Grassrooted works on a range of projects with different organisations in the field of HIV, drugs and sexuality.  When there is work to be done, and we are on the hunt for someone with specific skills or interests, we put up a call right here.  Or you can always get in touch with us at joinus@grassrooted.net just to see what’s on offer.

Internships are for around 3 months, and can be paid or unpaid depending on the project and the available funding. You’ll have to manage your tickets, but we’ll take care of your food and accommodation once you’re here. English is essential, and depending on the gig, if you also know Tamil or Sinhalese… great!

So, here’s what you do: Tell us why you want to come work at Grassrooted; send us a couple references; your CV/resume and any example of previous work (where applicable). Remember, educational qualifications are good, but what we want is your passion and your experience. Be honest with us.  That’s it.

GRASSROOTED INTERNS NOW!

Amila is currently is his third year of a Bachelors in Social Work at the National Institute of Social Development. He is also a focal point for Y-PEER Sri Lanka. Amila’s projects with Grassrooted have included the NUSS HIV workshops and coordinating the TWATS World AIDS Day event, which was a great success. Together with Kapila, Amila is currently in the process of developing a network of actors to work on issues of sex and rugs and culture. Amila is also currently the National Focal Point for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV & AIDS.

Kapila is also in his third year of a Bachelors in Social Work at the National Institute of Social Development. A talented young actor Kapila has worked on BCC development workshops with NWC and also acted and directed a play in Sinhala and Tamil for World AIDS Day in Vavuniya. Kapila always leads Grassrooted Street Theatre initiatives and was a key player in the recently concluded ICC World Cup HIV Campaign in 2011. In April 2011 Kapila received a Ashoka Youth Ventures Grant to develop a network of young actors across Sri Lanka to work on issues affecting the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender communities. Kapila also leads the ACT team at Grassrooted, which is a team that uses arts based approaches to provoke engagement on social issues.

GHOSTS OF INTERNS PAST

UrmilaPullat a law student (ILS Law College) from Pune, India spent 6 weeks with us in researching on the Transgender community in Sri Lanka in partnership with DAST. She conducted focus group discussions and key informant interviews with people who identify as transgender in Sri Lanka, including male to female (MTF) and female to male (FTM) identities. DAST was instrumental in setting up these interviews and discussions and Urmila was able to gather a reasonable amount of date from which we can analyse what it means to be transgender in Sri Lanka. In India too she has experience working with the community and with her research specifically focusing on socio-economic interventions for this marginalized and misunderstood community. Ultimately, Urmila would like to draw a comparison between the two countries vis-à-vis the trans community. She also hopes to return to us in October 2011 to gather more data.

Katie came to us via Wake Up Pune with a background as a young Peer Sex Educator for the student-lead sexual health awareness initiative Unisex Manchester in Northwest England (UK).  She had also completed her final year BSc Psychology with a qualitative analysis of local Sex and Relationships Education.  3 months prior to graduating, Katie began as Research and Evaluation Officer at Rochdale Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, part of the UK’s teenage conception reduction initiative.  Her work with the local young South Asian community saw her team nominated for the Brook, national sexual health charity, Project-of-the-Year award 2010.  Empowering young people to conduct research within their community ensured sexual health practitioners gained genuine ground-level insight to young South Asian sexual health attitudes and behaviour. In Sri Lanka she worked closely with the Grassrooted team to finalize a great tool on relationships and sex for young people in collaboration with the HIV prevention Lab at Ryerson University, Canada. She also worked on researching the Positive Living manual for the Sri Lankan HIV positive community, which is an ILO/UNDP Sri Lanka led project.

Ishita was with us from India from September to December 2010 where she worked with the YP Foundationwhere she was Coordinator Advocacy, Project 19; Know your Body Know Your Rights! Ishita is a great young trainer and put her skills to good use with the Rotaract HIV & Youth Campaign and also worked on developing Peer Education Tools for the joint Sarvodaya/UNFPA project. Ishita also helped to put together the internship,volunteer programme and the started off our child sexual abuse workshop plan for local schools. All this, in three months!

Charmaine worked with Grassrooted mainly on the HIV manual to be used during a training of people living with HIV as part of a Positive Living intervention to be run jointly with the FPASL and Grassrooted. Unfortunately, this project never got off the ground due to internal issues at FPASL, but her work continues to influence how we approach HIV interventions. In addition Charmaine volunteered on all HIV prevention and awareness events and contributed her local and international knowledge on relationships and issues around sex with young people. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Chemistry from Wilson College, Pennsylvania, USA and also worked as a research assistant position at the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. She left us in January to pursue her Masters in the US. We miss you.

Gargi came to us after her stint with the World Food Programme in New York. Her task was to set up a nutrition training programme for people living with HIV as part of the intended Positive Living Intervention with FPASL. With her MSc in Dietics from the School of Health Sciences, University of Pune, and her MSc in Food Policy and Applied Nutrition from Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, she was the ideal candidate. It was a tragedy that her time with us could not have been maximized upon due to the falling through of the project. Sri Lanka’s loss.