Title: Project Support Intern/Volunteer: National Survivor Networks
Location: The Hague
Period: 6 months, April-September 2025, Full-time
About Us
The Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation is an international rights-based, survivor-centred organisation, dedicated to ending sexual violence as a weapon of war globally. The Mukwege Foundation supports survivors’ demands for a world where sexual violence as a weapon of war is no longer tolerated, and bears consequences for individual perpetrators and states. We work for a future where survivors receive the holistic care and compensation they need to rebuild their lives. We create opportunities for survivors to speak out and be heard, and where they can organise to create change, influence policies, and demand justice and accountability.
The Mukwege Foundation’s ‘Voice’ programme focuses on strengthening survivors’ agency to actively influence and participate in policy and practice concerning them at national and international levels.
At the global level, SEMA – the Global Network of Victims and Survivors to End Wartime Sexual Violence – offers a safe global platform for survivors to come together for solidarity, to share experiences and knowledge, to advocate powerfully for the abolition of the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war, and to lobby for the recognition of the rights of survivors to quality holistic care and to restorative justice.
At the national level, the Mukwege Foundation supports the initiation, development, and strengthening of in-country survivor networks, creating safe spaces for peer-to-peer support and building survivors’ capacities to enable them to actively engage in advocating for their rights. The Mukwege Foundation is currently supporting national survivor networks in Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nepal, Uganda, Ukraine, South Sudan and planning to expand the programming to Syria and Burundi in 2025 and beyond.
Internship/volunteer role overview
The 6-month internship with the Mukwege Foundation has two key objectives:
- Supporting Programme Managers of national survivor networks with reporting, activity planning, and other project management tasks related to the networks in our countries of operation.
- Assisting the VOICE team leader in finalising a Handbook for National Survivor Networks, a resource compiling lessons learned, best practices, and tools from six years of programming.
Tasks
The Project Support Intern/Volunteer will assist the Programme Managers with:
Objective 1
- Supporting national survivor networks with – as needed – survivor consultations, fundraising (grant-writing), monitoring and evaluation, reporting, preparing workshops and trainings, etc.;
- Conducting desk research to understand country contexts and assess opportunities;
- Logistics for activity implementation, including helping with planning field missions of Programme Managers;
- Managing relationships with the Mukwege Foundation’s local implementing partners (drafting contracts, reviewing reports, etc.);
- Donor reporting (narrative and financial);
- Drafting content for social media regarding national network projects.
Objective 2
- Support content review and editing by proofreading drafts, ensuring clarity, coherence, and proper formatting.
- Analyse donor and impact reports to identify key outcomes and impacts from National Survivor Network programming.
- Gather and integrate additional insights from survivor networks and team feedback to strengthen the handbook.
- Assist in adding relevant tools and structuring the team’s shared folder to align with the handbook’s logic.
- Contribute to the handbook’s dissemination, preparing different versions for internal and external use.
With mutual agreement, other discrete tasks of a similar nature may also be assigned.
Profile of the candidate
Mandatory:
- The candidate must either be enrolled in or have graduated from a Master’s programme in the field of International Affairs, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, International Relations, Law, or other related field;
- Strong interest in the topic of armed conflict and conflict-related sexual violence;
- Strong organisational and communication skills;
- Perfect command of English, both oral and written;
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, including Excel and PowerPoint;
- Attentive to details, highly organised, and autonomous;
- Ability to prioritise and work under pressure;
- Hands-on attitude, proactive mindset;
- Commitment to women’s rights and a survivor-centred approach.
Desirable:
- Good understanding of written and spoken French and/or Arabic (any other languages will be considered an additional asset);
- Knowledge of social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter);
- Familiarity with the context of one or more of our project countries;
- Past experience in project management or community mobilisation (monitoring, budgeting, reporting to donors).
Conditions of the internship/volunteer opportunity
The internship/volunteering opportunity will be conducted under the following terms and conditions:
- The candidate undertakes this role on a volunteer basis or as an intern
- A small monthly allowance can be offered, based on Dutch law
- The candidate must be based in the Netherlands with occasional commute to the Foundation’s office in The Hague
- The candidate shall adhere to the code of conduct of the Mukwege Foundation
- The candidate shall sign and adhere to a non-disclosure agreement.
How to Apply:
Please send your cover letter and CV, in English, no later than 7 March 2025 to Ms. Lucy Shanahan, Office Manager, at vacancies@mukwegefoundation.org.
We will interview candidates on a rolling basis and may close the vacancy earlier if the right candidate is identified before the stated deadline. As such, we encourage you to submit your application as soon as possible.
