Intern, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning, Executive Office, Georgetown University

WRI Overview  

World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being. We are working to address critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade in order to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: Food, Forests, Water, Energy, Cities, Climate and the Ocean. 

Internships at WRI are learning experiences designed for current students, recent graduates, or other candidates who wish to gain knowledge about a specific area of our work. We strive to attract diverse, intellectually-driven candidates who have a passion for sustainability and development. WRI provides many internship opportunities throughout the year in all our programs.  

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices.   

Managing for Results Overview 

Operating out of the Executive Office, the Managing for Results (MfR) team is a resource for the institution, supporting WRI’s work around the world on Food, Forests, Water, Energy, Cities, Climate and the Ocean. Our mission is to work across WRI’s Programs, Centers and International Offices (IOs) to help assess if they are setting the right goals, help measure progress toward accomplishing those goals, and provide tools and support to staff to measure progress and help understand if their work is contributing to the longer-term positive changes, or impact, we intend to make in the world. We aim to ensure that WRI programmatic teams are meeting established internal and external standards for best practices in strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning.  

MfR’s strategy has three core components:   

• Developing a culture of results for learning and accountability to equip WRI for adaptive management and continual improvement through trainings and resources for all of WRI. 
• We support strategy development and planning to assess potential for impact and ensure projects are set up to achieve real-world change from the outset through equipping senior management with the information they need to make decisions 
• Targeted support of strategy and planning, monitoring, evaluation, and learning to help ensure the approaches projects are implementing are effective and leading to results. 

Internship Summary 

In support of WRI’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, the MfR team is seeking a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Intern to work with the MfR team to build capacity for monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) across the Institute and to share lessons learned. The internship is an opportunity for professional development that builds on existing MEL skills and experience while helping WRI advance a key priority of its institutional 2018-2022 Strategic Plan. 

The intern will also gain experience in nonprofit management through direct interactions with WRI’s Executive Office, including the Chief of Staff, Executive Vice President & Managing Director, and the President & CEO. This is an opportunity for students seeking to understand and acquire experience in a large, international environment and development organization that conducts both research and project implementation.  

Learning Outcomes 

The intern will gain experience in the following areas:  

Working closely with the Managing for Results team, the Intern will gain experience in a range of areas related to MEL, programmatic and organizational learning, knowledge management, capacity building, and nonprofit management. Through the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning internship, the Intern will refine their skills in areas such as research and analysis, literature reviews, data management and analysis, training and capacity building, presentations, writing, as well as technical areas of WRI’s work in: Food, Forests, Water, Energy, Cities, Climate and the Ocean.  

The Intern will work with the MfR team to align the scope of the internship with their interests and professional development goals, and the needs of the MfR team. Illustrative activities the Intern could pursue include the following: 

• Develop guidance on topics related to MEL to help WRI project teams integrate best practices into the design and implementation of projects. Guidance documents may focus on topics such as evaluations and evaluation readiness, gender and social inclusion mainstreaming, approaches to achieving impact at scale, etc.; 
• Support efforts to build capacity of WRI staff in MEL, including supporting development of training materials and internal brownbag seminars, writing up lessons learned from current evaluations; 
• Help align program strategies and monitoring frameworks, including support for refinement of WRI’s institutional results framework, reviewing indicators and monitoring frameworks, and integrating cross-cutting indicators of gender and social equity; 
• Capture lessons learned from strategy refresh processes through participation in programmatic strategy retreats and meetings, write internal knowledge products such as blogs and organize brown bags; 
• Support development of evaluation approach for WRI, including types of evaluations in given contexts, mixed methods toolkits, curating best practices from literature review; 
• Participate in WRI’s MEL Community of Practice to integrate cutting-edge approaches across the institution, including designing knowledge sharing portal for internal and external resources related to strategic planning, monitoring, evaluation and learning; 
• Other activities as identified.   

Internship Qualifications 

• University-sponsored: You must be a current student in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University 
• Familiarity and experience with monitoring & evaluation; 
• Demonstrated interest in environmental and international development issues;  
• Excellent research, writing, and oral communication skills, able to present complex information in a clear and concise manner; 
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently as well as part of a team; 
• Superior attention to detail and you seek excellence in your work;  
• Ability to work under tight deadlines, adjust to changing priorities, and work gracefully under pressure; 
• Ability to think creatively, with flexibility and a good sense of humor; 
• Highly responsible and self-motivated; 
• Well-organized, efficient and able to communicate processes with colleagues;  
• Excellent computer skills including MS Office 360 and preferably PowerBI;  
• Preferably have experience with some of the below: 
• Developing theories of change, results frameworks, logframes, or other planning frameworks that include indicators 
• Conducting or contributing to impact evaluations, evaluations of program effectiveness, or other evaluations 
• Helping teams develop indicators, MEL frameworks, PIRS, etc.  
• Conducting gender analyses, political economy analyses, baseline assessments, or other project or program planning assessments  
• Collecting data, cleaning data, analyzing data, developing protocols for data management, etc.  

General Internship Requirements 

• Applicants must have personal health insurance coverage.  
• U.S. work authorization is required for this opportunity. WRI does not sponsor interns for visas. 

Compensation  

• University Sponsored: Students will receive academic credit from their university program.   

Duration and Location  

• This is a part-time or full-time summer internship with start date options of May 17, June 1, or June 16, 2021 based on the student’s availability and need for the project.   
• This is a remote-based internship with the option to work out of the Washington D.C. office once it reopens.    
• WRI will provide a laptop for the duration of your internship.  

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at WRI: 

WRI welcomes, values and promotes diversity, equity and inclusion in its global workforce and across all areas of work. 

We believe that integrating these values into every action is morally right. These values also increase our impact and foster a more innovative, collaborative culture for our organization. Diversity, equity and inclusion are integral to how we live our mission every day. 

Each of us at WRI has the responsibility—as board members, senior leadership, managers, staff and institutional partners—to create a welcoming working environment for people of diverse cultures and backgrounds to learn together. All of us are responsible for fostering a safe and inclusive workplace where questions, concerns and information about diversity, equity and inclusion are part of our ongoing dialogue and development. 

At WRI we are committed to: 

• Advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our organizational and programmatic practices; 
• Recruiting and hiring talent from various backgrounds and identities; 
• Promoting internal talent and expanding the diversity of leadership within our staff, senior management, board and advisory bodies; 
• Creating training opportunities and events for staff to engage in open dialogue about topics aimed at shedding bias and increasing tolerance and respect for others; 
• Managing and monitoring compensation increases to ensure pay equity and fairness across the organization; 
• Rejecting and eradicating any form of harassment, bullying, discrimination, retaliation or oppression; 
• Continually refining and improving our actions to address diversity, equity and inclusion across our global network, as part of a long-term change process. 

We firmly believe that all of us have the right to be heard, respected, valued for our contributions and provided opportunities to succeed at WRI regardless of our geographic location, gender identity, race, age, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability or position. 

In addition to guiding our programmatic and institutional practices, these principles are central to our external engagement. WRI will advocate for and champion diversity, equity and inclusion in our work with governments, businesses, donors, civil society and other institutions. 

How to Apply 

Applicants must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered. 

The World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org) is an environmental and development research and policy organization that creates solutions to protect the Earth and improve people’s lives. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, it is WRI’s policy to recruit, hire, and provide opportunities for advancement in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, citizenship, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, parental status, protected veteran status, or disability. WRI’s global agenda requires a staff that is diverse – with respect to race, gender, cultural, and international background. Diverse perspectives and experience enhance the way WRI selects and approaches issues, as well as the creativity and applicability of WRI’s policy research and analysis. WRI, therefore, encourages applications from U.S. minorities, persons from other countries (especially developing nations), and from women of all backgrounds.