Internship - Food Campaigning

Do you want to fight for equality? Tackling inequality at its roots, together with colleagues, our partner organizations and activists in more than 90 countries? To change the systems behind it, once and for all!

Oxfam Novib stands behind the people who stand up for equality. Together, we fight for a world where everyone has equal opportunities, regardless of gender, ethnicity or skin colour. A world where everyone feels safe; where income gaps are shrinking instead of growing, where climate change is tackled in a firmer and more honest way. 

Equality is the common thread in our work and projects, both internally and externally. We recognize that our team of colleagues can become even more diverse, and that only with a diverse team can we gain a broad perspective on the world. Therefore, we want to encourage everyone who hesitates to apply, no matter the reason. Our aim is to create an environment where everyone not only feels welcome, but where diversity is embraced and celebrated. Let's strive together to build a team that offers a rich variety of perspectives, enabling us to achieve an inclusive and inspiring work environment.

Apply and become part of Oxfam Novib!

Internship - Food Campaigning - description

The Fair Value Chains & Food Systems Unit is responsible for our work on pressuring the Dutch and international private sector to ensure that power and profits are shared fairly between financiers, companies, traders, and the people who produce or consume; that compliance to business, human rights and sustainability standards is the norm. We need to ensure a living income, decent work, and secure rights for small holders and workers who are key in feeding the world. We will work towards a radical shift of the share of power, profits, and value in food systems & value chains in favour of (women) small-scale food producers, workers and their communities. To achieve this, we take a systemic approach addressing actors in these chains, and generate expertise around key topics like living wage, living income, land rights, gender, and alternative business models. The Unit provides thought leadership on what fair food systems look like, and how to build a human economy through a fairer global food system.

We are looking for an enthusiastic and motivated intern to support our food campaigning work. This includes our campaigning and influencing work on cocoa and chocolate value chains, supermarkets, feminist food movements, and advocacy for legislation on business and human rights. You are a perfect fit if you are passionate about equality and human rights and believe in a just transformation of our food system. The tasks in this internship are varied from campaigning and advocacy work to policy analysis and strategy and we can adapt tasks depending on your interests.

Key tasks

You will support the Fair Value Chains and Food Systems team with:

• Cocoa influencing – support our work on cocoa and chocolate. This includes support in coordinating our cocoa working group, producing campaign materials and content, conducting background research such as collecting killer facts, and potentially assist with campaign stunts and/or event organising.

• Supermarket campaigning – analyse the progress supermarkets are making on human rights and together with us define strategies on how to push supermarkets on specific topics. This work supports the run-up to the new Superlist Social – a supermarket ranking on human rights.
• Feminist Food Future Coordination – support our global organising around a Feminist Food Future, for example by sending invites, ensuring the translators are available, requesting speakers, co-chairing the meeting / technical support and taking notes
• Legislation and advocacy – contribute to an analysis and advocacy on the new EU CSDDD legislation and what this means for Oxfam’s work and that of our partners.
• Other – other tasks may come up spontaneously, such as support on fundraising, strategy meetings, participating in (offline and online, internal and external) meetings, research and other work that may be of interest.

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for someone who:

• Is a student in the later phases of a relevant degree/study
• Has excellent written & spoken English skills, and preferably also in Dutch
• Has very good command of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Power Point, Excel and Word), and ideally also with software to create creative content (e.g. to create infographics.)
• Has experience with analysing qualitative data
• Has a strong cultural sensitivity and gender awareness; excellent communication skill
• Demonstrates good understanding of organisational communication processes
• Is highly motivated, result-oriented and a team player
• Is willing to learn and share your knowledge with others

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants to the internships at Oxfam Novib must meet the following requirements:

• Be an active student of 18 years of age minimum.
• Be enrolled at a Dutch educational institution (first level university degree, higher schools (HBO) or other), with the internship being a requirement in the curriculum;
• Have the legal right to live and work in The Netherlands or be prepared to obtain the right to follow an internship as part of their study in the Dutch educational institution. A three-partite internship agreement (between Oxfam Novib, the educational institution and the student) will be signed to that effect.
• Have less than 3 years of relevant full-time work experience.
• Not having been in employment with Oxfam Novib previously.

Our offer
An intern in Oxfam Novib is offered an internship contract for the duration of the internship and a monthly allowance based on €450,- per month on a basis of a 36-hour work week, pro-rata in case of less hours.

The intern is expected to have a student OV card; however, if not applicable, a reimbursement of commuting costs will be offered.

Oxfam Novib works on hybrid basis – partly from office, partly from home. 

During the internship, the intern is supervised, overarching by Monique van Zijl and daily/weekly by a designated colleague/buddy. The period of this internship takes place between September 2024 until February 2025 (approximately a period of 5 months).

Working at Oxfam Novib

All our work is guided by our core values: Empowerment, Accountability, Inclusiveness, Courage, Solidarity and Equality.

At Oxfam Novib, we work according to the Feminist Principles - Oxfam Policy & Practice.

Oxfam Novib is based on the power of difference. That is why we aim to attract a diverse mix of talented people who share our standards, values, and principles, and who are committed to prevent and eliminate any type of misconduct.

We have an active policy against sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, any form of abuse of power or lack of integrity and financial misconduct. This subject will be covered in our application and selection process.

Additional information

Do you believe that this is the internship you are looking for? Then we would love to receive your application! Please note that only applications received before the closing date of 5 May 2024 and submitted via our application portal will be taken into consideration.

If you have questions regarding the position, please contact Anouk Franck, Policy Lead • FAIR: Fair Value Chains and Food Systems via anouk.franck@oxfamnovib.nl.