railway development issues. She also has a bachelor in Geography and Economics and has studied landscape and resource management. She has long volunteer experience in different youth and student organisations like Noereh and Saemien Studeenth Tråantesne, among others. .
The traineeship program is funded by:
