The Sustainable Human Development Nonprofit is a nonprofit organization that specializes in capacity building, technical assistance, and strategic coordination between actors to promote comprehensive and sustainable development. The mission of the organization is to promote sustainability, equality, and respect for the environment in the decision making processes of the public and private agenda. The organization works locally and regionally in Latin America and the Caribbean. It gathers a community of independent professionals with a multidisciplinary profile, shared values, and a common vision.
Industry: Development & Sustainability
Sector: Nonprofit Organization
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Possible Intern Roles:
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS INTERN
The intern will work in the Circular Economy department within the organization, which works to promotes a new paradigm based on resource efficiency, ensuring an efficient use of material resources and helping to strengthen capabilities for responsible consumption and production.
The intern’s project will consist of researching and analyzing the national policies of Circular Economy, Green Economy, and/or Responsible Production and Consumption in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
The aim is to develop a benchmarking of national policies (laws, strategies, plans, programs, etc.) in the countries that are more advanced in the region on the issues aforementioned (eg: Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, among others). The research should include success and failure stories, status of implementation of policies, articulation with other actors such as the private sector, and subnational governments.
The main tasks involved are:
Research of policies, their implementation status, cases, and experiences of success and failure, articulation with the private sector and with subnational governments, among other aspects that may be considered relevant.
Comparative analysis of the information collected, identifying strengths and weaknesses of the initiatives, lessons learned, opportunities and threats to advance the initiatives.
Regular presentation of the research progress to the Circular Economy team, sharing ideas and contributions that help optimize the investigation.
Develop a report that presents the main results of the study. Experiences and examples should be included, as well as main conclusions and recommendations. This report will be a valuable knowledge product for the Circular Economy Area and can be published and disseminated by the organization’s networks.
Suggested Spanish level: Advanced
Candidate requirements: The following skills are highly valued: proactivity; autonomy; research skills; analytical and resolution capacity; writing skills; interest in learning; motivation and interest on sustainability.
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS INTERN
The project aims to design and implement a collaborative indicator that provides information about the recyclability of the packaging of mass consumer products in Buenos Aires City and, indirectly, about the efficiency of the local inclusive collection and recycling system. The indicator will be used to design public policies that increase the collection of materials with a high value and to promote partnerships and design business models that increase the recovery and transformation of the packaging with a low value. In the medium term, the indicator could also be used as input to provide a clearer and simpler labelling of products that promotes a more sustainable consumption.
Recyclability depends on several factors such as infrastructure, material properties, separability, and commercialization as secondary material. Therefore, in order to assess the recyclability of packaging, current and accurate information about each factor will need to be collected and taken into account on a regular basis. A key source of information will be the interviews with both informal waste pickers and formal waste pickers who work at twelve official recycling centers in the city collecting and separating materials for a living.
The intern will provide support in the design and implementation of the indicator.
Suggested Spanish level: Advanced
Candidate requirements: The following skills are highly valued: proactivity; autonomy; research skills; analytical and resolution capacity; writing skills; interest in learning; motivation and interest on sustainability.
GRAPHIC AND WEB DESIGN INTERN
The main tasks to be completed by the intern include:
Study and understanding of the current database of organizations and initiatives
Research and benchmarking of interactive online databases: identification of best practices, important aspects to be considered, report development.
Proposal development: develop the concept of the prototype for a web platform; graphic development of the proposal; proposal of a collaborative dynamic for updating and reviewing the database. The web development of this concept is also desired if time allows.
Suggested Spanish level: Advanced
Candidate requirements: Profiles oriented to social communication, graphic design, web design, and/or user experience. Also, these skills are highly valued: proactivity; autonomy; research skills; analytical and resolution capacity; writing skills; interest in learning; motivation and interest on sustainability.
In the words of previous interns:
“Sustainable Human Development Nonprofit was an excellent fit for my interests, and I was a good fit for their work environment. I had a wonderful mentor during my internship. She checked in with me about my tasks frequently and was always open to answer my questions and provide guidance. She was very thoughtful about the tasks that she gave me, making sure that they were stimulating, challenging, meaningful, and aligned with my interests. She made me feel so welcome on the team, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have worked with a wonderful mentor in such a meaningful organization.” - Anusha M, Research and Analysis Intern from the University of Pennsylvania
“My supervisors were extremely helpful and friendly; they gave me an intro doc with helpful resources and documents for my project, help weekly meetings to check in about my progress, and were always available for questions and help. They welcomed me onto the team with open arms.” - Megha T, Graphic and Web Design Intern from the University of Pennsylvania