Would you like to intern with a civil society network focused on research and advocacy on corporate accountability? Do you have a particular interest in promoting international standards or laws to secure more responsible business conduct and accountability for adverse impacts of corporate activity? Would you like to develop your skills in research, advocacy, and event planning by working within a committed and energetic team? OECD Watch is offering a five-month research, advocacy, and administration internship with the OECD Watch network within the Rights, Remedy and Accountability team.
Please apply by Sunday, 2 January 2022 for an internship start day in the week of Monday, 10 January 2022.
About SOMO and OECD Watch
SOMO is a research and network organisation founded in 1973. We investigate the adverse human and environmental consequences of multinational corporations’ activities and the impact of corporate globalisation. SOMO’s Rights, Remedy and Accountability team (RRA) seeks to address the global governance gaps that allow multinational corporations to operate with impunity. We push for stronger corporate accountability frameworks, including an international binding treaty on corporate accountability for human rights violations, improved national and regional laws on corporate human rights due diligence, and improved soft law standards on responsible business conduct (RBC). We also support workers, communities, individuals, and civil society organisations in filing complaints to non-judicial grievance mechanisms.
OECD Watch is a network of civil society organisations whose secretariat is based within SOMO’s RRA team. OECD Watch is the official representative of civil society to the OECD’s Investment Committee, which is responsible for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (Guidelines), the leading global standard on RBC. OECD Watch supports complaints filed by civil society to the Guidelines’ network of National Contact Point (NCP) non-judicial grievance mechanisms and advises improvements to the Guidelines and individual NCPs. Through this work, OECD Watch seeks to improve access to remedy for victims of corporate misconduct and strengthen international norms on corporate social and environmental behaviour.
About the internship
During this internship, you will work for the OECD Watch secretariat. You will provide research, advocacy, event planning, and administrative support.
Key activities and responsibilities
- You will help develop PowerPoint, graphic, and video tools to teach civil society about the OECD Guidelines, its complaint system, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance, and related topics.
- You will help plan and run virtual workshops on the Guidelines, complaint-filing, and (gender-sensitive) human rights due diligence.
- You will support the network’s work to advocate for a revision of the OECD Guidelines in 2022, by:
- Helping prepare submissions for official consultations at the OECD
- Helping prepare talking points and other advocacy tools for members engaging with various OECD governments
- Topics of focus: Rights of disadvantaged groups (i.e. indigenous peoples rights, rights of people with low caste, women’s rights); protection of human rights defenders; land rights; labour rights; environment and climate change; animal welfare; fair taxation; digitalization; and disclosure.
- You will help organise a virtual event and related communications to launch advocacy regarding Brazil’s anticipated accession to the OECD.
- You will help organise and plan the agenda and reading materials for the network’s bi-annual global gathering in Latin America in Q3 of 2022.
- You will engage in the overall coordination of the OECD Watch network, including supporting bimonthly meetings with the network’s steering board, maintaining the database of community-led NCP complaints, assisting with communications, and updating the member list.
- You will help with content creation and posting for the OECD Watch website.
Requirements
- Affinity with the mission of SOMO and OECD Watch.
- Strong analytical skills.
- Excellent command of English.
- Strong organisational skills.
- Good communication skills (verbal and written).
- Ability to work independently and proactively, while also being a good team-worker.
- Enrolment during the internship in a relevant bachelor or master study. Please note: SOMO cannot take on recent graduates no longer enrolled. SOMO can only engage as interns students enrolled in school during the internship.
- Permission to work in the Netherlands.
We offer
- An exciting internship in a fun and informal workspace. During Covid, work may be remote, in-person at SOMO’s office in Amsterdam, and/or in-person in Utrecht, NL, where the network team members live.
- Work experience in the NGO sector at an organisation with a large national and international network.
- Critical but constructive supervision.
- A stipend of €400 per month, on a 32-hours basis.
- Travel cost reimbursement.
Interested?
Email your letter of interest and CV, along with an English writing sample, to Marian Ingrams at jobs@somo.nl.
Please apply by the end of Sunday, 2 January 2022.
Interviews will take place starting Thursday, 6 January 2022.
We hope the candidate selected will be able to begin on Monday, 10 January 2022.
SOMO especially encourages candidates with an international and/or cross-cultural background to apply for this position.
For more information about OECD Watch, see www.oecdwatch.org.