Legal Intern

Position:Legal Intern

Location: Global Secretariat hubs in Johannesburg, Nairobi

Contract duration: 6 months, with the possibility of a further 6-month extension

Closing date: 1 October 2026

The Internship

ActionAid International (AAI) is seeking a motivated Legal Intern to join our Governance function. This internship is designed as a learning and development opportunity where the selected candidate will gain meaningful exposure, practical experience, and professional mentorship while contributing to AAI’s mission of social justice, gender equality, and poverty eradication.

The Legal Intern will support the Governance function by contributing to governance administration, compliance monitoring, policy review, and legal advisory work across the federation. The role offers a unique opportunity to gain exposure to international non-profit governance and federation-wide legal issues.

This internship role offers hands-on exposure to international federation governance, assembly, board and committee administration, legal and regulatory compliance across multiple jurisdictions, agreement review and legal document management, governance and constitutional frameworks, risk management and organisational accountability, human rights-based approaches and feminist leadership principles within international development organisations.

Key Responsibilities

1. Legal Research and Advisory Support

• Conduct legal research on matters relating to corporate governance, and regulatory compliance.
• Support the preparation of guidance notes and legal resources for staff and governance bodies.

2. Governance and Board Support

• Assist in preparing documentation for the International Board, Board Committees, and General Assembly meetings.
• Support follow-up on governance actions and decisions.
• Maintain governance records, registers, legal map and filing systems.
• Assist in reviewing governance documents, including constitutional documents, policies, governance manuals, and terms of reference.
• Support governance reviews and continuous improvement initiatives across the federation.

3. Legal Document Management

• Ensure legal documents are appropriately filed and maintained in accordance with organisational requirements.

4. Compliance and Risk Management

• Assist with compliance monitoring relating to statutory and regulatory obligations.
• Support initiatives aimed at strengthening accountability and good governance across the federation.

5. Policy Review and Development

• Support the review and updating of organisational policies to ensure compliance with applicable legal and governance requirements.

Who we're looking for:

We are looking for a motivated and detail-oriented early-career legal professional with a bachelor’s degree in law (LLB) or an equivalent legal qualification. This opportunity is ideal for a recent graduate or a candidate awaiting admission to legal practice who is keen to gain practical experience in an international organisational environment.

You should have strong written and spoken English communication skills, with the ability to conduct legal research, review documents, analyse information, and present findings clearly and accurately. Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, is essential.

You are organised, able to manage multiple tasks, and have a keen eye for detail. You should be comfortable working independently while also collaborating effectively with colleagues across different functions and locations.

An interest in corporate governance, compliance, and legal support within an international non-profit context is desirable. Knowledge of international development, human rights, gender justice, or social justice issues, together with experience working in a multicultural or international environment, would be an advantage.

You should also have strong commitment to ActionAid’s values and ethos, including ActionAid’s feminist leadership principles.

What we offer:

ActionAid is committed to providing a welcoming, supportive workplace where we recognise a job well done, encourage close collaboration and sharing power, and where safeguarding standards and feminist leadership are exemplified everywhere. At ActionAid, you can look forward to a fair internship stipend and a flexible working environment, including

• A workplace that embraces intersectional feminist principles

• Structured mentorship and ongoing feedback
• Professional development and meaningful hands-on experience

How to apply:

Please click on the "apply” button to start the application process:

Applications close on 11.59 GMT on 1 October 2026.

Please upload an up-to-date curriculum vitae and a covering letter, clearly explaining your suitability against the essential criteria and, where applicable, documentation from your academic institution.

Please check your application and make sure you meet all the essential criteria listed in the person specification. In addition, your application will be stronger if you meet at least some of the desirable criteria. If you do not meet at least all the essential criteria, please do not apply as we only consider candidates if they meet the essential criteria listed on the job description. We will only consider candidates who have the right to work in the specified locations.

Due to high volumes of applications received, we can only correspond with short listed applicants. Should you not have received feedback on your application within two weeks of the closing date, please consider your application as unsuccessful.

ActionAid International will not consider unsolicited candidates from recruitment agencies. We reserve the right to withdraw any of our vacancies at any time.

About us:

ActionAid is a global federation working for a world free from poverty and injustice. We want to see a just, fair and sustainable world, in which everybody enjoys the right to a life of dignity, and freedom from poverty and oppression. We work to achieve social justice and gender equality, and to eradicate poverty.

All our work is underpinned by a set of feminist leadership principles: Self-awareness, Self-care and caring for others, dismantling bias, Inclusion, Sharing power, Responsible & transparent use of power, Accountable collaboration, Respectful feedback, Courage and Zero tolerance against discrimination and abuse of power.

ActionAid International welcomes applications from all sections of the community and promotes diversity.

Our commitment to Safeguarding

ActionAid is committed to recruiting candidates who promote ActionAid’s SHEA and Safeguarding policies and values.

ActionAid will only recruit candidates who are committed to SHEA and Safeguarding and ActionAid’s values, thereby helping to create safer working cultures. As a deterrence measure ActionAid is also committed to deterring candidates who are intending to cause harm from joining ActionAid.

GDPR Privacy notice

ActionAid International collects and processes personal data relating to job applicants as part of any recruitment process. ActionAid International is committed to being transparent about how we collect and use that data and to meeting our data protection obligations. Please visit our website https://actionaid.org/privacy-and-cookies or click the link Privacy notices to view our GDPR Privacy notice.