NGO internships in Delhi: local options and online ones

What should you compare before picking an NGO internship in Delhi?

The University of Delhi gives field work 900 of the 3,000 marks in its MA Social Work syllabus, the Delhi State Legal Services Authority runs a free 21-day programme for law students, and Internshala's Delhi NGO page was headed "309 Intern Jobs in Sep 2026" on 25 September 2026. Hold each route to six points: fee, credit, supervision, subject skills, place and verification.

1. (a) Fee: whether anyone asks you to pay to apply or to take part.
2. (b) Credit: whether your own department will count it.
3. (c) Supervision: who reads your work and signs it off.
4. (d) Subject skills: whether it teaches the skills of your own subject.
5. (e) Place: which part of Delhi, a satellite city, or online.
6. (f) Verification: how you confirm the host is what it says it is.

Point (e) needs more care in Delhi than the heading on a listing suggests. Among the 39 cards on page one of that Delhi board on 25 September 2026, 18 named only Gurgaon, Noida or Ghaziabad as the place of work. Read the location line on every card before you count the commute.

Does your Delhi college place you with an NGO itself?

Yes, if you are on the MA Social Work at the University of Delhi (DU) or a social work programme at Jamia Millia Islamia: both departments place their own students with agencies as part of the degree. DU's MA Social Work syllabus (effective from academic year 2018-19) marks each student out of 3,000, with 900 for the Field Work Practicum.

That edition fixes a summer block placement "between 1st May and 15th July" for a minimum of 30 days after the second semester. Two external examiners evaluate the block placement report, along with the external supervisor's comments and a viva voce. Field practicum attendance is set at 90 percent "strictly". Ask the department whether a later revision changed any of this.

At DU the Field Work Unit schedules the field work. The same syllabus describes ten students placed, with their faculty supervisors, for concurrent field work in five villages the University adopted: Badarpur Khadar, Chauhan Patti, Jagatpur, Mukundpur and Jharoda.

Jamia's Department of Social Work lists "200+ Fieldwork Agency Partners for Social Work Placement" on its fieldwork page, with a PDF list marked "Last updated on 4 June 2024". The same page counts more than 100 industrial collaborations for MA HRM fieldwork and more than 50 partners for its ADPH students. The names on the social work list include AIIMS, the Department of Woman and Child Development, HAQ and Counsel to Secure Justice.

Both lists belong to the departments and serve their own students; neither page describes a way in for students of other departments. For the national picture on required hours, see how many fieldwork hours social work degrees require.

Where can law students do a legal internship in Delhi?

The Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA) runs an internship programme for law students twice a year, in June or July and in December or January, for 21 days each time, and its FAQ says "No fee is required to participate". DSLSA is a statutory legal aid authority constituted under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, and is not an NGO.

The FAQ says interns are informed about "the functioning of all the courts, DLSAs, Children Homes, Child Welfare Committees". DLSAs are the district legal services authorities, and the DSLSA site lists eleven districts, from Central and New Delhi to Shahdara and South West. Its office is on the third floor of the Rouse Avenue District Court Complex.

The FAQ gives the pattern and leaves the dates to the authority's website, so watch the DSLSA notices page rather than a law blog's forecast. By that pattern, the next window after September falls in December or January.

How the DSLSA summer 2026 round worked

The DSLSA notice for the Summer Internship Program 2026, signed by the Member Secretary, offered 200 seats. It was open to students on five-year and three-year law courses, and it invited applications from law students "of various Law Universities/Colleges of India", so a Delhi college was not a condition.

Applications opened online on 1 May 2026 and closed at 5 pm on 15 May. Each needed a passport size photograph and a recommendation letter from the principal or head of the law department; the notice says an application without them "will not be considered". The notice set 20 May for telling shortlisted students by email and 23 May as the last date for their confirmation email, and the internship ran from 5 to 25 June 2026.

The notice lists where interns may be taken: district and family courts, the Mediation Centre, legal services clinics, observation homes for juveniles, Juvenile Justice Boards, Tihar or Rohini jails, One Stop Centres and the mental health institution IHBAS.

An internship certificate follows completion, with a minimum of 75% attendance, and three excellence certificates were on offer. That round has closed; if the next notice follows its pattern, ask your head of department for the letter before the form opens.

Law students who want a legal NGO internship in Delhi, with an NGO rather than DSLSA as the host, should first check whether an NGO counts toward your BCI internship requirement. If both DSLSA windows clash with your semester, the guide to online internships for law students that are not court internships covers the gap.

Are NGO internships in Delhi paid?

Some are and many are not. On 25 September 2026, Internshala's Delhi NGO board showed 39 cards on its opening page; 13 were marked "Unpaid" and 26 showed a stipend in "/month" terms, from "₹ 1,000 - 5,000 /month" at the bottom to "₹ 30,000 - 40,000 /month" at the top. That is one day's snapshot of one page.

Read each figure as the card words it: a monthly range for the stated duration, which on that page ran from 2 weeks to 6 months. Do not average the ranges into a typical Delhi stipend. Several of the paid cards named Noida or Gurgaon only, so a Delhi stipend may come with a cross-border commute.

DU social work students have a rule to check first. The 2018-19 syllabus says "No student of the Department is permitted to register for any other course or to take up part-time or any job during the course of study." Ask the department before you accept a paid listing during term.

The DSLSA FAQ answers the fee question, and neither it nor the 2026 notice mentions a stipend. If pay decides it for you, ask the authority directly before the window opens.

A Delhi Government commission states a stipend on its own page. The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) internship page says full-time interns get "a modest stipend in addition to official travel-related reimbursements". DCPCR is a Delhi Government commission, not an NGO, and its office is in the ISBT Building at Kashmere Gate.

Its interns do background research, field visits, data analytics, policy briefs, drafting of letters and notices, and minutes. The form is for offline internships "from 2 months to 6 months", applications are taken on a rolling basis with no deadline, and the page asks you to allow at least 3 weeks before following up.

Can you intern with a non-profit online while living in Delhi?

Yes. An online internship removes the commute, and it can run outside the windows the Delhi routes fix: DU's block placement between 1 May and 15 July, and DSLSA's June or July and December or January sessions. It also opens the option to students whose department has no placement list at all.

Read "Hybrid" carefully on Delhi listings. On the Internshala Delhi NGO page on 25 September 2026, 10 of the 39 first-page listings carried a "(Hybrid)" tag next to a place such as Delhi, Noida or Rohini. Ask how many days a week are in an office before you treat a hybrid role as online.

Credit is the open question. DU's syllabus ties its practicum to field work "scheduled by Field Work Unit", so an online internship you arrange yourself sits outside that practicum unless the department says otherwise. For other streams, whether it counts is your college's decision, and asking before you start costs one email.

How do you check a Delhi NGO before you say yes?

Search the host on NGO Darpan, the NITI Aayog portal: set its "NPO Registered State" filter to Delhi, look the host up by name or Darpan ID, and check the portal's Blacklisted NPOs page. The home page's 618,615 Darpan IDs (page last updated 15 April 2026) are an all-India total, so run the state filter yourself for any Delhi figure.

Check the legal form behind the listing. Darpan sorts registered non-profits into trusts, societies and Section 8 companies, yet the Internshala Delhi NGO page on 25 September 2026 included cards from two firms whose names end in "Private Limited". If your college's approval form asks for an NGO, ask the host for its registration details before you accept.

No official ranking names the best NGO for internship in Delhi, so answer that search with checks: a Darpan record, no fee (DSLSA charges none), a named supervisor, and work in your subject. The steps in order are in the full verification checklist.

Which Delhi route fits your course?

Social work students at DU or Jamia start with the department, law students with DSLSA's windows, and students of every other stream choose between listings and a non-profit's online programme; how NGO internships work and who can apply covers the general case.

Each entry below is judged on the six points: (a) fee, (b) credit, (c) supervision, (d) subject skills, (e) place and (f) verification.

Your department's fieldwork (DU or Jamia social work)

It is part of the degree, so it counts (b): DU's 2018-19 edition puts 900 of 3,000 marks on field work. Two external examiners evaluate the block report, with the external supervisor's comments (c). It teaches social work practice directly (d). The department schedules the place, a village or an agency on its list (e), and the host comes from that list (f). It loses on reach, because only the department's own students get in.

DSLSA's internship for law students

No fee is required (a). Whether the 21 days count toward your degree is your law school's decision (b). DSLSA organises and guides the programme, and its 2026 notice tied the certificate to 75% attendance (c). Its 2026 notice listed courts, jails and child care institutions among the places interns may visit, which is legal work (d). It runs across Delhi's courts and DLSAs (e), and DSLSA is a statutory authority (f). It loses on timing and reach: two windows a year, 200 seats in the summer 2026 round, and law students only.

A listing on Internshala

Internshala's Delhi NGO page mixes paid and unpaid roles, so read (a) on each card. Your college has to approve the host before it counts (b), and only the host watches your work (c). Card titles on the Delhi page covered teaching, accounts and social media, so the fit with your subject varies card by card (d). The location line may say Gurgaon or Noida (e). It loses on verification (f), which is left entirely to you.

A non-profit's online programme, done from home in Delhi or anywhere

Pledge A Smile Foundation (the publisher of this guide) runs an online internship that is open to students of any stream and free to apply to and to do. Interns own a weekly target, send a weekly report and get feedback on it. There is a performance-based stipend and a certificate on completion. It does not teach subject-specific technical skills.