Operations Team Intern – Water Sector Support

Organisation

For 25 years, the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) has connected the world to the expertise and knowledge of the Dutch water sector. Our strong alliance of the most innovative, entrepreneurial, and renowned Dutch water sector members makes NWP the first port of call for anyone worldwide seeking collaboration and Dutch water expertise. Together with our members, we focus on international collaboration to help solve global water challenges and ensure a sustainable and water-driven future. As a network organisation, NWP offers a platform to entities that would otherwise not have met each other so quickly. We create visibility with and for the Dutch water sector, helping its members find and expand market opportunities through the projects, programmes, events, and activities that we initiate, facilitate, coordinate, and organise, often on international stages.

Your role

We are looking for someone to assist operational project teams working on short- and long-term projects to support Dutch water sector organisations (private, public, knowledge, and NGO) making impact on water collaborations abroad. This may involve assisting the NWP Operations Team in:

• hosting incoming government delegations seeking to learn about Dutch water management;
• organising online webinars and hybrid multi-stakeholder meetings;
• identifying commercial leads for Dutch water organisations around the world;
• conducting research studies to identify collaboration opportunities for Dutch water organisations.

Requirements

• Must be currently enrolled in a higher education program requiring an internship. This includes universities, HBO, or MBO institutions without distinction.
• Affinity with the development of communication materials such as PowerPoint presentations.
• Effective and assertive writing skills in English for concise and clear external communications. Writing tasks include desk research, report writing, note-taking on official and informal meetings, and synthetizing information for report documentation. This includes being able to summarize information, identifying suitable visual elements, summarizing researched information, and creating materials with the objective of the meeting and the audience in mind.
• Technical knowledge of water management is a plus, but not a requirement.
• Ability to conduct data collection tasks such as: desk research, in-phone interviews, or online meetings with public and private sector parties in a professional manner.
• Feeling comfortable on the use of online tools such as Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet to support the production and organisation of webinars, in person, and hybrid meetings.
• Being able to support networking operations. Feeling comfortable speaking about our organisation and mission with entrepreneurs, NGO representatives, government representatives, and knowledge partners.
• Good organisational, and time management skills. The ideal candidate can manage their time and tasks to meet internal and external deadlines, is able to follow the organisation systems for filing out documents properly, and handling materials for later reporting and record-keeping.

Preferred qualifications

• An advanced command of Spanish, Ukrainian, Arabic, or Portuguese is a plus, but not a requirement. A candidate who could provide support to online or in-person presentations in these languages would be ideal.
• Some knowledge or interest in water management, environmental management, sustainability, water diplomacy, climate adaptation, or international relations.
• Entrepreneurial spirit is a plus. Students seeking to understand the experience and challenges of Dutch entrepreneurs seeking to commercialise their technical innovation or expertise abroad can gain substantial insight from this experience.
• Applicants seeking to expose themselves to the field of international relations, water diplomacy, and the development of public-private partnerships can gain further in-depth knowledge about these topics.

What we offer

• An internship of preferably 4-4.5 days a week (for at least 3 months).
• A placement fee, based on education and time commitment.
• Internship allowance as appropriate.
• A unique position to broaden your network in the Netherlands as well as international.
• Time to work on the research and report.
• Above all, a challenging and innovative learning environment, where initiative is appreciated!

Application

Please send a CV and a motivation letter describing how the listed requirements and preferred qualifications match your skills, motivation, and background to Janett Tapia at j.tapia@nwp.nl. For any questions regarding this post, please call +31 70 304 3718. The application deadline is 20 September 2024.

Timeline considerations

• Ideal or approximate start: immediately.
• The candidate should be able to work 32-36 hours weekly, excluding commuting time.
• NWP offers hybrid work arrangements and remote work is possible.
• After a successful semester and based on performance, the possibility for multiple periods within sustained school enrolment is possible.