About International Medical Corps

International Medical Corps is an international humanitarian organization. Since our founding in 1984, our mission has been to deliver emergency healthcare and related services to those affected by conflict, natural disaster and disease, no matter where they are, no matter what the conditions. We simultaneously train people in their communities, providing them with the skills they need to recover, chart their own path to self-reliance and become effective first responders themselves.

We believe that our approach, developed over 35 years of delivering lifesaving health-related services in the most remote and challenging environments while at the same time strengthening self-reliance through training, is needed today more than ever.

We respond globally to the needs of communities unable to cope on their own amid the chaos and destruction. When natural disaster strikes and speed is critical, we are on the scene, often within hours. We provide healthcare and related services within conflict-caused complex emergencies such as Yemen, South Sudan and Central African Republic. Today, we are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and in some 30 countries with training, equipment, infrastructure and communication to help prevent and control the infection – just as we did in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and West Africa to help stop dangerous Ebola outbreaks there.

For more information, our website is www.InternationalMedicalCorps.org.

Communications Internship Overview

We are seeking a Communications Intern to help International Medical Corps with a variety of tasks that will help the organization’s communications, marketing and fundraising operations become more efficient and effective. The work will primarily involve online communications, but the subject areas may cover the range of International Medical Corps’ work, from infectious disease such as cholera, Ebola, measles and COVID-19, to water and sanitation, primary healthcare, maternal health, mental health, gender-based violence and more.

The Communications Intern will report to the Director of Global Communications and the Senior Digital Communications Specialist, and will collaborate with fundraising, communications, field and technical colleagues as needed. The position is fully remote.

Roles and Responsibilities

The Communications Intern will work with International Medical Corps staff to research new online communications channels that the organization could leverage to build its audience; research new means of communicating about International Medical Corps’ work, and whether/how best to pursue those means; and work to ensure that the organization’s existing online assets are accurate and effective.

The Intern will perform the following key tasks:

• Research the influencer landscape on social media to develop a list of “long-tail,” “grasstops” influencers (those with 3,000 to 10,000 followers, for example, who are perhaps looking for content relevant to our donor base) for outreach. Along these lines, they will research and create a contact list of potential content partners who could benefit from International Medical Corps sharing stories, images, video content and interviews with subject-matter experts (e.g., podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, Medium publications, influencers, etc.).
• Help the Communications team research the benefits and possible return on investment (ROI) from podcasting, figuring out the investment of money and time required to start and maintain it, as well as what components would be involved—content and hosting requirements, equipment, staffing, budget, etc. If the Communications team concludes that there would be a positive ROI for this means of communication, the Intern would help to create a proposal to be presented to executive leadership.
• “Crawl” through the entire International Medical Corps website to assess it for timeliness, accuracy and readability. The Intern will also research all the different social media profiles that International Medical Corps teams around the world have set up, in different countries and languages, and help to update the existing document used to track them.

Qualifications

• Current doctoral students in the humanities or the social sciences
• Training and experience in research
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and comfort in using other technology, such as video conferencing
• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills
• Knowledge of, and comfort with online communications, including social media
• Excellent organizational and project management skills
• Ability to work independently and be proactive
• Self-motivated
• Strong interest in humanitarian work and international studies

Applicants will be required to submit two-to-three writing samples, for a total of about ten pages, along with three references. Writing samples may be in any genre. A writing or other test may be administered.

International Medical Corps is an equal employment opportunity organization and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of sex, race, age, creed, ethnicity, disability, marital or parenting status, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We actively seek to maintain a diverse staff.

This internship is administered and funded through the PublicsLab at The Graduate Center, CUNY. The PublicsLab will compensate 150 hours of work with a $5,000 stipend.

Please apply through for this position through GC Connect, where it is post #6969. Please contact PublicsLab Director Dr. Stacy Hartman with questions about this position at shartman2@gc.cuny.edu.