Internships

Internships are serious activity at COW. Interns approach COW through an intermediary agency or by themselves after doing web research and finding a match between COW objectives and their personal goals.

Purpose

ViDAL encourages volunteering and internships through COW project for people who are interested in the cause of rural development for achieving its objectives of rural poverty alleviation. Interested candidates can work either as interns or part time volunteers. Interns are expected to work in India near the project area with guidance from the Head Office while volunteers can choose to work from other parts of the world for specific purposes. Two internships of six months or three internships of four months each are accepted every year. COW requires interns in three areas.

Areas for Internships and volunteering

COW project requires support in,

Management and Finance - covers emotional and market intelligence for rural commerce

Culture and sociology - covers culture and community strength for rural development

Technology - Covers Information Technology - software programming, networking, hardware modification and equipment maintenance.

Interested candidates need to discuss over mail their reasons for choosing internships with the staff of ViDAL. Either they should have a long-term commitment for development by choosing a career in development or have commitment for the cause of rural development by becoming an "angle believer".

"Angle believers" are those who have interest in further work in development with conviction and not make the internship an exercise in resume building and will require agreeing orally to that extent. Becoming an "angle believer" will entitle the members to become a part of a network of selected like-minded people working on poverty alleviation from all over the world. Interns will be helped to document their internship efforts for any educational purposes if they choose so.

Formalities

Interns are expected to discuss the following details regarding their visit to India
Type of VISA

Expenditure planning
Acclimatisation to Indian Culture and Lifestyle.

Support

ViDAL will provide academic support for documenting internship project experience if the interns require.

ViDAL will try to support the interns by locating donors to support their housing cost after the preliminary discussions are complete on the specific internship application.