From teaching football to children in Jharkhand to empowering rural women, preserving dolphin habitats to working towards increasing employment opportunities for the less privileged, India has some amazing internship opportunities that are not only interesting and unusual, but also allow you to make a difference by participating and contributing to the socio-economic reality of this developing country.
We at Homegrown put together a list of really cool internships that we think you need to have to know about.
Terra Conscious is an organisation based out of North Goa and promotes ethical tourism. It was founded by Puja Mitra and Roshan Gonsalves in February, 2017. Terra Conscious partners with local communities in Goa to “promote marine and coastal conservation through responsible conservation oriented travel experiences.” They also spearhead many social impact programmes to create awareness about the effects of unethical tourism that has adverse effects on the environment and marine life.
Terra Conscious actively engages in eco-tourism pertaining to dolphins in Goa. Dolphin watching is a major marine tourism attraction in Goa. Unfortunately, due to lack of awareness and sustained capacity building, boat operators often chase the animals to show a sighting, and might play music as an additional value-add to earn more income, which disturbs the natural environment of the dolphins. Noise underwater can impact communication amongst dolphin pods, and cause stress to the animal. “Terra Conscious promotes ethical tourism by increasing costs to INR 2,500 rather than the local rate that is, INR 300. Their boat operator partners earn more from the ethical experience they conduct along with the Terra Conscious team, which adds an added incentive for them to transform their practices into being more eco-conscious. The trips are conducted in accordance with internationally accepted marine wildlife watching guidelines, where they do not chase the animal or corral it, they keep their engines off and stay at least 50 metres away from the animals, thus allowing tourists to observe the natural behaviour without disturbing the dolphins in their natural habitat. Terra conscious also trains lifeguards to deal with animals that wash up on the shores and helps create awareness among other stakeholders in this line of business,” explains Nimisha Nair, who was one of Terra Conscious’ first interns and interned with them in May, 2017.
All you need is an inclination and passion for marine life conservation to be eligible for the internship. The internship will allow you to help with the execution of various social impact programmes and conduct research projects in your field of interest. “The objective of this internship is to educate participants and incorporate them into the conservation space as effective practitioners who will be more capable of making significant differences in the world of environmental conservation,” reads the organisation’s website.
“The internship helped me get direction. Marine biology isn’t a well established field in India so the hands-on field experience I got through the course of the internship helped me develop a clear idea for the future and how to go about it. The internship for me was all encompassing — a perfect balance of research and field work. It also inspired me to get my diving certification,” said Nair, who is 21 and has a Bachelors in chemistry, botany and zoology from Christ University, Bangalore.
Visit the Terra Conscious website for more details.
Action Heroes is what Blank Noise chooses to call the change makers of today. Founded in 2003, Blank Noise started with the aim of combating harassment on the streets and has now come to be a multi-city collective and has been able to attain a global outreach with the #INeverAskForIt mission. “ Action Heroes are a force, taking agency to tackle the issue. They are from across age groups, gender and sexuality. Blank Noise ignites the idea that every individual has the capacity to take a small step to make a big change. All of Blank Noise has been built on the collective and individual efforts of its Action Heroes , interns and/or volunteers. Each person has been instrumental in building the community, by bringing in their lived experience, intention, skills, to make change, and take agency in ending violence against women and girls,” reads Blank Noise’s website.
Blank Noise, which was previously under the care of Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology that currently hosts its office space to the initiative, is looking for individuals with no specific qualifications but with similar outlooks and a drive to bring about change. “I have been able to contribute a lot by trying to bring about actual change, attempting to alter patriarchal mindsets and by actively engaging with the society. These are my biggest take aways from this internship,” says Aditi Mazumdar, who is currently a research intern at Blank Noise.
Visit the Blank Noise website to apply and know more about the organisation.
III. X-Billion Skills Lab
X-Billion is a new age ed-tech startup aiming to enhance employability for lower income youth while providing futuristic SMEs and enterprises with high quality future ready talent. “Our hybrid platform operates at the convergence of classrooms, AI-enabled adaptive e-learning and data driven placements. “We provide 21st century Critical Core Skills like emotional intelligence, creative problem solving, critical thinking and first principles approach, Future Ready Workplace Skills such as meta cognition, productivity hacks, effective digital communication and complex problem solving and hard skills for tech driven sales and marketing, applied data science and micro entrepreneurship,” said Samyak Chakrabarty, managing director at X-Billion Labs.
X-Billion is currently on a look out for Cognitive Psychology Associates and Curriculum Development Associates.The skill sets required are research capabilities in cognitive psychological measurement, with the ability to understand research methods in academic texts and design application for a real world, and research capabilities in curricular methodology, with the ability and desire to apply academic insight and western practices to the real world in an Indian context, ability to write innovative lesson plans and motivate trainers to deliver said lesson plans with a clear understanding of the Indian context of education, respectively.
Visit their Facebook page for more information.
IV. EduCare India
EduCare India is an NGO working towards sustainable development and aim to develop and implement creative community-based strategies to help bring about change with respect to social justice, public health, economic empowerment, intellectual freedom, and ecological consciousness.
EduCare is currently looking for interns to work with their Girls and Women Empowerment, Micro-empowerment, Rural Economy and Poverty Alleviation, Education and Life-skills, Environment Conservation, Healthcare Outreach and Management programs. Also, you are free to undertake two or more internship roles at the same time with one being the primary role and the other being the secondary role.
“All international interns are provided with free housing and basic amenities during their internship in India. As part of our internship program, all interns are able to undertake a 12 week experiential learning course related to your project or interest area. Interns also have the opportunity to have their internship reports or field work research published in our online journal,” states their website.
To apply for internships you can write in to internship@educare.in with a copy of your CV.
Visit their website for more information about the various internship programs.
Museum of Goa (MOG) is India’s largest privately owned art space and aims to encourage and nurture creative ideas through their internship program. “The MOG internship program provides its interns an opportunity to work with renowned artist Dr. Subodh Kerkar and interact with many other artists, curators, collectors, art enthusiasts, students and academicians, while learning from our efficient team who mentor the interns in their respective area of work,” states the museum’s website. Check out the internships available below and send us your application soon. They are currently recruiting for interns in the fields of graphic design and communication. MOG provides basic accommodation on room sharing basis with a common kitchen facility to the interns for the duration of their internship.
Those interested can e-mail their CVs to info.museumofgoa@gmail.com
Visit MOG’s website to know more about required educational qualifications and responsibilities.
Heritage Walk Calcutta is an academic-led walking tour company. They aim to provide well researched, historically accurate and authentic cultural experiences through walks, tours and workshops. “As a part of our internship program, the interns will be trained in various methods of conducting high quality academic research and how they can communicate their research to a non-academic audience through walking tours and other performances,” reads their website. This unique organisation is currently on the lookout for Walk Interns, who will be required to research and design walk tours, write for their blog and organise community outreach programs.
Visit their website to know more.
With the mission to conserve heritage, INTACH believes that “living in harmony with heritage enhances the quality of life, and it is the duty of every citizen of India as laid down in the Constitution of India.” INTACH offers internship for students with a background in conservation and other conservation related fields. The areas covered under the internship program are Architectural Heritage, Art and Material Heritage, Crafts Community and Heritage, Library Archives and Documentation Centre, Heritage Education and Communication Service, Heritage Tourism, Cultural Heritage, and Natural Heritage.
Those interested can write in to intach@intach.org or visit their website.
The 1947 Partition Archives is comprised of citizens from across the globe whose collective mission is to preserve a monumental chapter of Indian history — the partition of India in 1947.
“We come from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, nationalities, and professions. It is our view that a strong foundation in history will pave the way for a more enlightened future for the subcontinent and hence the world. At the moment our team consists of 100% volunteer based staff, interns, advisers and experts who are passionate about preserving the people’s history of Partition,” states their website.
They offer both, paid and unpaid internships that are designed for school, undergraduate as well as post-graduate students. They look for enthusiastic interns looking to gain field experience. They are at present looking to fill various positions across different fields of work.
Visit their website to know more about the specific requirements for each position.
YUWA works specifically with girls from impoverished families in rural Jharkhand, specifically with girls who are at risk of child marriage and human trafficking. It is a program that uses team sports and education to build character, confidence, and courage.
YUWA uses sports and mainly football to help bring about change in the rural pockets of Jharkhand. All football enthusiasts can intern with YUWA as coaches and help contribute to the cause.
The Mehrangarh Museum Trust offers internships to those interested in historic curation, painting conservation, architectural conservation, and research. For the research and conservationists positions, you need to have specialised in your area of interest as for the other positions, they usually hire interns with history and art history majors.
“My internship was under the curatorial department in the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, and involved the documentation and accession of historical photographs. We got to see a lot of cool artefacts as well as the inner workings of a museum or heritage space. Also, we lived in a fort free of cost!” said Kavya Venkatraman, who recently interned with the trust.
The trust’s website does not have any information regarding internships, those interested can write in to careers@mehrangarh.org for more information.
If you liked reading this we suggest you read: