Background
Founded in 2004, Shelter Centre is a Swiss humanitarian NGO dedicated to supporting organisations involved in providing shelter to populations affected by conflict and natural disasters. Shelter Centre emphasises collaboration, consensus, and capacity-building but does not directly implement operations. Shelter Centre runs the Humanitarian Library which is a knowledge management platform bringing together multi-sectoral strategic guidelines and technical training for field use, always involving broad consensus within the humanitarian community. The goal of the Humanitarian Library is to disseminate critical humanitarian knowledge to professionals of the humanitarian sector for free.
Internships Description and Requirements
Role and Objectives
These internships are designed to involve participants with an architecture and/or construction engineering background in a collaboration project bridging our Humanitarian Library to the Global Shelter Cluster Technical Working Group (GSC TWG) on construction in humanitarian settings. Our Humanitarian Library is currently supporting the GSC TWG informally in curating various resources. Therefore, we’re looking for interns possessing these technical skills to review our resources and ensure their (technical) compliance to the requirements of the GSC TWG. Other projects might also later require the involvement of interns with these technical skills.
Main Responsibilities and Tasks
The interns will contribute to the collaboration project of the Humanitarian Library and Global Shelter Cluster mentioned previously. This will involve activities including, but not limited to:
- Research and review relevant literature and technical guidelines for the Humanitarian Library works on, and bringing the technical support needed.
- Draft and revise content based on feedback from colleagues and partners.
- Participate in internal Humanitarian Library and GSC TWG meetings.
Internship Opportunities
Shelter Centre invites young professionals with diverse skills to remotely contribute to humanitarian activities within a dynamic and global team. Both full-time (35 hours a week) and part-time (20 hours a week) internship positions are available. The internship opportunities offered are unpaid.
Volunteers are expected to contribute to one (or more) of our ongoing projects and missions in parallel. These include but are not limited to:
- Coordinating the Human Resources team
- Updating and improving the Humanitarian Library website (www.humanitarianlibrary.org) by adding new collections of resources and reviewing website functionalities.
- Support the Weekly Coordination meetings, especially in organising the Weekly Meeting between all Shelter Centre volunteers
Education, Interests, Skills, and Experience
Required
- Excellent communication skills in English (minimum Level C1 Proficiency), both verbal and written are essential. Fluency in other languages is highly desirable.
- Commitment to humanitarian action.
- University degree (or equivalent) in engineering (civil, structural) or architecture.
- Experience in architecture and/or construction engineering
- Excellent research and writing skills.
- Strong organisational skills and demonstrated experience in project management.
- Ability to multitask, prioritise and work accurately within set deadlines.
- General computer literacy, including Microsoft Office.
Desired
- Interest or experience in humanitarian construction.
- Experience working with varied cultures around the world and in remote settings.
In-kind time contributions will be considered from engineering firms, universities and research bodies.
Benefits
Volunteers and interns are fundamental to Shelter Centre’s work and receive personal development opportunities, including individualized mentoring sessions and career guidance. Additionally, interns will receive a recommendation letter upon successful completion. They will also have opportunities to network remotely with professionals in international humanitarian action and benefit from a team-led programme for professional development involving external speakers, team speakers, skills development such as around LinkedIn, and undertaking online trainings together.
Conditions
- Availability:Â Four months (extendable at a later stage). Applications for part-time positions may be considered for a minimum of 4 full days a week. All positions will begin with a one-month probationary period.
- Location:Â Fully remote. Applicants must hold or obtain a valid permit allowing them to reside and undertake the internship where they are located. Shelter Centre, with over a decade of experience in remote collaboration, provides a structured and supportive environment for interns.
Successful candidates will bear their own insurance, accommodation, living and travel costs. Travel is not required, however some costs may be defrayed for any travel, depending upon budgets available.
How to apply
Applicants are encouraged to submit a CV and motivation letter as soon as possible, as recruitment will be undertaken on a rolling basis.
To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter in English by email to recruitment@sheltercentre.org
Closing date: 29th December 2025 at 23:59 CET (Geneva time)