Learn how WWF addresses conservation issues

The goal of the volunteer/internship programme is to provide you with a powerful, direct experience of the unique challenges developing nations face in protecting their environment and its assets.

The aim is also to enable you to effectively communicate your experiences to others (there's more on this below and under The Deal is This).

Overall, WWF wants to provide you with an insight into the world of conservation work on the ground, in the field. This could be an assignment with a WWF project in an extremely rural and isolated community or it could be with a local WWF office combining visits to the field. Whatever the context, WWF hopes and believes that you will be inspired and motivated by what you see and what you do, and that you will carry this through the rest of your life.

Qualifying
Volunteer interns will be drawn from a vast range of backgrounds and, while you must have previously demonstrated some type of commitment to the goals of WWF, you are not required to be pursuing a career in conservation.

Currently, we are able to offer a placement to approximately 30-35 young people each year.

People & Conservation
Many of the world’s ecosystems and areas of high biodiversity under threat are also home to rural communities and indigenous peoples, whose livelihoods and cultures are closely dependent on the natural environment. Conservation is key to ensuring that all communities can develop sustainably and equitably. By maintaining ecosystem services, ensuring sustainable use and management of natural resources and providing new livelihood opportunities, conservation activities can contribute towards poverty reduction and sustainable development. WWF works to support sustainable livelihoods and reduce poverty, and develop more equitable models of natural resource consumption and governance. An important dimension of our work are efforts to reduce human ecological footprint by promoting sustainable production and consumption patterns.

What work will be done?
During your placement, you will be integrated into a WWF team to work on conservation initiatives in line with the objectives of the project or programme you are engaged with. In Madagascar for example, you would be living and working directly with a local community.

An example of such a project could be the establishment of a new protected area where you'll be involved with a range of activities such as the collection of field data, consultations with local communities, building infrastructure support.

What is wanted in return
The volunteer/internship programme is designed to have an impact far beyond the individual young people who are directly involved.

How?
If selected, you will be asked to create compelling stories, pictures and possibly videos and other digital communications about your experiences.

WWF hopes that your inspiration and talent at communicating what you see and experience can help others like yourself gain insight and inspiration from your achievements.

Find out more on what the deal is...

And for more information on WWF's work, view the

• interactive version of the 2015 Annual Review
• latest edition of the Conservation Highlights
• and discover the Living Planet Report 2016