My Micro Internship: Experience in not-for-profit

My micro-internship with KEEN has been my first real experience of the nonprofit sector and I have learned so much about both the importance of this work, and the day-to-day practicalities of running a charity. The KEEN Oxford team have been amazing at leading us through our projects, while giving us the room to think independently and bring our own ideas to the table.

I originally applied for the internship after hearing great things about a friend’s experience on the programme last term. The idea of creating work that can have a real, tangible impact, even in just 5 days was so appealing to me and it was clear that KEEN would help me to achieve this. I have not been disappointed! The team has helped me set clear, achievable goals and has made sure I had all the tools I needed to see my project through this week.

I chose to work on developing the Young Leader Programme, as I felt that it had huge potential as a way to encourage more enthusiastic, ambitious young people to become involved with KEEN, and learn incredibly valuable skills. A large part of my project revolved around putting together a comprehensive handbook for Young Leaders, to guide them through the project. I was encouraged to use an Easy Read format, which makes a document more accessible for people with learning disabilities. This was something I would never have thought to do before and yet it is such a small thing that makes a huge impact on accessibility and fairness. This is just one example of how the internship has changed my mindset.

Of course, this internship had to happen remotely, and so the only contact I had with team members and other interns was online. KEEN is a brilliantly collaborative organisation and so translating this environment to zoom calls and emails will never be perfect. There is certainly an element of bouncing ideas off of others and chatting through projects that was lost. However, the team at KEEN did a great job of making sure we still felt connected with regular check-ins, and opportunities to share the work we were doing with each other.

All-in-all, this week has been a fantastic experience. I have been able to produce work that I am genuinely proud of and I have learned a lot. I would absolutely recommend working with KEEN to anyone who gets the opportunity.