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Internships & volunteering

13-11-2018

Democracy International offers several internship or volunteering opportunities, you can find the information on that here. 

If you would like to intern with us, let us know what you would be interested in working on by writing to the respective department manager and including your CV. 

For participation in the volunteering and qualification programmes for young professionals, please read through the application information carefully and make sure you meet the eligibility requirements.

Internships

+++ We are still looking for interns to join us on-site in Cologne starting immediately+++

Democracy International welcomes interns, from Germany or elsewhere, year-round. We aim to make our internships an enriching and hands-on experience. If you’re a student with an interest in direct democracy and citizen participation, we would love to hear from you!

Our interns generally support Democracy International’s activities in a range of fields, from public relations, to events and specific campaigns. To give you a better overview of what to expect of an internship with us, we have listed some examples of what our interns can work on.

In assistance of Democracy International’s overall work, interns support our communications by researching important developments on direct democracy around the world and writing content for our newsletter, website or social media.  Interns also help research fundraising opportunities and draft grant applications. Interns can also be asked to assist with translations (mostly in English, German and French) or the updating and maintaining of contact lists.

Interns can support our ongoing campaigns by effecting research ahead of campaigns, assisting in drafting campaign texts and social media materials and with logistical assistance ahead of actions. In our European Programme and Youth Programme, we have several ongoing projects that are regularly supported by our interns, such as the Democracy Camp.

For the Democracy Camp, our interns help with the logistical preparation and the promotion of the Camp, but they can also join the Camp and meet other young changemakers. The tasks of interns who participate in the Camp can include helping managing social media and assisting with video and photo recording efforts. After each event, we publish a report, pictures and videos online. Interns can help process these materials, by for example selecting and publishing pictures, assisting with video editing or writing blog posts on events. The results of each tour are published in a final report, for which interns can be asked to help analyse and compile the results.

For our International Democracy Community, interns can help with research, promotion and management of the platform. They can also assist with editorial tasks, supporting activists who want to publish an article on the platform – actively researching and reaching out to possible candidates, communicating guidelines for pieces and following up.

We are currently looking for interns with a specific profile for the following projects:

 

Fundraising and Youth Programme intern

Starting immediately. For 3 to 6 months. This is an on-site internship.

  • Identifying fundraising opportunties and open calls with EU institutions and foundations
  • Authoring project proposals developed together with the other departments
  • Drafting email fundraisers
  • Assisting in the logistical, programme and PR preparations of the Democracy Camp, the search for participants and the reporting phase
  • Various support tasks related to other youth and discussion projects, like Art of Fundamental Rights or the European Public Sphere

Contact: hardt@democracy-international.org

 

Social Media Intern:

From May 2024. For 2 or 6 months. This is an on-site internship.

  • Managing Democracy International's social media accounts
  • Creating content for social media, assisting the team in coming up with creative ideas to promote our issues and campaigns
  • Reporting on events and activities
  • Monitoring and compiling the most important developments related to direct democracy and citizen participation around the world.
  • Writing articles and blog posts on direct democracy and citizen participation topics around the world

Contact: proskurina@democracy-international.org

Global Programme Intern

We are especially looking for long-term interns (4 months or more) from May 2024. This is an on-site internship.

  • Assistance for our We the Peoples campaing in the run-up to the UN Summit of the Future
  • Logistical support for our events
  • Coordination with speakers for our events
  • Developing PR & Campaigning materials
  • Assistance on International Democracy Community: Managing platform, researching civil society organisations, writing articles.

Contact: vernaillen@democracy-international.org

 

European Programme Intern:

Looking for long-term interns (4 months or more) from September 2024. This is an on-site internship.

  • Monitoring EU democracy developments with a focus on the European Citizens’ Initiative
  • Support with Parliament for the Future of Europe project including preparation and reporting of events and activities
  • Drafting positions, statements, and newsletter articles
  • Various support tasks related to the support of the European programme including outreach and management of partner and stakeholder relationship

Contact: vancic@democracy-international.org

 

Volunteering programmes

weltwärts

Through the development volunteer service ‘weltwärts’ (towards the world), 2 young South Africans can spend between 12 and 18 months volunteering full-time with Democracy International in Germany every year. During their stay in Germany, they receive a monthly stipend to cover their costs. Read more here.

 

ASA programme

Do you want to work for globally sustainable development? Do you want to engage in international exchange and commitment? Participation in the ASA programme offers you all of this. In a six-month project, you will work with three other young professionals on sustainable development issues. In return, you will receive one of 280 scholarships funded by the BMZ each year. Read more here.

Former Interns

Londeka Mgwaba
Londeka was a weltwärts volunteer and supported the International Programme in this capacity. She studied at the University of the Witwaterstand in...
Gabriel is a French student doing a master’s degree in political sciences. He interned at Democracy International for a duration of 6 months. 
Kim interned at Democracy International for three months after completing her Bachelors degree in International Relations at the University of...
Jacqueline was an Intern at Democracy International for three months. She received her bachelor´s degree in East Asian Economics and Politics from...
Yunus Emre
Yunus Emre interned at Democracy International for two months. He received his Bachelor's degree in Communication and Design from Bilkent University...
Isabelle was an intern at Democracy International for three months after graduating high school. She will start studying at Leiden University College...
Alina Krintovski
Alina was an intern at Democracy International. She received her Bachelor's degree in German and Slavic Studies from the University of Mainz....
Sayd Peñaranda
Sayd is a Colombian student in the Roads to Democracy M.A. programme at the University of Siegen, Germany. After his internship, he moved to Italy to...
When Kim started her internship, she had just finished her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Sociology at Heidelberg University and was...
When Hannah started her internship, she had just finished her bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Cultural Anthropology at Kiel University and...
Branislava Lavrek has a master in Political Science and interned with Democracy International for three months in 2021. Her work with Democracy...
During her internship at Democracy International, Verna Lehtimäki was a Master student in an interdisciplinary M.A. programme called ‘Roads to...
During her internship, Louisa studied International Public Administration and Politics at Roskilde University.
During her internship at Democracy International, Josephine was a bachelor student at Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. She studied...
Reiner is a South African student in the Erasmus Mundus Euroculture M.A. programme. His research focuses on European political, cultural and societal...
During his internship at Democracy International, Grégory was on his gap-year ahead of studying at the Leiden University College in the Hague. There...
During her intership at Democracy International, Sara was a master student in European Studies at University of Maastricht and University of Cologne...
Mirte van Hout
Mirte interned with both us and Mehr Demokratie for three months.
During her internship Lisa studied Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bonn.  
While interning with us Melissa studied Political and Social Studies at the University of Würzburg.

Website Info

Democracy International is a registered association in Germany
(eingetragener Verein e.V.).

Gürzenichstraße 21 a-c
50667 Cologne
Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 221 669 66 50
Fax: +49 (0) 221 669 665 99
Email: contact@democracy-international.org

Amtsgericht Köln
VR-Nr. 17139

Full website information here

Data protection - Datenschutz
 

Bank

Democracy International e.V.
IBAN: DE 58370205000001515101
BIC: BFSWDE33XXX

Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
Konto: 1515101
BLZ: 37020500

 

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