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Kevin Eberle MIDP’27 wanted to explore a possible future career in refugee resettlement policy and, with the help of Duke Sanford’s Career Services team, he landed a perfect fit summer internship at UNHCR’s Jordan Country Office in Amman, Jordan. As the Inter-Agency Coordination Intern, Kevin helped refugees make decisions about their futures by communicating the funding status of services available at the refugee camps. He also spent time in the refugee camps, interviewing residents to understand better how camp services, or the lack of those services, impact their well-being. In addition, Kevin contributed to reports advocating for additional funding to ensure refugees have uninterrupted access to electricity and other critical services.
Exploring A Possible Career Path
Kevin’s summer internship journey is one of precise intentionality. Going into the internship, he was most curious about two things: exploring what an international-facing career looks like and examining a career in immigration/refugee aid. In Kevin’s words, “I was very fortunate this position provided both.”
This internship gave him a firsthand perspective on what a refugee crisis looks like, including interviews and interactions with dislocated people and those organizations that respond to the crisis. Kevin observed coordination between the organizations that work with refugees in Jordan, seeing how they interact and collaborate effectively to meet the needs of the refugees. Kevin has also observed the impact of global trends in reduced funding for humanitarian aid on refugee parents, children, and families.
The UNHCR internship allowed Kevin to see the challenges people face when they relocate internationally and the instability common to relocation. On the flip side, he has witnessed the powerful motivations that inspire people to relocate, despite the many challenges. Kevin says this is the most impactful part of this internship. Over the course of the summer, he got to know a ton of incredible people who have spent a significant amount of their career traveling the world, working with various non-governmental organizations and within the UN. Many of these colleagues have picked assignments in countries with active war zones and serious economic challenges. He notes that it takes a special person to support humanitarian reliefs efforts around the globe, and he feels lucky to work with a lot of these people.
Sanford Opens Doors and Expands Experiences
Kevin was looking for a summer position where he could draw on his experience as a Peace Corp Volunteer in Ghana, classroom lessons from Duke Sanford’s Master of International Development Policy (MIDP) program, and his school-year intenrship with a nonprofit who works with refugees.
During his first year as a fellow in the MIDP program at Sanford, Kevin, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and Coverdell Fellow, worked with World Relief, a refugee resettlement organization operating in Durham. Kevin credits this school-year experience as a key element in providing real-world context for his studies. Working with World Relief ignited curiosity in a future career in immigration/refugee resettlement policy. He believes that without this experience, he would have never pursued his UNHCR internship. The Refugee and Immigrant Youth Services team at World Relief showed him one side of refugee resettlements as refugees navigate challenges that come with settling in foreign countries; this contributed to his curiosity about the other side of resettlement. Kevin says, “The passion, motivation, and dedication of those I worked with... clearly impacted their clients, but in a much more personal way…for me as well.”
This internship really let Kevin take the analytical skills he developed in Sanford’s MIDP classes and apply them in a totally new humanitarian context. His UNHCR internship also pushed him to develop new skills, particularly communicating with donors. Kevin gained experience in how to communicate the realities on the ground in refugee camps to donors. He used these skills both to report on how donations were being used and to seek additional support from private donors. Kevin says that donors appreciate storytelling beyond “just numbers.” Kevin used the writing and communication talents that he is honing at Duke Sanford to blend hard data with storytelling for UNHCR. He described it as turning the numbers into something people can actually picture and feel.
Role of Sanford’s Career Services
Kevin is grateful for help from the staff in the Duke Sanford Career Services team in finding and securing his UNHCR internship. The Sanford team helped him understand the summer internship options, encouraged him to wait for the right opportunity, and advised him through the application process.
Kevin’s advice for students looking for internships: lean on your connections. He encourages students to reach out to former employers, previous professional relationships, contacts made at networking events, and Duke Sanford Career Services. In Kevin’s case, an existing relationship between the Duke Sanford’s Career Services and UNHCR-Jordan led to a remarkable summer internship for him. He also advises students to be upfront with Sanford Career Services about what you genuinely want — things like the role, organizations and locations that interest you. Finally, he advises that while everyone looking for an internship needs to put in work yourself, seek support from Sanford Career Services. He highlights that Sanford Career Services offers key information about new postings, what employers are currently looking for, and insights that will point you toward the best possible match.