The internship: 

Climate change and nature loss pose an unprecedented threat to humanity in the 21st century. With notable shortfalls in funding and a dominant focus on climate mitigation by global financing parties to date, Dutch development bank FMO has partnered with Climate Fund Managers (CFM), Worldwide Fund for Nature Netherlands (WWF-NL) and SNV, a global development partner, to manage the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development (DFCD).

The DFCD mobilizes external private sector funding at scale, with a focus on climate change adaptation and nature. It targets profit-making (bankable) impact projects that are managed by private sector corporates with the potential to attract private investments. These projects are aimed at improving the wellbeing, economic prospects and livelihoods of vulnerable groups – particularly women and children – and enhance the health of critical ecosystems – from water basins to rivers, tropical rainforests, marshland and mangroves. DFCD’s activities will also help protect rural and urban communities from the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and benefit depleting biodiversity in areas that provide people with water, food, medicine, and economic opportunity. The focus impact themes are Biodiversity, Food and Nutrition Security, and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion.

The Origination Facility is positioned exclusively for project identification and (pre-)feasibility development activities. The Origination Facility will provide grant funding and TA and support projects in becoming viable investment cases for the two DFCD Investment Facilities or third-party investors.

Fundamental to the DFCD is the use of a landscape approach to identify and de-risk impactful projects in priority landscapes. A landscape approach is broadly defined as a framework to integrate policy and practice for multiple land uses, within a given area, to ensure equitable and sustainable use of land while strengthening measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change. A landscape approach is a way of managing how our actions correspond to the local context in which we operate.

Activities of the internship:

WWF-NL is seeking an intern to support the Landscape Approach and DFCD’s impact themes, alongside communication and project management tasks. 

• Support the Environmental and Social Safeguards & Impact team on DFCD’s impact themes through literature reviews, trend analysis, and best practice identification.
• Assist in refining the biodiversity assessment framework through desk research on impact metrics and Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification methodologies.
• Provide ad-hoc assistance in project reviews.
• Support data collection and reporting related to the Landscape Approach, analyzing context across target landscapes in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, including climate, nature, social, economic, governance, and policy aspects.
• Assist in developing and maintaining landscape documentation.
• Support the Communications Specialist with website management, social media, event coordination, and presentation preparation.
• Support the Program Manager with ad-hoc tasks. 

Profile of the student: 

Master’s student with a relevant background and affinity for sustainability, international development, and/or environmental studies. Must be based in the Netherlands and available to work 2–3 days per week onsite at WWF-NL’s Zeist office. Able to work independently with strong writing, organizational, analytical, and English communication skills.

Period: September 2025 - February 2025, flexible dates based on student availability. 

Allowance: €550 per month (full-time basis). 

The intern will report to Avital van Meijeren Karp, ESSF & Impact lead, DFCD, WWF-NL.

Interested? Please send your CV and motivation letter before June 30, 2025, to Avital van Meijeren Karp (ameijerenkarp@wwf.nl), Sara Garcia Ortiz (sgarcia@wwf.nland) and Natascha Zwaal (nzwaal@wwf.nl). Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.