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Washington DC Internship Program
"Being an intern at Tostan taught me more than a development lecture
ever could. Everyday I saw the dedication of the staff and volunteers,
and from the first day I felt as if I were a part of their team."
- Megan Phillips, Intern, Spring-Summer '07
The Tostan Internship Program in Washington DC offers students, recent graduates, and professionals responsibilities beyond a typical internship. Trained in non-profit communications, fundraising, and administration, interns are given the chance to contribute meaningfully to an internationally recognized and rapidly expanding NGO.
The primary responsibilities of the Tostan office in Washington, DC are to represent, promote, and support Tostan's work internationally. The DC office is responsible for initiating and maintaining collaborations and partnerships with many international organizations, institutions, and foundations. Maintaining strong relationships with our many donors is essential, as it is their support, which makes Tostan’s work possible.
The US office also hosts Tostan’s Development Department, which is responsible for all of Tostan’s fundraising activities, raising the necessary funds that enable Tostan's programs in Africa, and producing press releases and articles that reflect Tostan's work on the field.
We have relocated! As of July 2010, our US office is located just north of Dupont Circle on Decatur Place NW. By moving to this new space, the Tostan US office will be able to grow in size and welcome additional interns to the team. The office now counts two full-time staff members, the Director of External Affairs and the Senior Operations Manager as well as four to five interns. Since 2006, Tostan has welcomed more than 20 interns, deeply benefiting from their diverse backgrounds and various professional and academic experiences.
The Program
Interns at the Tostan US Office are integral to the operations of the organization. As the Tostan US Office consists of only two full-time staff members, interns in DC benefit from a wide range of responsibilities and experiences. The DC Internship Program is a great professional opportunity for both people new to the nonprofit world and more experienced individuals who want to collaborate with a renowned NGO. While interns are involved in a broad range of projects, Tostan requires every intern to manage specific daily tasks and ongoing projects. Some of the intern positions include:
As Tostan is a rapidly expanding NGO, the needs of the office constantly evolve. For this reason, interns are encouraged to take ownership over their positions and responsibilities and suggest changes and implement improvements to their position descriptions. We make every effort to match the needs of the organization with the skills and the personal goals of our interns.
Through the many daily office tasks, such as writing articles from field reports, updating our website, and creatively incorporating community participants' profiles into our social media outlets, our interns gain an exclusive perspective on community empowerment and community-led development. While working in close contact with Tostan’s teams in France, Senegal, and seven other African countries, interns become familiar not only with Tostan’s US-based work, but also with the international and community-level aspect of working in the human rights and development field.
To learn which of the aforementioned positions are currently open in Washington, DC, or to read more about specific qualifications and requirements, please refer to our
Professional Opportunities
page.
Academic and Professional Development
"My summer internship at Tostan gave me the necessary experience and skills to succeed
in the fast paced field of international development. I started my internship with a strong passion
for women's rights and as a result gained a deeper understanding of the cultural and economic
obstacles
faced by international organizations such as Tostan in achieving these very goals.
Most of all, I appreciated being able to contribute to program management
and work closely with other staff members on a daily basis.”
-Michelle Muita, Volunteer/ Internship Program Assistant, Summer ‘09
Past Tostan interns have come from a variety of personal, academic, and professional backgrounds. Tostan values and thrives on the skills and experiences that a diverse team can provide. In recent years, Tostan has welcomed students and graduates ranging from Social and Political Sciences, Law, Development, Education and Global Health studies to qualified lawyers and IT technicians. Tostan DC has welcomed interns from Belgium, Egypt, Ghana, India, Italy, Kenya, Mauritania, Senegal, the UK, and the US.
While at Tostan, our interns have the chance to increase their experience while effectively serving their community. Collaborating with a well-known NGO enables interns to network and gain necessary experience to advance their careers. Some past interns have gone on to study at top-level graduate and law school programs, including Yale, Georgetown, Columbia. Others have gone on to collaborate and/or work with leading development organizations, including UNICEF, the United States Department of State, and the United States Peace Corps.
Some of our Washington, DC alumni and alumnae have found their experience so meaningful that they decided to continue their work with Tostan by applying to our
Africa Volunteer Program
and
Stage à Tostan France
.
Eligibility
Tostan accepts interns on a part time (15 hours/week) or full time basis (35 hours/week). Interns are required to commit to a minimum of 10 weeks with preference given to those who can commit for longer. Interns often find that longer internships have enabled them to become fully integrated members of our team while providing a certain level of continuity for the projects
with which they are involved. With a minimum age of 18, Tostan welcomes Undergraduates, Graduates, PhD candidates, and young or experienced professionals. While self motivation, ability to manage multiple tasks, flexibility adapting to a multicultural environment, and creativity are required skills, a thorough understanding of Tostan's programs and methodologies is recommended and highly appreciated.
As a non-profit organization that works to commit the maximum level of resources to our communities, we rely on interns to cover their own expenses during their unpaid commitment.
Important Dates
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year, however, we encourage all applicants, especially current students who wish to complete an internship as part of their degree program, are encouraged to apply by the following dates:
If you wish to intern at Tostan for credit, please mention this in your cover letter/statement of purpose. Details related to an internship for credit must be included in your application.
How to Apply
Please complete and submit our
Washington, DC Internship Program Application Form
. Since the online form must be completed in one sitting, we suggest that you first write your responses in a Word document, and then cut and paste the content when you are ready to submit the form. Before filling the Application form, please remember to have ready 2 professional or academic references with their full contact information (email, phone number, and mailing address) as well as an explanation of your relationship to them.
After submitting the application form, please send the following material to
internshipsdc@tostan.org
:
-
Your most recent CV or résumé
-
Your cover letter, which should include why you want to intern with Tostan
-
A short writing sample (2-3 pages)
Please note, while we ask applicants to indicate their preference of positions on the DC team, all applicants will be considered for all positions.
More Questions?
For questions about Tostan's Washington DC Internship Program, please consult our
FAQ page
.For any other question that is not answered here or in the documents available on this site, please email
internshipsdc@tostan.org
.
Please note that we can only discuss placement opportunity with those who have already submitted a complete application.
Related Documents
The Tostan Washington, DC Internship Program brochure
(pdf)
The Tostan Washington, DC Internship FAQ
(pdf)
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