World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – Vietnam

Summer 2017

During the summer months of 2017 I had the opportunity to intern with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Vietnam. My internship assignment was to be an assistant to the Sustainable Energy team. I was based primarily in the Hanoi office, with two days of travel to a field office in Hue City. I assisted on various projects including research, document development, proposal writing, and the creation of communication documents.

The experience was beneficial to me professionally because it gave me a hands-on experience using what I had learned in the classroom at MIIS. It was a good experience to see what skills are used and valued in the professional environment.

Despite being the world’s largest environmental NGO, WWF is still relatively unknown within Vietnam. It was surprising to learn this, and the size of the office and scale of work being done was therefore smaller than I had imagined. As a result, I got to experience what is what like for an environmental organization to be operating in a socialist country with little support for conservation. Even such a large, internationally-recognized organization like WWF had challenges in becoming an impactful player within Vietnam. As a result, it was interesting to work in a country with little support, at all levels, for environmental issues. It highlighted how advanced the United States is on that front, and the challenge that lies in growing that interest internationally.

The time I spent in Vietnam impacted me personally because it gave me a new insight and appreciation for a new culture. Prior to this summer I had visited or lived in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, and Hong Kong but I had never been to Vietnam. It was great to experience a new culture and to see the differences that exist between Vietnam and the neighboring countries.