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 2017.
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
As Youth Connection intern, you will build MiR's presence within schools - reaching students, teachers, and school communities to raise awareness, generate support, and create lasting partnerships. Schools are uniquely positioned to engage young people with global humanitarian issues in a meaningful, age-appropriate way, and MiR's story: sport, play, and belonging in one of the world's most challenging environments - is one that resonates.
You will develop and maintain relationships with schools across the UK and internationally, identifying opportunities for fundraising, awareness campaigns, curriculum connections, and student-led initiatives that link school communities to MiR's work. One way this has been achieved so far is through sharing letters / illustrations between schools in Edinburgh and Refugee camps in Bangladesh. Being a lead within MiR means showing initiative and proactively identifying opportunities.
Key Responsibilities
Identify and reach out to schools and academies to introduce MiR and explore partnership opportunities.
Build relationships with PE departments, form tutors, school councils, extracurricular leads etc. who could champion MiR within their school.
Support the development of educational materials and presentations about MiR's work that are suitable for school audiences - making complex humanitarian issues accessible and engaging for young people.
Facilitate and support school-based fundraising initiatives, awareness days, sporting events, and student-led campaigns.
Identify opportunities to connect schools with MiR's programmes directly - such as letter schemes, shared sporting challenges, or creative exchanges with communities in Cox's Bazar.
Promote MiR at school events, career fairs, and student conferences where appropriate.
Keep MiR leadership regularly updated on outreach activity, school partnerships, and new opportunities as they develop.
Work collaboratively with the Global University Outreach Lead and other team members to ensure a joint approach to educational engagement.
Time Commitment
5–20 hours per week, over a 4 month period. This is a remote, unpaid internship. Hours are flexible and can be arranged around your academic commitments, with scope to increase your contribution during holidays or free periods if that suits you.
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:
Experience in educational outreach, partnership development, and community engagement within an international organisatioinal context.
The opportunity to develop communications and educational materials for a real organisation - work that can sit directly in a teaching, education, or development portfolio.
A deeper understanding of how international humanitarian issues can be communicated to and engaged with by young people and school communities.
Real responsibility and ownership over a strand of MiR's outreach that is still being built - your initiative will shape what it becomes.
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 onboarding covering MiR's mission, values, safeguarding framework, and current priorities. Given that this role involves engagement with schools and young people, we will ensure you are thoroughly briefed on MiR's child protection and safeguarding policies before beginning any outreach.
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.
Eligability
If you are a university student or early-career professional with a genuine interest in MiR's mission and a flair for connecting with people across different ages and contexts. A background in education, teaching, youth work, international development, communications, or a related field is an advantage. What matters most is the ability to communicate MiR's story clearly and compellingly to a school audience, the confidence to approach schools and build relationships from scratch, and a genuine enthusiasm for engaging young people with global issues. Any prior experience working with schools, young people, or in an outreach or educational capacity is particularly welcome.