Intern with Learning Life
Learning Life engages interns online from across the USA and abroad all year, in spring, summer and fall. New interns typically start in January, May or August, though other starting dates are permissible depending on the student’s academic calendar.
Help Build Democracy and Diplomacy for a more Caring World
About Learning Life
Learning Life is a Washington, DC-based nonprofit lab devoted to innovating education, democracy and diplomacy by spreading learning in everyday life beyond school walls. In our increasingly interconnected yet divided world, we develop inclusive learning communities in order to widen and deepen participation in democracy and diplomacy.
With this mission in mind, we run three programs.
The Family Diplomacy Initiative (FDI) connects people worldwide across lines of country, class, race and religion via the internet to share and learn together about families and citizen diplomacy with an eye to developing a corps of trained family diplomats to advocate for a more caring world.
Our Democracy Learning Community (DLC) is a nascent association of individuals and organizations working together to strengthen democracy by developing engaging events, products, services and spaces that nurture fun, learning, networking, collaboration and wider, deeper citizen participation.
Citizen Diplomacy International gathers diplomacy scholars, students, professionals, and volunteers every three months online via Zoom to share news and presentations on CD research and practice, local to global, with an eye to building a vibrant global CD sector for a more participatory, equitable and sustainable world.
About the Internship
Learning Life accepts resumes from high school, college and graduate students worldwide interested in interning with us remotely. The internship ranges from 8 to 32 hours per week, depending on academic requirements, though most of our interns work about 10 hours/week and do not take their internship for course credit. The internship is remote/online, so students can intern from anywhere in the USA, and given certain conditions (e.g., reliable internet connection, meeting-feasible time zones, and advanced English speaking and writing ability) from abroad. Depending on each student’s interests and skills plus our organizational needs, interns support the above-mentioned two programs, assisting with a variety of tasks including research and writing; local-to-global communications and list development via social media, email and phone; poster, video and website design and development; fundraising research and outreach, and more.
The internship typically starts in early-to-late January, mid-to-late May or late August-early September, though other starting dates are permissible depending on each student’s academic calendar. Interns must be able to commit a minimum of 8 hours/week: about 6 hours/week of independent work + and 2 hours of work meetings, including a live one-on-one meeting via Zoom once per week with Learning Life’s Director, Paul Lachelier, to go over work completed and assign new tasks.
The internship is unpaid, but offers substantive, resume-building experience working on innovative democracy and diplomacy initiatives, and a formal reference and/or recommendation letter upon request given satisfactory performance.
The Interns We Are Looking For
Applicants should be interested in democracy, diplomacy, international affairs, education, communications and/or children and families, and also be organized, detail-oriented, motivated and punctual. The ability to read, write and speak French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, or any other major language at an advanced to fluent level is a plus, as are poster and video-making skills.
To learn about some of Learning Life’s most recent interns, and learn why they chose to intern with us, visit our People Page.
How to Apply
Send your resume to email@learninglife.info. Students who wish to be considered for research and writing projects should include 2-3 writing samples. Students with digital poster or video-making skills should include 2-4 examples of their work. No need for a cover letter. Please indicate in your email when you would like to start interning with Learning Life (January, May, or late August-early September). We will contact you to schedule an interview if your resume matches what we are looking for. Thank you for your interest!