Working in the social economy, NGOs and international organizations

Summary

The aim of the course is to present the social and solidarity economy, NGOs and international solidarity institutions today, and to enable PhD students to make this their career if they wish so after their PhD.

Firstly, I decided not to limit the subject to the French market alone, as doctoral students have many international opportunities in this field. Secondly, I have chosen not to limit the content to entrepreneurship in this field, as in my experience, most PhDs will choose to join the sector as employees.

We’ll start by presenting the fundamentals of the social and solidarity economy, NGOs and international organizations, and the variety of players, issues and problems in the sector.

Next, we’ll look at job opportunities in this sector as employees. We’ll describe in detail how to set up a professional project in this sector, from identifying opportunities to optimizing the recruitment process and succeeding at job interviews.

Thirdly, we’ll learn how to get started in the NGO and international organization sector. We’ll review the administrative and strategic aspects, and explain how to build the visibility needed to carry out your activity.

The motivation for this training is twofold:

• In a professional world experiencing a crisis of meaning, the NGO sector is one of the potential avenues open to PhDs.
• Unlike other professional sectors, the NGO sector considers a PhD as an asset, giving doctoral candidates an advantage when it comes to winning a tender or simply developing their business. This is the result of bidding processes that value the doctorate in technical proposals.

Program

The course is structured around 4 modules:

1. Presentation of the solidarity economy sector, NGOs and international organizations. The aim of this module is to provide PhD students with concrete information to help them understand the fundamentals, issues and problems of the sector.
2. Working as an employee in the NGO sector: establishing a strategy for approaching target NGOs according to a detailed step-by-step process to be invited for an interview, and sharing advanced interpersonal presentation techniques, with support from the best-practice CV and cover letter writing method.
3. Entrepreneurship in the NGO sector. How to build a strategically differentiated positioning, become visible and develop your business.
4. Case study: developing an NGO’s business.

The details of each of these modules are as follows:

Module 1 : Presentation of the solidarity economy sector, NGOs and international organizations

This module covers the following topics:

• Understand the social economy sector, NGOs and international organizations
• Identify the players in the sector
• Understand the issues and challenges facing the sector
• Anticipate the sector’s major trends and needs
• Analyze activities within the sector
• Understand the challenges facing the sector today
• Identify resources for further action

Objectives : 

• Gain an overview of career opportunities in the social economy, NGOs and international organizations
• Anticipate career choices rationally
• Be able to choose between a career as a generalist or a specialist
• Anticipate the “real life” of careers in the associative sector: salaries, attractiveness and challenges

Module 2 : Working as a salaried employee in the social economy, NGO and IO sector

This module covers the following topics:

• A global view of recruitment processes: key figures, myths and reality
• Anticipating the workload required to prepare for key dimensions
• Recruitment process and retro-planning: overview, pitfalls and tips
• Step-by-step strategy for selecting and approaching target employers – practical illustration
• How to make the best use of all preparation tools – including doctoral school training courses
• What exactly NGO recruiters expect during interpersonal interviews
• Discovering the 5 levels of performance in a job interview…and positioning yourself
• Focus on specific challenges according to the profile of doctoral candidates: junior vs. experienced, classic vs. atypical profiles, etc.
• How to build an effective storyline step by step
• How to structure your CV in a professional way to feed your storyline
• How to turn your cover letter into a real preparation asset
• How to organize your preparation schedule to achieve the highest level of competitiveness
• Step-by-step storyline practice
• Anticipate the 40 key questions to answer competitively

Objectives: 

• Understand the challenges of the recruitment process
• Organize a strategic selection of target NGOs and approach them effectively
• Set up approaches to get invited to job interviews
• Put yourself in the shoes of NGO recruiters
• Draw up an optimized recruitment schedule for NGOs
• Use all the preparation tools at their disposal – including cross-disciplinary doctoral school training courses
• Understand clearly what recruiters expect during interviews
• Organize a solid and exhaustive preparation on the interpersonal aspect

Module 3 : Entrepreneurship in the social economy, NGO and IO sector

This module covers the following topics:

• Prepare a budget to set up your business
• Identify useful sources of information for your business
• Prepare the supporting documents for the start-up file in advance
• Build an operational strategy for your business
• Build your offer
• Communicate your offer
• Master the workings of the network, the key to successful entrepreneurship

Objectives:

• Have a clear roadmap for entering the industry
• Learn how to strategically position your business
• Learn how to make your business visible

Module 4 : Case study: developing an NGO’s business

This module covers the following topics:

• A role-playing situation in which the PhD student:
  • Makes strategic decisions
  • Prioritizes tasks
  • Defines an action schedule
  • Evaluates resource requirements
  • Sets up strategic partnerships
  • Organize an NGO project

Objectives: 

• Understand the challenges of a real project
• Working in a team with colleagues
• Decide in an ambiguous context

Trainer

Victor Haïm Mamou, docteur en Sciences Physiques, ancien directeur des programmes internationaux au sein d’une ONG accréditée auprès des Nations Unies.

• Email (contact pédagogique): mamou.victor@gmail.com

Informations

The training class days are set on the 2nd and 3rd of February 2026 (remote)