Programme and Community Intern At Movement in Refuge

About Movement in Refuge (MiR)

MiR is an international organisation promoting physical and mental health through sport and movement training to create safe, structured opportunities for conflict-affected communities. We started in the Rohingya refugee camps along the Bangladesh Myanmar border, home to one of the world’s largest refugee settlements, since 2024.

Our work is grounded in the conviction that sports and movement are beneficial to everyone and that people who have suffered enormous trauma and upheaval would greatly benefit from healthy movement, play and sport.

Together with our Bangladeshi partner NGO Sports for Hope and Independence (SHI), we deliver safe, dynamic and consistent coaching for women and girls, separately, for men and boys. Our trainers come from Bangladeshi Universities with degrees in physical education and sports science. They train refugees we refer to as community-based coaches who are from and live in the refugee camps. Our planned academic partnerships with the University of Edinburgh, Leeds Beckett University, i-coach kids, will anchor our practice in research, and our growing connections across the UN system mean our work is scaling. We are at a pivotal moment and need your support to achieve our potential.

The Role

MiR delivers six distinct programme tracks in Chess, Roundnet, Yoga, Ocean Sports, Swim, and Youth Connection, each combining hands-on programme development with outreach into a global community of players, practitioners, clubs and federations. As a Programme and CommunityIntern, you will choose the track that matches your background and passion, and take responsibility for both strengthening what MiR delivers on the ground and building the external relationships, partnerships and resources that help that programme grow.

Across every track, the pattern is the same: you bring a genuine connection to a sport or community, and you use it to open doors, for partnerships, donations, visibility and expertise, while contributing directly to how MiR designs and delivers that programme for the communities it serves.

Programme Tracks Available

Chess Programme: In camp environments where physical space for girls is limited, chess offers focused engagement, mental stimulation and dignity. Working alongside SHI and FIDE, you will help grow a structured, globally-connected chess programme.
Ocean Sports: Leads the quality, development and expansion of MiR’s coastal programme in Sonarpara (Cox’s Bazar), spanning swimming, surfing, water safety and coastal sport, as part of a three-year plan to reach 1,000–1,600 children in a community with one of the highest child drowning rates in the world.
Roundnet sports: Grows MiR’s presence within the global roundnet community (including ahead of the International Roundnet Federation World Championships, September 2026) while strengthening the roundnet programme delivered in Cox’s Bazar.
Swim sports: Focused specifically on the swimming curriculum within MiR’s coastal programme, ensuring delivery is evidence-based and aligned with WHO drowning-prevention guidance and programmes such as SwimSafe.
Yoga sports: Builds relationships with yoga studios, teachers and communities that can support MiR, while helping ensure the yoga programme delivered in camp is trauma-informed and adapted to participants’ needs.
Youth Connection sports: Builds MiR’s presence within schools, in the UK and internationally, creating partnerships, fundraising initiatives and creative exchanges (such as letter and illustration schemes) between school communities and Cox’s Bazar.

Key Responsibilities

While specifics vary by track, Programme Interns generally:

Build and maintain relationships with clubs, federations, schools, studios or online communities relevant to your track, on MiR’s behalf.
Raise awareness of MiR’s work and identify partnership, sponsorship and equipment donation opportunities within your track’s community.
Contribute to the development of the programme itself, curriculum input, coaching resources, and (for Ocean Sports/Swim) alignment with international technical standards.
Represent MiR at relevant events, tournaments or gatherings where appropriate.
Contribute to communications and social media content that tells the story of your programme track.
Keep MiR leadership regularly updated on outreach activity and partnership progress.
Ensure all work aligns with MiR’s safeguarding and child protection guidelines.

Time Commitment

5–20 hours per week, over a minimum of 4 months. This is primarily a remote, unpaid internship. Hours are flexible around academic or professional commitments. For the Ocean Sports and Swim tracks, a field visit to Sonarpara, Cox’s Bazar is strongly recommended and actively supported by MiR.

What You Will Gain

Being part of the MiR internship programme means joining a lean, fast-moving international development organisation at a pivotal moment in its growth. You will gain:

Hands-on experience in programme development, outreach and partnership-building within an international NGO context.
A meaningful, visible role in growing a structured programme inside a refugee settlement or host community, something you can point to as a real contribution.
For Ocean Sports/Swim: exposure to evidence-based drowning-prevention programming, a genuinely specialist and growing field.
A formal reference letter from MiR leadership on successful completion.
Access to MiR’s growing network of academic, UN, and civil society partners.
Mentorship from practitioners with decades of field experience across the UN system and international NGOs.

How You Will Be Supported

MiR is small but structured. Every intern is assigned a direct point of contact within our team who will oversee your work and provide regular feedback. You will receive a structured induction covering MiR’s mission, values, safeguarding framework, and current priorities. We hold regular team check-ins and will not leave you to figure things out alone.

We take your development seriously. We want you to leave with more skills, more confidence, and a clearer understanding of how impactful organisations communicate in complex environments, and how humanitarian organisations respond to large scale disasters and migration crises.

Eligibility

You have a genuine interest in MiR’s mission, using sport and movement to improve lives in some of the world’s most challenging humanitarian settings, and a real, specific connection to the track you are applying for:

Chess: a chess player or enthusiast connected to the chess world.
Ocean Sports / Swim: a swimmer, surfer, water-safety professional or aquatics student with a practical understanding of ocean sports and water safety.
Roundnet: an active member of the roundnet community, player, organiser or enthusiast.
Yoga: a yoga practitioner, teacher or enthusiast.
Youth Connection: a university student or early-career professional with a flair for engaging schools and young people.

Please indicate clearly on the application form which track you are applying for.

How to apply

Fill out the form on the link to apply: https://forms.gle/MKzQrHWYjCCHZjJa6

Please specify which Programme Track (Chess, Ocean Sports, Roundnet, Swim, Yoga, or Youth Connection) you are applying for.