about the job
The School for Moral Ambition attracts and mobilizes exceptional talent to address the world’s most pressing challenges. We need our brightest minds to make pandemics history, end factory farming, fight the tobacco industry, safeguard our democracies, and these are just a few examples. Please read our founding principles for a better insight into our mission and guiding values.
Across Europe, democratic institutions are under sustained pressure, and the organizations defending them are often small, under-resourced, and isolated from one another. The School for Moral Ambition is building a Democractic Resilience program to change that: a fellowship that funnels skilled professionals to the civil society organizations doing the frontline work. We are starting in four priority countries — France, Germany, Italy, and Slovakia — and to get it right during our development phase, we need people who live there.
about the role
We are looking for a Volunteer Country Coordinator in each of the four priority countries (mentioned above).
This is two roles in one. About two-thirds of your time is Country Coordinator work for the Democracy Program: mapping the organizations defending democracy in your country, tracking what is happening on the ground, and helping us understand where added talent would make the biggest difference. The remaining third is local community building, in collaboration with The School's Community team: bringing morally ambitious people in your country together and helping the movement grow where you live.
Some things can't be learned from Amsterdam. Databases tell you which organizations exist; they don't tell you which ones are effective, which have the leadership to grow, or which look strong on paper but are hollowed out in practice. Public data lags by months; you will know when a funding restriction lands or a coalition forms before it reaches any index. And a warm introduction in your own language opens a door that cold outreach from abroad never will. You are our eyes, ears, and first point of contact in your country.
You'll work closely with Barend (Head of Program Development) and Rafael (Development Intern) on the democracy side, and with Niki (Community team lead) and Ophelia (Community Platform Strategist) from the Community team on the community-building side. You will not be doing this alone.
Key responsibilities
Country coordination (about two-thirds of your time)
- Open doors: help us reach the organizations we'd like to support, making warm first contact in the local language.
- Go deeper: hold structured, exploratory interviews with shortlisted organizations about their health, leadership, and where a fellow would fit.
- Give us the lay of the land: a background report on your country's political system and situation, helping us understand the local and cultural specifics.
- Keep us current: a short monthly digest of democracy news from your country.
- Bring the country to the community: engage our lively democratic resilience community with what is happening in your priority country.
- Spot the funders: identify local funder prospects.
- Grow the knowledge base: add the important stakeholders from your country to our democracy wiki.
Community building (about one-third of your time)
- Organize small, accessible meetups for The School's members in your area, each with a clear purpose and a welcoming atmosphere.
- Recruit and align values-aligned groups of five to eight people to follow our Circle program.
- Invite prospective community members and encourage them to take part.
- Share what you learn with the Community team, aligning targets together.
What We’re looking for
You'll thrive in this role if you:
- Are based in France, Germany, Italy, or Slovakia, with a fluent command of the local language.
- Have a genuine feel for the country's political and civic landscape.
- Bring strong research and advisory skills, and a knack for impact thinking — both in vetting potential partners on their high-leverage plans to strengthen democracy, and in prioritizing your own work.
- Are comfortable reaching out to strangers and building relationships.
- Write clearly and concisely, and can distill a messy picture into something useful.
- Have the energy to bring people together.
- Align with our founding principles.
Existing ties to the civil society space are a plus, not a requirement.
What we offer
- A €200/month budget to cover your expenses.
- A direct hand in shaping how The School defends democracy across Europe.
- Access to a growing network of morally ambitious professionals.
- A place in a small, ambitious, and genuinely fun team.
- Invitations to The School's team moments and events.
Application process
Interested? Fill in our short application form — it just takes around 30 minutes.
Deadline: July 21, 2026. We review applications on a rolling basis, so don't wait to apply.
