About Me!
About me, well my name is Therese and I am 25 years old, an International communication undergrad with a Swedish and Egyptian background. I love to travel and explore and have lived in 4 different countries and hope to live in many many more. I am always up for trying new things and believe in going where life takes you, and I suppose that sums up how I ended up joining the WWF family.
I came across the WWF Internship/Volunteer program by a complete coincident, after graduating university in 2009 the financial crises was making it challenging to say the least to find a job. Internships seemed to be the only realistic option and I started browsing around for organizations I believed in and which inspired me. I had moved back to Stockholm from Paris and decided to try living back home for a while and found an opening with Medecine sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders).
I worked as an association intern assisting the board on meetings, events and member services. It was an interesting time, and I gained great respect for the organization. However after a couple of month my travelling bone started getting restless and I came across the WWF volunteer program which promised field work combined with video production, how could I pass on that. So I applied and soon got an email, asking if I would consider a volunteer position at the International headquarters instead of going to the field, and I thought…why not.
I worked as an association intern assisting the board on meetings, events and member services. It was an interesting time, and I gained great respect for the organization. However after a couple of month my travelling bone started getting restless and I came across the WWF volunteer program which promised field work combined with video production, how could I pass on that. So I applied and soon got an email, asking if I would consider a volunteer position at the International headquarters instead of going to the field, and I thought…why not.
Carouge, Geneva
Montreaux in October
What I did, what I learned
I was working on the Protected Areas for a living planet (PA4LP) project’s communications. My duties consisted of things such as collecting PA4LP communications materials, write web content highlighting progress made in the 5 ecoregions from local to ecoregional level for online use and factsheet, redesigning of the PA4LP website, I helped in the preparations of COP10 that was held in Japan and I created a film of the PA4LP project.
During my time with the Biodiversity conservation team or more specifically the CBD I gained a greater understanding of the process of policy making, the importance conservation has on the rural communities and how environmental conservation has to go hand in hand with sustainable development.
Visit the PA4LP website and watch the movie!
My video project
Gland Train station
Advice
If you are interested in learning about NGO work, and witnessing policy making behind the scenes this could be for you. All you need is passion, interest and a few technical and writing skills. I think it is a great opportunity for someone to learn about the NGO world which can be very confusing and hard to break into. I highly recommend the WWF volunteer program whether you go to the field or not.
