Field Organizing Intern – Washington, DC

Organization: Global Trade Watch

Job Title: Field Organizing Intern

Location: Washington, DC

Hours and Compensation: Full time, Unpaid

Position Dates: Fall Semester (September – December)

Application Deadline: Rolling admissions, so send in ASAP

Posted On: July 27th, 2012

Organization Overview

The mission of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch division is to ensure that in this era of globalization, a majority have the opportunity to enjoy America’s promises: economic security, a clean environment, safe food, medicines and products, access to quality affordable services such as health care and the exercise of democratic decision-making about the matters that affect their lives.

Public Citizen started working on globalization and ‘trade’ issues in 1991 when we recognized that we needed to do so simply to remain effective with respect to the public health, consumer safety, environmental and economic justice goals Public Citizen had promoted over decades. Motivating this strategic initiative was our realization that today’s international commercial agreements, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), implementing the current corporate-led form of globalization were no longer mainly about trade. Rather these far-reaching agreements were backdoor delivery mechanisms for expansive enforceable policies designed explicitly to limit governments’ role in regulating the economy and to eliminate many of the public interest safeguards Public Citizen and like-minded organizations and activists had won over decades.

Since its inception in 1995, GTW has been a leader in popularizing the trade debate by connecting seemingly arcane “trade” policies to peoples’ everyday experiences – and helping people make a difference in the future of “globalization” by giving them the tools they need to educate their communities, hold Congress accountable for policy choices, and hit the streets to protest. For more information, please see our website: www.citizen.org/trade or www.tradewatch.org

Description

The field internship provides a better understanding of hands-on public interest advocacy and grassroots organizing work. The field intern will work under the direction of our national field director as a full-fledged member of our staff field team, developing professional online and grassroots organizing skills while helping to lead the fight against corporate globalization and the corporate trade agenda.

Capabilities:

The organizer-in-training is a good talker, and a good listener. They’ve got to love talking it up with a diverse array of people. They should be well organized, willing to learn, to work in a team, perform well under pressure, and adapt to rapidly changing situations.

Qualifications

* Some demonstrated experience organizing, either online or with grassroots groups. * Commitment to public interest and good government work; previous public interest work preferred; familiarity with public policy issues a plus. * Good organizational, writing and communication skills. * Some familiarity with databases (preferably Access) desirable. * Basic understanding of Internet-based research and general computer skills. * Can-do attitude; ability to quickly to respond to new developments. * A burning desire to fight corruption.

How to Apply