Starting work is an exciting period in life, but with the current job market, where the scarcity of opportunities to enter the world of work is filling news headlines every week, it is also exceptionally daunting. 

As Fight for Peace intern Lubna Suleiman said, it’s a chicken or egg situation. Young people are expected to start work for the first time and simultaneously have prior experience beforehand. This is why internships are more valuable than ever. As Lubna shared, these opportunities provide the exact stepping stone young people need to forge the future they want.

Lubna has been with Fight for Peace for three months as our Operations and Admin Intern, as part of the nine-month Coach Core and GLA internship programme. As she shares, “It’s been good. I’ve been exposed to a lot, which I appreciate. For instance, I’ve learned a lot about admin work. I haven’t had any experience in admin, so that’s a whole new world I’ve dived into.”

Beyond report writing and understanding the behind-the-scenes workings of Fight for Peace, Lubna also took the lead on this year’s six-week Summer Programme. She reflected, “It’s been the highlight so far. I like working with the kids and being front-end, and just having my ideas brought to life. From the beginning to end, you’re planning something, and then you’re making it fruitful. It was hard sometimes, but it’s all a learning process.”

Alongside this, Lubna has also supported the recruitment of participants to Fight for Peace’s first Post-16 Education Programme, represented Fight for Peace at international events such as the International Women and Girls (IWG) Global Summit on Women and Sport, and supported our weekly special educational needs and disability boxing sessions. 

What this experience has taught us at Fight for Peace is that giving interns the ability to make something their own is important, and it is mutually beneficial for the individual and for the organisation alike. Fight for Peace has worked in Newham for nearly two decades, but despite our deep community roots, young people today face an unprecedented set of challenges. 

What Lubna has brought to Fight for Peace is a fresh, youth-centred perspective that’s helped us to reflect and strengthen exactly how we operate for the young people we serve. As someone who has recently been in education herself, she has been able to challenge our assumptions of what young people need and bring creative ideas to engage young people to the forefront.

As her Line Manager, Carolina Velasquez, shared, “Lubna reminds me of myself when I was starting my own professional journey, eager to learn, keen to contribute and unafraid to ask questions or share ideas. One of the things I have appreciated most is how Lubna has helped me stay connected to the perspectives and needs of young people. Working alongside her has been a valuable reminder that, as organisations, we need to keep listening, adapting and creating opportunities that genuinely resonate with the next generation.”

This is not to say that interns are expected to radically shift organisational strategy. In fact, the beauty of an internship is that you have room to grow, as Lubna said, “With an internship, you’re given the chance to learn with a margin of error. Because sometimes I feel when you jump straight into a job, and if you’re not meeting these expectations, then you’re going to be penalised. But with an internship, there’s this understanding that you’re here to learn and that you’re here to be better.”

One of Lubna’s greatest strengths is her optimism, but this is not shared by all young people. Many who have fallen into the threshold of not in training, education, or employment (NEET) have also lost faith in the infrastructure that has traditionally supported young people into work, and that’s no surprise when over one million young people are now classified as NEET.

To those who have lost hope, Lubna says, “I would like to say it gets better, but I can’t. I want to be truthful, but I also don’t want to dampen anyone’s hopes and dreams. You just have to keep trying, because I think eventually you’ll get there.”

Lubna’s honest revelations are an important note for all to take. Without meaningful pathways into the world of work, ones which emphasise learning, flexibility and afford room for error, more young people risk losing faith in their future. As a sector, we must recognise the immense value of internships and accessible employability programmes. 

Young people are tomorrow’s leaders, and society only thrives when we give them the opportunity to succeed.

A huge thank you to Lubna for the immense impact she has already had on our team and young people. We would like to thank the Coach Core Foundation and the Greater London Authority for their generous support through the ‘Career Pathway Programme’. While Fight for Peace regularly hires from its own programmes, this initiative encouraged us to intentionally refine our recruitment, onboarding, supervision, and staff development to better support young people transitioning into early career roles.