The International Volunteer/Internship Programme

About the Programme

The Child Rights Information and Documentation Centre (CRIDOC) is now planning to start welcoming volunteers and interns from abroad to carry out various activities to enhance its capacity. This volunteer exchange project is based on a model in India for a child rights organisation called Global March Against Child Labour, where the CRIDOC’s Acting Executive Director once worked as a media intern in 2002-2003. This project, as experience has shown, will be tremendously feasible especially now that the organisation’s website is being used as one of the most useful advocacy tools child rights and other related social issues.

Volunteers are expected to make important contributions to CRIDOC in many ways, and will add a multi-cultural environment to the project’s staff and bring in lots of innovative ideas and enthusiasm.

CRIDOC shall endeavour to provide a conducive multi-cultural environment for the international interns/volunteers similar to the one at the Indian based Global March Against Child Labour as shown in the picture.

The proposed CRIDOC Volunteer Programme aims to provide volunteers with unique opportunities to do something about human rights, particularly child rights related issues and share their skills. CRIDOC will therefore soon launch an Exchange Volunteer Programme with various other partner organisations/institutions at international level. The volunteers will be placed either with the main office in Lilongwe or in one of the district offices whenever established and wherever appropriate. CRIDOC will publicise and promote the Exchange Volunteers Programme on its website; www.cridoc.net as well as link its web to other numerous similar websites designed to promote development through social integration. Such websites include, among others, One World (www.oneworld.net), NetAid (www.netaid.org), Development Gateway (www.developmentgateway.org), Eldis (www.eldis.org), DevJobs (www.devjobsmail.com/main/homepage.html), American Peace Corps [Malawi] (www.friendsofmalawi.org), International Volunteer Programs Association (www.volunteerinternational.org), international volunteering directory (www.volunteerabroad.com) VSO and many more.

Role of Interns/Volunteers

• Volunteers will have support roles within different teams of CRIDOC.
• Their roles, tasks and responsibilities will be clearly defined

Requirements for the Volunteer Programme

CRIDOC will welcome volunteers with background in Human Rights, Journalism, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Social Sciences, Anthropology, Sociology, Development Studies, Public Health (HIV/Aids focus), Education Policy and Law. In addition, CRIDOC shall welcome volunteers with Computer Sciences, Natural Science and Humanities background to add broader perspectives on child rights development.

Applicants to the Volunteer Programme should have:

• A background or strong interest in human rights issues, at least with a bias on child rights
• A knowledge and ability to work in the English language or in a language necessary to work in the particular environment.
• A good knowledge of computer
• An ability to work independently and take initiatives
• A creative and global thinking
• The Interested volunteers will have to provide two references.

Period of Volunteering

Minimum duration for volunteering is 6 months, but we will strongly recommend volunteers to stay for one year. Volunteering for a shorter period will be considered in exceptional cases only.

Visa Requirement and Insurance

A foreign national interested to volunteer with us will be required to obtain appropriate visa from the Malawi Embassy in his/her country. We shall facilitate an appropriate letter of invitation / contract to help the prospective volunteer in acquiring this visa.

A foreign national with visa for more than 180 days will need to get registered with the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) in Malawi within 14 days of arrival. DHRMD will issue a residence permit on the basis of documentation provided by the person and the organization employing him/her.

Volunteers will be advised to get medical insurance done in their countries before leaving for Malawi.

Follow up Formalities

Interns/Volunteer Coordinator will, in consultation with the Executive Director and the Department Heads, be responsible to coordinate the selection, hiring and orientation of the volunteers into the CRIDOC project. He/she will also be responsible for all communications with the prospective volunteers.

The Interns/volunteer Coordinator will be responsible to complete the follow up formalities. This includes sending the invitation letter and other necessary documents to the selected candidate to help him/her get the appropriate visa from the Malawian Embassy/High Commission in his/her country. The volunteers with appropriate visa will be allowed to work for CRIDOC in Malawi. The volunteers with tourist visa will not be allowed to work.

The Interns/volunteer Coordinator will also communicate with the selected volunteer to seek the passport details and arrival details.

The Interns/volunteer Coordinator will provide copies of invitation letter, CV, job description and arrival details to the Administration, who will complete all formalities and make necessary arrangements for the coming intern/volunteer – such as providing accommodation.

The administration will also allocate space and computer if required. Computers in the departments may be shared, if possible.

The administration will also provide shared accommodation to the volunteers on arrival. No food allowance will be paid to the volunteers. They are not entitled to any other benefits, except free decent accommodation.

Orientation of the Volunteers

The Interns/volunteer Coordinator will be responsible to coordinate the orientation of the coming volunteers. The orientation will include the following:

• A brief introductory walk through the office building.
• Formalities with administration, including submission of passport and visa details by the intern/volunteer.
• Orientation on the rules and regulations of the office. Introduction to Administration and Finance.
• General introduction on human rights in Malawi, with a detailed overview on the child rights situation, and the role of the Information Centre.
• Sharing relevant documents and screening of films and documentaries.
• An orientation on the socio-political, cultural and legal environment of the country in which the organization and staff members work and live.
• An introduction and orientation with the Executive Director and various departmental heads.
• An orientation on the district offices, whenever established, and possibly arrange for a field visit to some of its projects at district level whenever available.
• Meeting with the Departmental Heads, who will explain about their work, responsibilities, plan of action, expectations, any other details. Set of appropriate papers/documents shall be handed over to the volunteer by the departmental head. Orientation with other team members.
• IT orientation – the Information Officer shall provide the new intern/volunteer with email account information, explain about network and email systems, safety precautions (against virus) and any other relevant information.
• The Interns/volunteer Coordinator will prepare a manual for the volunteers. All relevant information shall form part of this manual. Information on places for tourism, visa rules/requirements, health, emergency and other important contact numbers should also be there in the manual.
• Attempts will be made to make the stay comfortable, pleasant, productive and safe.

Evaluation of Work and Exit Interview

The volunteers will undergo through a mid-term and final evaluation of work. Guidelines for evaluation will be prepared separately. The Executive Director will hold an exit interview at the time of departure of the interns/volunteers. The volunteers will hand over their charge to the concerned departmental heads. A certificate/letter of work/appreciation may be given to the volunteers at departure, accompanied by a farewell party.

Alumni of CRIDOC Interns/Volunteers

The Interns/volunteer Coordinator will maintain a database of all the CRIDOC volunteers and create opportunities to the volunteers to interact with each other after they leave. They can be meaningfully involved with the CRIDOC activities even after they leave. They can also become Online Volunteers.

CRIDOC Online Volunteers may share their time and expertise to help CRIDOC in different ways. These volunteers will help without having to leave their homes. They may volunteer on weekends, in the evenings, on their lunch break, or whenever their schedules permit. They may volunteer from home computers, work computers, or computers in public access centres. These concepts are to be further developed and strengthened.