Guide to International Human Rights Internships and Fellowships
How to find and fund an international human rights internship or fellowship:
Protecting and promoting human rights throughout the world can be a life-changing experience as you are personally involved in helping to generate social change. Having an international human rights internship may not only give you the opportunity to learn about other peoples, cultures and current human rights issues while being engaged in the process of social transformation, but it may also help you in more clearly determining where your educational and professional future will lead.
As a graduate student desiring to solidify my Spanish skills as well as learn how grassroots movements in rural areas function, I spent hours upon hours researching the internet and travel books to find where I could go, how to apply, what to bring with me, how much it would cost, etc. After returning from an incredible experience in El Salvador, Barb Frey from the Global Institute and I decided that we needed to make the process of obtaining an international human rights internship more accessible to students. This brochure was the result. It was made in order to assist undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Minnesota in their search for possible internship or volunteer positions. In it you will find information from potential funding to what past interns have done while working abroad to what to pack before you leave. Our hope is that this brochure will help you whether you are at the very beginning of your search or in the more advanced stages.
We wish you the best of luck and hope you have a very rewarding experience.
Kelli Oborn, University of Minnesota Student, and the Human Rights Center
