Internship Time!

By Cynthia Medina | May 21, 2012

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It's that time of the year again: cherry blossoms are here, baseball season is right around the corner, the memories of winter are long gone, and NDI is looking to hire a summer intern! 

As some of our blog readers may know, I worked with NDI full-time last summer and continued to be with the team on a part-time basis since then, while also attending graduate school. But, as graduation approaches and I almost hit my one year mark with NDI, it is sadly time to move on. 

During my time here I've worked on a variety of projects: researching and writing ICT country profiles, learning about Drupal and how we can use it to effectively build partner websites, serving as a translator in a website training, reviewing contracts and performance plans for our regional programs, helping with internal communications, and learning about the administrative tasks that help the organization work smoothly - in short, its been a busy 10 months. 

Our team is a knowledgeable group that supports NDI's partner organizations in 70+ countries, and our job is to help organizations appropriately use technology to strengthen their democratic institutions and civil society, and to create open societies. Having a background in social activism, domestic policies, or international development is a good base and shows that you have interest in our area of work. 

Now, the logistics. We are looking for a 20 hour (1/2 time) commitment starting immediately through the end of August. Yes, it's paid (hurray!). To apply, go to NDI's employment openings and click through DC internships; the position is with the Information and Communications Technologies team.

 

Job Description

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) seeks an undergraduate or graduate student with strong interest/experience in political technology. This is a part-time paid internship (20 hours/wk) starting immediately until the end of May 2012. The intern will support the ICT Programs team in serving as a resource to NDI field programs that utilize technology to promote open and effective institutions and accessible democratic processes. This includes applying tools which increase transparency, facilitate networking and collaboration, improve access to policy-making processes and increase the effectiveness of under-resourced democratic institutions.

Interns at NDI are given substantive responsibilities and are expected to be professional contributors to the effort. Interns must be disciplined self-starters who can take assignments and run with them, occasionally under pressure. They also need to know when to seek guidance before proceeding.


Required Skills

  • Investigate new technologies and identify applications relevant for NDI programs;
  • Assist in project design, implementation, testing and evaluation as necessary;
  • Assist with research requests;
  • Attend events as a representative of the ICT team; take notes and report;
  • Attend regional team meetings in absence of ICT staff;
  • Draft brief (1-2 page) reports cataloging best practices in political technology;
  • Manage team outreach and communications on internal/external platforms;
  • Prepare project documentation.
  • Actively contribute to NDI ICT blog
  • Monitor related Twitter streams and suggest contributions to the @NDItech Twitter account


Required Experience

  • Bachelor's Degree required; coursework in political science, international studies and/or computer science preferred;
  • Experience with web and database technologies highly desired;
  • Demonstrated interest in tinkering and/or testing innovative ideas required;
  • Political, campaign or organizing experience highly desired;
  • Must have excellent organizational skills;
  • Must be able to prioritize between multiple projects and complete them in a timely fashion
  • Excellent writing and speaking skills;
  • Advanced problem solving skills.

This is a paid internship. Interns are encouraged to attend workshops, lectures and other staff development events at NDI. This is a unique opportunity for the right budding tech and development professional to gain practical experience in the use of political technology for strengthening programming in democracy and governance.

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