From February 2019 until end of April 2019, I interned at Democracy International and Mehr Demokratie. My main task was to organize the European Public Sphere tour in the BeNeLux. Also, I was responsible for updating the social media channels and writing weekly press reviews in the beginning of my internship. On a daily base, these tasks were supplemented with other tasks for new projects and events. As such, I was mainly assisting Anne Hardt, but have also been working together with other employees and interns at both organisations.

I enjoyed the great diversity in tasks during my internship a lot: not only did I do research and organize events from my desk, I also joined the European Public Sphere on tour and other events, such as the ECI day. Moreover, as time went by, I was given more responsibility and possibilities to work independently. For example, in the beginning, I was mainly occupied with background research on locations and funding options for the BeNeLux Tour of the European Public Sphere project. When the tour came closer, I was reaching out to partners and locations myself, creating the flyers and joining a meeting with one our partners.

Finally, everyone working at Democracy International is very open and welcoming, which makes the atmosphere at the office very pleasant. For example, they have been very patient and helpful with my German, which I – being Dutch – still had to learn and practice. In this sense, this internship gave me the chance to increase my German speaking and writing skills, while gaining insights in the work of such an NGO. I enjoyed it a lot and am happy and grateful to have gotten the chance to work at Democracy International!