What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I had a variety of tasks to fulfil during my time as an intern at All We Can as I had various roles in the organisation. I was first tasked to review their travel policy for when staff members would go to meet partners in developing countries. This required extensive research on the transport to and from, as well as in, the respective countries. After this I worked on the organisation’s country profiling documents, assessing which countries would be viable for AWC to work in and find partners. Once again this required research on many aspects of the country such as its HDI, political environment, corruption levels and cultural backgrounds. The third task I was given was to create a flow chart describing the organisations guidance on scoping new countries for partners to work with. I helped at a supporters awareness meeting in the Midlands where I represented the organisation and assisted with answering questions from supporters and clearing down the room. I summarised and tabulated answers from the questionnaires filled in by the international partners regarding the advocacy and humanitarian work of AWC, as well as investigating what the salary scales for international NGO’s staff working in developing countries was.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I received a first-hand eye witness experience of what it means to work in an international humanitarian aid organisation dealing with work directly related to humanitarian development with partners in developing countries. From this I have been able to gain a better understanding of what working in this industry entails, and all of the behind the scenes work that goes into making projects successful. The most rewarding of all was being exposed to a totally new, cutting-edge approach to humanitarian aid that I had not come across before in my studies whereby this small organisation is able to partner with communities and work not only with them, but for them.  The people receiving the funding are at the table with the donors setting the agenda for the aid work that will take place in the community. This was incredibly enlightening and eye-opening for me.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The work which I did for All We Can during my internship enabled them to accelerate their administration and planning programs regarding the new approach to partnerships in developing countries. This decreased and simplified the workload for several of the staff and provided support when several of the staff were away on international trips visiting partners. I also ensured the smooth running of the supporters awareness day.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

There were some occasions when I struggled to understand how to formulate certain information and I was able to ask for advice and support to complete the work effectively. I was unable to access the printer from my computer therefore I emailed the work to a colleague and they were able complete this for me.

“Joel  carried out research, providing global poverty and development statistics that fed into our country scoping strategy. He also analysed survey questionnaires on our humanitarian assistance and advocacy programmes and provided a summarised and condensed version of the results, spelling out trends and patterns. He also supported one of our volunteer training sessions.” – Head of Programme Operations.