Grow your faith and your business experience at the same time

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in partnership with PEER Servants is offering 2-week to 12-week short-term summer internships to enable MBA and business students to serve Christian Micro Enterprise Development (CMED) organizations and their entrepreneurs around the world.

Since our CMED Partners are, well, small, too many MBAs would be overwhelming from a logistics and a power perspective. Thus, we are using the Luke 10 model. Interns will prepare and train as a group and then be sent off two-by-two to the ends of the earth!

Prerequisites for this internship include a commitment to serve our Partners and a commitment to the PEER community so that your experience becomes part of a longer-term support effort. Three orientation sessions covering cross-cultural dynamics and MED tools as well as one post-trip meeting will be required.

Two Intern Objectives

• Faith Transformation. Meet Jesus through the eyes and experiences of another culture and another class, thereby challenging, renewing, and broadening your faith.
• Faith Integration. Foster holistic spirituality by using your business experience and academic training to strengthen the global church and empower the poor.

What is CMED?

Micro enterprise development (or MED) is the process of starting and/or sustaining small businesses through the availability of loan capital and business training.

MED teaches the poor how "to fish" (basic business training) and enables them to purchase "the poles" (assets that will continue to generate wealth over the long term).

Moreover, Christian MED is not only concerned with the economics but also with the Kingdom of God. MED becomes a means of sharing Christ, who provides ultimate spiritual healing, transformation and hope.

CMED is a holistic ministry that recognizes both a person’s primary need to be reconciled to God as well as God’s desire to heal and restore people socially, economically, psychologically, and in every other facet of their individual and corporate lives.

Intern Opportunities

Our CMED partners operate in unique contexts and at different business development phases. Thus, internship projects will vary based on the local challenges and needs of each PEER Partner:

PEER Partners currently requesting interns:

• Brazil (Belo Horizonte)
• South Africa (Pretoria)
• Haiti (Les Cayes)
• Sri Lanka
• Moldova (Tintareni & Chisinau)
• Sudan/Uganda
• Nigeria (Jos)
• Thailand (Bangkok)
• Peru (Cusco)
• Vietnam

Typical Projects Include:

• Business plans for new phases of growth
• "Telling their story": develop marketing and fundraising documents
• Management development: teach new perspectives and skills required for rapid growth and new business phases
• Entrepreneur training: develop and teach (or train employees to teach) curriculum
• GIRAFFE business assessments

Next Steps

• Complete an application.

• Consider attending a PEER monthly meeting: regional volunteer teams gather in Boston for fellowship, business and prayer

About PEER Servants

The "PEER" of "PEER Servants" stands for "Partnerships for Economic Empowerment and Renewal."

Our mission is to "strengthen the global church through economic development" and our strategy is twofold:

(1) To assist Christian-based organizations around the world in establishing their own sustainable MED programs as a means to allow those who are materially poor to provide financially for their families, churches, and communities.

(2) To assist Christians in the wealthier parts of the world in establishing partnerships with brothers and sisters in Christ in the developing world as a means, through this service, exposure and relationship, to address the spiritual poverty resulting from their materially-dominated society.

PEER Servants partners with organizations in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Eurasia, and Latin America. Each partner’s program is autonomous and designed to operate best within that region.

More information can be found at http:// www.peerservants.org.