Writing Contributor, The Southern Compass Lab

You write two analyses that document, with verified data, the realities and the solutions of the Global South, and what they teach the rest of the world. Two analyses in one 3-month cycle, five places, fully remote.

Read the lab’s research avenues: research avenues

HOW TO APPLY

Apply here on Idealist. In a few lines, present the topic you propose, your angle and what makes it original. Start from one of the lab’s research avenues listed below, or propose another topic linked to the lab.

THE ASSIGNMENT AT A GLANCE

• Lab: The Southern Compass Lab (South-South cooperation)
• What you write: two analyses, in English or French, of 430 to 1,600 words each (op-ed, analysis brief or field piece)
• Places: 5 contributors for this lab
• Cycle: 3 months, from 1 December 2026 to 28 February 2027
• Renewal: once, for a second cycle from 1 March to 31 May 2027
• Time: 3 to 5 hours a week
• Location: fully remote, from any country
• Fully voluntary assignment

ABOUT THE LAB

The Southern Compass Lab orients our attention towards the realities and solutions of the Global South. This lab documents, with rigour, the issues that directly affect the daily lives of young people across Africa and beyond.

Lab page: The Southern Compass Lab

THE TOPICS: THE LAB’S RESEARCH AVENUES

• Africa’s single market: a promise for whom?: The African Continental Free Trade Area as seen by small producers, women cross-border traders and infant industries.
• Money as a question of sovereignty: From the CFA franc to the eco, from Ecuador’s dollarisation to Zimbabwe’s: what the choice of a currency says about economic independence, and what it changes for households.
• Debt and climate: Debt-for-nature swaps, disaster pause clauses, restructurings: financing adaptation while protecting the future of the most exposed countries.
• The strength of diasporas: Diaspora remittances support millions of families, from the Philippines to Mexico and Senegal.
• Processing minerals at home: Cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, nickel in Indonesia, lithium in Chile and Bolivia: producing countries are seeking to capture the value of the energy transition.
• The South in the world order: An enlarged BRICS, the African Union in the G20, Security Council reform: Southern countries are claiming a different place in international institutions.
• Making our own medicines: Local production of vaccines and medicines, the African Medicines Agency, Indian generics: the conditions for health autonomy.
• What the South teaches the world about finance: From Kenyan mobile money to India’s UPI and Brazil’s Pix instant payments: innovations born in the South have become models.
• Migration between Southern countries: Regional mobility, free movement within ECOWAS, refugees hosted in Bangladesh, Uganda or Colombia: a vast reality, rarely told.
• Studying in the South: Morocco, Malaysia, Turkey, China and India attract students from around the world: new routes of knowledge are taking shape.
• Local knowledge and science: Traditional medicine, Aboriginal fire management in Australia, farmers’ weather forecasting: bringing these forms of knowledge into dialogue with research.
• Mid-sized cities, where the future is decided: Urban growth also happens far from the capitals, in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

You can also propose another topic linked to the lab. Anchor it in a country, a city, a sector or a period: a good topic fits in one precise sentence.

PROFILES WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• Development economics or finance: the African single market, currencies, debt and climate, diaspora remittances, mobile money
• International relations or international law: the South in the world order, migration between Southern countries, regional agreements
• Public health, pharmacy or life sciences: producing medicines and vaccines locally
• Geology, energy, environment or agronomy: processing minerals at home, local knowledge and science
• Urban planning or geography: mid-sized cities and the services that must keep pace
• First-hand knowledge of the realities you write about, from living, studying or working in the country or region concerned: the lab gives priority to the voices directly concerned

Every background counts: a course, a student project, an internship, volunteering or a personal project. First-hand experience of the topic you write about is a strength.

WHAT YOU DO DURING THE CYCLE

• Confirm your two topics with the lab at the start of the cycle, within the needs set by the Lab Lead
• Research and write each analysis yourself, with a verifiable source for every figure, quotation and fact
• Submit each analysis through our submission space: the text, its sources, a two- or three-sentence biography, a portrait photo and a declaration of any AI tool used
• Revise your text with the editorial board’s written feedback until its final decision

OUR EDITORIAL CHARTER

• Your own words: a text produced or rewritten by generative AI is rejected, and any use of an AI tool is declared, proofreading included
• Verifiable sources: author, title, date and link for each one
• Three checks before the editorial board: AI detection, plagiarism check and source check
• Unpublished work, reserved for YouthShare until it is published

Read the charter: editorial charter

WHAT THIS ASSIGNMENT GIVES YOU

• Two analyses published under your name, in English and French
• Written feedback from the editorial board at every round
• Your card on our

Contributors page

• Research writing experience to the standard of a demanding editorial board

HOW CYCLES WORK

Each lab welcomes 5 contributors per 3-month cycle. The assignment can be renewed once, for a second cycle. After each cycle, the lab opens a new cohort according to the needs set by its Lab Lead.

HOW SELECTION WORKS

We select applications according to our values (equity, solidarity, integrity, participation, resilience and impact), your availability and the places open in the cycle.

If you need an adjustment to apply or to take part, write to hr@youthshareinitiatives.org

AFTER SELECTION: SUBMIT ON OUR WEBSITE

Each analysis is submitted with a personal code received by email: submission space

ABOUT YOUTHSHARE INITIATIVES

YouthShare Initiatives is an international think-action tank and a French non-profit (Act of 1 July 1901). It brings young people from around the world together in five labs to think together, then act: research, debate, mentoring and foresight. Discover us: youthshareinitiatives.org

RÉSUMÉ EN FRANÇAIS

Rédiger deux analyses sur les réalités et les solutions du Sud global (La Boussole Sud) : Vous rédigez deux analyses qui documentent, données vérifiées à l’appui, les réalités et les solutions du Sud global, et ce qu’elles apprennent au reste du monde.

Mission bénévole à distance, 5 places, cycle de 3 mois du 1er décembre 2026 au 28 février 2027, renouvelable une fois ; 3 à 5 h par semaine. Candidatez ici sur Idealist : présentez votre sujet, votre angle et ce qui le rend original.

Vos analyses se déposent ensuite sur notre site : soumettre une analyse

Pistes de recherche du laboratoire : lire les pistes