Typical career advice to someone breaking into international development is to start with an internship. Internships are great for building experience and connections and sometimes can lead to a job down the line. And if you are lucky, you sometimes also get paid.
But is getting paid for an internship a good thing? Of course, you may say. Who wouldn’t want to get paid? And frankly, not many people are in the financial position to work for free.
But the issue of paid vs. unpaid internships can be a bit more complicated than that.
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About the author
Kate Warren@KateDWarren
Kate Warren is the Executive Vice President and Executive Editor of Devex, where she leads a global team of journalists, event producers, and communications and marketing professionals to drive conversations around the most pressing and urgent issues of our time, including climate, global health, food security, philanthropy, humanitarian crises, and foreign aid funding. Through live journalism — via in-person and virtual events — along with insider news, analysis, podcasts, content series, and special reports, Kate and her team ensure the most important ideas, voices, and debates reach an influencer audience to drive impact and make progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
