While looking for an internship for the summer, I read about Democracy International in a news article and decided to see what they do and if they offer internships. After an uncomplicated email exchange and a charming zoom call with Caroline Vernaillen, we scheduled my internship for June until August 2021. Fortunately for me, the Corona-situation was just relaxing in the summer and I was able to move to Cologne and go to the (wonderful) office twice a week with the rest of the team. During my time at DI there were also other interns, which helped me orientate myself at DI and gave me advice. The entire team was always kind and helpful, so it took no time at all until I was integrated in the various comings and goings of the place. 

After an introduction into all the various projects going on at DI (UN World Citizens’ Initiative, European Public Sphere, Democracy Navigator and European Citizens’ Initiative) I worked mainly on the UN World Citizens’ Initiative with Caroline. My tasks were varied and flexible. After doing a lot of different tasks (managing the social media presence, translating mails and articles, researching into different topics, handing out flyers, writing blog posts, ...), I was able to make an educated choice on my responsibilities later in the internship. 

I was especially happy about being able to plan and execute a webinar series mostly on my own. The team gave me a lot of freedom and was open to new ideas I introduced. Instead of just executing the tasks they had for me, we worked together on projects, planned together what we wanted to do and I took on many responsibilities. They are very open to new impulses and ideas, so don’t shy away from suggesting something new!

The personal highlight of my internship was that I was able to join the European Public Sphere’s Remember Tour 2021 and travelled with Anne and Ben to the former inner german border and to Burgas (Bulgaria), to organise and host the famous Dome-Talks!