INTERNSHIP IN AN ENVIRONMENTAL NGO INTERNATIONAL YOUNG NATUREFRIENDS

Would you like to find out more about how does an international NGO active in more than 20 European countries work? Do you want to try out involvement in an international team, to explore how does an NGO involving volunteers and employees from all corners of the continent work, to try out a broad scope of activities from administration over PR to project writing?

International Young Naturefriends is a well-established international youth umbrella organization with many decades lasting tradition and impact in more than 20 European countries, involving in our activities and the activities of members of our network about 120 000 young people. We mostly focus on experiential education based on values of respect, equality, solidarity, sustainability and love and care for nature.

HOW TO SIGN UP?

Send your CV and a one-paragraph long summary of your motivation to take an internship with us to: iynf@iynf.org. As a subject of the message use word „Internship“.
Selected candidates will be contacted and invited for an interview.

WHAT CAN WE OFFER?

Unfortunately we are not able to offer you a paid internship, but we can assure you the experience will be quite enriching for you still ☺
If you want to be an intern, but need financial support, we strongly recommend you to apply for Erasmus+ Traineeships. More info on that program here.

  • you will try out to work in an international youth NGO with English as its main working language, and you will get to know an interesting international collective
  • you will gain basic management skills and the content of the internship can be adjusted based on your educational needs
  • we will offer you a recommendation letter about the successful completion of your internship
  • you will join a tradition of an international movement existing already since the end of 19th century
  • based on the time of the placement you may get the chance to go abroad with us

WHAT WILL BE THE CONTENT OF YOUR WORK?

  • help with processing and creating the strategic documents of the organization
  • help with grant project writing, researching for funding opportunities and strategic documents of EU
  • PR, chance to write articles on topics interesting for you, social media management
  • taking part in the Skype conferences of the organization’s Presidium, processing of its documentation
  • administrative assistance based on getting acquainted with the overall activities of the organization

In general the content of the internship can be (within a frame set by the needs of the organization) adjusted according to your educational needs, and formulated in a way satisfying for both parties.

WHAT DO WE EXPECT FROM YOU?

  • ability to dedicate to the internship 10-15 hours per week
  • communicative English both in written and spoken form
  • friendly and responsive attitude
  • basic knowledge of  MS Office, willingness to learn communication and management tools such as Google, Asana, Trello, etc.)
  • pro-active and independent approach to work
  • it is an advantage to be interested in the field of International Young Naturefriends work (protection of nature, social issues, non-formal education) or previous experience with it
  • not necessary to live in Prague, but please note that IYNF is not able to support the accommodation or commuting in any way

Impressions from an internship with IYNF:

Marco, Italy

I would like to thank IYNF and all the people there for providing me with such a fantastic opportunity. I spent a great time during the 3-months internship for my Leonardo project at the IYNF office in Prague. It was my first experience of working for an NGO and partially led me to understand how it is. I am glad that I could carry out my traineeship within an association that operates in my field of studies but in a way that I never tried before.

Even if my internship did not last a long of time, I really appreciated the opportunity I have been given of working on my own project which was beyond usual IYNF activities. In fact, I showed my interest in doing something practical for the environmental activities and proposed to develop and teach a didactic workshop. Finally, I realized my project by developing two workshops for children about waste recycling. Then, I proposed them to some of the international primary schools in Praguereceiving, then, some positive answers. At the end, I could teach both of the two workshops to two different schools. I succeeded even if it was the first time I have developed and taught just by myself a didactic workshop in English; though I did not do it just by myself but all the people, more or less, at IYNF helped me and, of course, I could not do it without the IYNF support.

Moreover, I also had the possibility to gain a more deep understanding of the activities organized by IYNF. I joined the “Youth encountering environmental human rights” study session in Budapest and I had a great time experiencing for the first time non-traditional education, meeting and listening to many interesting people coming from different countries and spending such a good time in a city I have not been to before.

At last, I would like to say that it was really nice to work with all the Naturefriends colleagues in such a friendly environment as it is in the IYNF office.

Magda, Poland

When I came to IYNF office on the first day a desk with a welcoming post-it-note attached to the computer monitor was already waiting for me. These kind of warm memories were provided for me within the whole time of 3-month internship, from August to October 2013. If I am asked what my impressions are, the first thought that comes to my mind is the office team, which I had occasion to work with, but also to learn from them and spend some days out of office, during staff retreat.

Everyone was passionate about and engaged in a daily mission of making the built world around us more green and sustainable. Thanks to this, I was motivated to disseminate all our activities as much as possible. I was happy to be a participant of many sorts of workshops, because I find them an effective way of acquiring practical knowledge in a friendly and interesting manner. We even managed to invite for a workshop a famous Austrian activist Martin Balluch, whose movie screening “Trial” was presented in a local cinema for all interested people. Apart from that, we were also ready to prepare workshops about making a workspace more environmentally-friendly and also a workshop dealing with leading a healthy lifestyle with vegan muffins, playing the main role in the most alternative Prague’s street – Krymska (thank you Henrique!).

It is worth to underline that IYNF also supports other green friendly initiatives such as building an Earthship – an ecological house made from renewable materials, in which I also had a small contribution.

Additionally, I was trusted with editing our new publication, Green Toolbox , which was a long-lasting task, but possibility of being a real editor suited me very much.

Although international atmosphere dominated in the office, I put effort to promote our activities even in my country, Poland, by writing an article about sustainability, to be published in Polish newspapers and magazines.

Moreover, IYNF takes care of well-being of every person in the office. Therefore, when Friday was coming, one of us was responsible for preparing the office lunch. The reason of doing that you can see in Green Teams chapter by flicking Green Toolbox through (page 91). I wouldn’t be myself if I didn’t take an advantage and did not mention it J. But I did not only enjoy Fridays – every working day spent with this companionship was unforgettable.

Finally, thanks to all in the office team!