David Knape – Internships in Prague
A Story by David Knape
Country of origin: Jordanstown, Northern Ireland (UK)
Destination: Prague (Czech Republic)
Internship positions and job roles:
Czech Helsinki commitee – Compiling research reports on foreign media coverage of the Czech Republic and Roma people, and comparing this with Czech views.
GRB International, Casa Latina – Building profiles of health care markets in various countries. From this data acting as an advisor about the best strategies for expansion into new markets.
Agora Ce – This NGO aims to increase tolerance and democracy by organising debates. The main role has been proof reading, but also reasearching media representations in Eastern Europe.
Have your expectations of the internship met the reality?
Before I came I didn’t really know what to expect. The experience has been satisfying though.
What are your plans for the future?
In the short term I plan to go and live in Spain for at least 6 months, and then would like to go to the United States. There is a programme where I could teach politics in a summer school and also starting sports coaching again.
I am not really so interested in going down the business route, but to get a job in an NGO you really need to be a specialist. Having said that a lot of the work I have done here has been involved with research, and I guess I wouldn’t be against doing that in the future.
What tips do you have for anyone thinking of joining a programme here in Prague?
Ask as many questions as possible, so you can prepare before you come. Obvuiously living in a different country there are cultural differences. I think the attitude towards work here in Prague is quite different from in the UK, there is less hurry to get things done, and people are more relaxed.