Hanna’s internship experience at FCG Sweden

My name is Hanna Pintson, and I am a Master's student in Development Studies at Lund University. During my studies, I was lucky to be part of the FCG Sweden internship program for five months, as it was an incredible learning opportunity in the nicest working environment. 

The internship began with a comprehensive introduction week, which to be frank, was very much appreciated. At the beginning of my internship, I did not entirely comprehend what development consulting entails and hence, what exactly FCG Sweden is working with. However, after a very well organized and intensive first week of introduction meetings, I understood that the company is: 

 

• managing/ coordinating projects related to development cooperation
• recruiting relevant experts for the projects
• writing tenders for procurement offers from various development cooperation donors. 

These activities are mainly executed in three fields that FCG Sweden specializes in:

• Good Governance and Civil Society
• Natural Resources Management & Agriculture
• Monitoring & Evaluation.

 

 

After the introduction week, I started to work in the Good Governance and Civil Society team. This meant that I worked closely with three very helpful, fun and experienced colleagues - Nathan, Yahye and Pontus. Due to their extensive knowledge in the field, I learned something new and exciting every day. For example, I gained insight into development cooperation field players (donors, experts, NGOs, other development companies), learned about tender writing processes, communicated with high-level experts and clients, gained project management skills, and met with people working in the field. In addition to gaining professional skills, I am glad that I could work with the nicest colleagues in my team and the whole company. I have had very insightful talks and had a great time during Fika breaks, lunches and after works.

The best thing was that, after my internship, I was offered a place to work at the company. Therefore, in addition to writing my master thesis during the last semester of my studies, I have started working part-time as a Junior Project Manager at FCG Sweden. 

I am happy and proud, that I found and managed to get an internship at FCG Sweden, as this experience has been highly rewarding and widened my professional and personal skills in every possible way.