Working and volunteering at the UIA

Thank you for your interest in working in some way at the UIA, whether to do research, as an intern (stagiaire), volunteer, or as a staff member (under some form of contract) -- or from a distance in any of these capacities.

Do you envision yourself sharing in a dream conceived by UIA's founders, Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine, over 100 years ago - to promote peace and human understanding by contributing to the order and coordination of multi-faceted approaches to human and social development and their impact on the planet?

The UIA continues working towards this dream by identifying, honouring and representing the full spectrum of initiatives and preoccupations of international organizations (INGOs and IGOs) in the world today, both in isolation and within the complex networks of relationships between them. We explore meaningful ways of presenting information to enable these initiatives to develop and counterbalance each other creatively. We seek to contribute to a universal order based on principles of human dignity, solidarity of peoples and freedom of communication.

At the UIA you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in the vast world of civil society research, and to contribute to our understanding of an increasingly complex world. You will be able to share your knowledge, and perhaps gain new skills, while working in a team of enthusiastic colleagues.

Whatever you feel your contribution to our work could be, you will be given our earnest consideration. We invite you to introduce yourself and to send us a brief summary of your motivation by filling out the contact form.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Useful information

In reviewing any of the working opportunities at the UIA, it is important to bear in mind the following, although some of the points may not be relevant to the nature of your query:

1. Non-profit: The UIA is an international non-profit organization. The salary scales and ancillary benefits do not correspond to those of intergovernmental organizations or multinational corporations based in Brussels. The UIA does not make extensive use of volunteers as such, although some people work on a voluntary basis. Some also choose to work at salaries lower than the "market rate".

    

2. Size: The size of staff of the UIA secretariat in Brussels is relatively small, varying from 15 to 20, depending on project cycles

    

3. Work: The majority of the work done at the UIA is concerned with improving the contents of databases relating to international organizations (world problems, strategies, international meetings, etc).

    

4. Language: Most of the information incorporated into the databases is in English, although familiarity with other languages is an obvious advantage in processing materials received from other international organizations. A significant portion of the internal administration is conducted in French. Dutch is also used by some staff members. Skill in English is therefore normally desirable.

    

5. Computers: Most of the work involves some familiarity with computers and tends to require great attention to detail.

    

6. Library: The UIA does not maintain a large library, the focus is on transferring information into databases from documents and extracting it from them (or from the web). The documents are not necessarily kept. Any research is done from the databases (currently in Revelation linear hash format).

    

7. Public relations: The UIA interacts with some 35,000 international nonprofit bodies world wide. This work is done primarily by post, e-mail and web contacts. There is relatively little face-to-face contact with people from other organizations.

    

8. Biases: The focus of the UIA is on international, cross-cultural information from the complete spectrum of disciplines, ideologies and beliefs systems. This task is unsuited to people with strong ideological biases that favour highlighting particular information and reframing (or suppressing) opposing perspectives.

    

9. Support: As in most tightly budgeted organizations, assisting people who come as interns (stagiaires) or trainees can be a severe strain on the commitments of other staff members, especially during peak publication production (January to April) -- and despite great willingness to respond to the needs of visitors. There are no formal training processes. A high degree of self-motivation is valued.

    

10. Long-term: People coming to work at the UIA need to spend some time learning how the various information systems work before they acquire a sense of perspective. For some tasks and people, this learning period can last from three to twelve months or more. It is only after that period that they benefit significantly from being at the UIA, and the UIA benefits significantly from their presence. The UIA focuses primarily on long-term (rather than opportunistic) projects and the prime need is for long-term staff who can help develop the information services.

     

11. Working permit: Belgium, where the UIA secretariat is located, is a member of the European Union. This means that citizens of the European Union countries can be employed by the UIA without much difficulty in relation to national authorities and social security. Citizens of other countries pose distinct difficulties in the case of longer-term employment requiring a work permit. The UIA does however have an agreement with the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate this process for certain forms of employment.

     

12. Social security: Belgium has very generous social security provisions, compensated by high income tax. This means that it is very costly for the UIA to take on new staff -- effectively costing twice the salary received by the employee. Increasingly Belgian social security and tax legislation imposes restrictions even in the case of short-term student employment. As with other bodies in this position, there is therefore considerable reluctance to take on staff, even though there may be a need for them.

     

13. Trial period: It is normal for both parties, in the case of a new member of staff, to go through a trial period. This is a provision under Belgian law. This process is especially problematic for people coming from distant countries specifically to work at the UIA. Arrangements have to be made for accommodation, involving leases by the year, or more expensive short-term accommodation. The UIA secretariat, unlike intergovernmental organizations, does not have means to facilitate this process.

     

14. Applications: Implicit in the above, is the fact that the UIA does not have the staff time or budget to process requests for employment in a manner as congenial as it would wish. This page is an effort to give information to applicants to enable them to understand the constraints.

     

Opportunities

In the light of the above remarks, the following may be usefully said about working at the UIA in some capacity:

1. The UIA has a continuing need of self-motivated, responsible people who fit its informal organizational style

    

2. The UIA is less interested in formal qualifications than in working style, commitment, professionalism and the ability to respond proactively to project needs and opportunities. There is a strong "hands-on" dimension to work at the UIA.

    

3. The UIA usually has no immediate budget provision for new staff engagements.

    

4. The UIA budget is not designed to compete with lucrative positions in intergovernmental organizations and multinational corporations; people tend to work at the UIA because of the non-hierarchical, informal structure and a congenial working atmosphere.

    

5. Specific clarification is useful with respect to possible misunderstanding concerning the following:
   • Research: Much of the work at the UIA can be described as "research". In many cases it is research on documents (and increasingly from the web) to improve the quality of database entries and relationships. The databases may be used for some forms of research. However there are no facilities for conventional academic research. Many of the UIA research documents and papers are produced through personal initiative rather than as part of a specific research programme.
   • Editing: Much of the work on databases at the UIA can be described as "editing" and the UIA has continuing needs for people with this expertise. However the approach taken is quite distinct from conventional writing, proofing and page makeup, since many of these functions are performed by software on thousands of documents in batch mode, rather than on single pages. The UIA is also increasingly specialized in hyperlink editing.
   • Marketing: There is a continuing need to "market" UIA information services to potential users around the world. However the special challenges of such marketing make it difficult for the UIA to respond effectively to conventional marketing proposals unsuited to non-profit operations.
   • Website and database management: The UIA has continuing need for assistance in the development of its static and dynamic page serving. However it tends to take time for newcomers to appreciate the constraints and opportunities in order to mesh most effectively with the existing system.

      

6. Applications received from a distance are difficult to assess without meeting the person. Successful engagements have usually resulted from the presence of the person in Belgium for other reasons -- with temporary employment developing into longer-term contracts

    

7. Some people have initiated their relationship with the UIA by working voluntarily, or at severely reduced remuneration, prior to being engaged on progressively longer-term contracts.

    

8. Some people have maintained a fruitful relationship with the UIA by developing a succession of project proposals (based on the UIA databases) to external sources of funds. The UIA data lends itself to interesting project proposals, but the need is for people to formulate, negotiate and carry through those proposals -- and preferably in a manner consonant with their own commitments and interests.

    

9. The UIA is gradually moving towards increased participation of editorial collaborators at a distance, using web access to its databases. At this stage, this approach is primarily adapted to people who have already worked in the UIA secretariat in Brussels and are familiar with its procedures. However, it is expected to develop this approach to distant editing although the obvious issues of familiarization and training will continue to need to be addressed.