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My name is Jurrian Veldhuizen, I am 24 years old and a graduating master's student in International Development Studies at Wageningen University. During my master's I developed a broad and critical view on development cooperation, in which I believe that the role of the Netherlands in developing countries is often underexposed and has negative effects. When looking for an internship that suits me, I was inspired by the message of Foundation Max van der Stoel (FMS): the Netherlands should no longer take with one hand what it gives with the other. In addition, I am very interested in the development of Africa, and this foundation is very active in it. In other words: a perfect match. Would you also like to do an internship at the FMS? Then check out our vacancies here!
During this internship, I was given a large range of tasks, for which I am very grateful. As an intern, I was able to learn a lot on different topics this way. On the one hand, I was given the freedom within FMS to participate in a study on climate justice in which we let underexposed African perspectives be heard. In this, I was given a lot of responsibility and trust, which allowed me to do a lot. Within the partnership Building Change I was able to experience at first hand how Dutch politics works in the field of development cooperation. Here, too, I was allowed to work independently on various research and lobbying activities. Besides these tasks, as an intern you get the freedom to engage in activities that interest you personally. This allowed me to write several articles on interesting topics, some of which were even published. The FMS team is small and contact is very informal, so you can go to anyone if you run into something or would like to undertake something. The help is also great for things outside the internship, such as the search for a future job.
I would recommend this internship to anyone interested in development cooperation. It is a small foundation that, despite its size, gets a lot done in a very diverse field: plenty of learning opportunities!
Come do an internship at the FMS! Apply for one of the three vacancies here before 9 December.
