Fellows for Peace Summer 2009

Fellows for Peace Summer 2009: Building Informational Capacity
Location: Washington, District of Columbia, 20005, United States Organization: Advocacy Project
Area of Focus: Communications Access and Infrastructure, Community Building and Renewal, Community Service and Volunteering, Computers and Technology, Human Rights and Civil Liberties, International Cooperation, International Relations, Job Training and Workplace Issues, Law and Legal Assistance, Media and Journalism, Network of Nonprofit Organizations, Peace, War, and Conflict Resolution, Women's Issues Start date: June 1, 2009 Last day to apply: March 1, 2009 Paid or unpaid: Unpaid
Language(s): English End date: August 31, 2009 Last updated: January 6, 2009

Description:
FELLOWS FOR PEACE: Summer 2009 International Peace Fellowship with The Advocacy Project The Advocacy Project (AP) is a DC-based non-profit dedicated to strengthening civil society around the world. Using a grassroots approach, we support advocates who work in social justice and human rights at the community level. Our mission is to help community partners to produce, use, and disseminate information about their advocacy work. Each summer, we recruit Peace Fellows to volunteer directly with our partner organizations. Currently, we have a number of international Peace Fellowships available for summer 2009. All positions are fulltime (~40 hours/weeks), unpaid, and for the duration of the summer (roughly 10-12 weeks, June-August), unless otherwise noted. All Fellows report to the director of their host organization as well as to the AP Fellowship Coordinator. Deadline to apply: Monday, March 1, 2009 (11:59 pm EST) To see these opportunities on our website, visit: To view our FAQs, visit: http://advocacynet.org/page/FAQs Application Instructions: To apply for any of the positions listed below, please send your resume and cover letter by email to AP Fellowship Coordinator Tassos Coulaloglou at: fellowships@advocacynet.org. Please list the position name in the subject of your email. Applicants do not need to be US citizens or attend US-based universities. You may apply for up to two positions, but please indicate in your cover letter your order of preference, explain why you are interested in each, and why you would be a good fit for the Fellowship. Please note: several of the positions also require a writing sample. To gain a better understanding of each Fellowship experience, applicants are encouraged to: o Read the blogs written by past Peace Fellows. (http://www.advocacynet.org/blogs/). Blogs are organized by Fellow, Year, and Country. o Review the AP Partner Pages (http://www.advocacynet.org/page/communitiespartners). PLEASE NOTE: Due to an overabundance of spam, messages sent to AP’s general email addresses sometimes get filtered out. To ensure that your application reaches us, please send it to the address listed (fellowships@advocacynet.org). If you do not receive notification of receipt within a week, please follow up. APPLICANT RESTRICTION NOTICE: The Advocacy Project is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or other personal factors. However, given the highly sensitive nature of some of our positions, we must occasionally limit recruitment to women only. This may be due to cultural and security constraints or to psychological considerations for beneficiaries. We hope you understand.

Strengthening Informational Capacity: Three-Month Fellowship in Field
1. Dale Farm Association: Irish Gypsy and Traveller rights in the United Kingdom
2. Blind Education & Rehabilitation Development Organization (BERDO): Using micro-credit to empower the disabled community, raising awareness about disabilities, and advocating for disability rights in Bangladesh
3. Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF): Increasing awareness and restoring the identity of forcibly disappeared peoples in Peru
4. ADIVIMA: Guatemalan indigenous rights & massacre survivors
5. Chintan: Advocating for economic and social rights of India’s informal sector (e.g. wastepickers)
6. Chintan: Advocating for economic and social rights of India’s informal sector (e.g. wastepickers)
7. Undugu: Socio-economic empowerment of street children in Kenya 8. World Peasants/ Indigenous Foundation (WPIO): Anti-slavery campaign for Pygmies in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Information Services Fellowship: Three-Months Field Work with the Following Organizations: 1. THE UNITED KINGDOM: Campaigning for the Rights of Irish Travelers, Advocating for Housing Rights and Against Evictions. Based in: Essex, UK Host: The Peace Fellow will work with the Dale Farm Community Association, which represents the largest “Gypsy” and Traveler encampment in the UK and has been under threat of eviction for more than 5 years. Several “yards” (encampments) have already been bulldozed by the local authorities, and the case will come before the British High Court in early February. The Dale Farm Association is seeking the help of a dedicated human rights advocate, starting as soon as possible, to help them organize, advocate, and build their community association. Responsibilities • Help the Dale Farm Association produce regular information about their advocacy, including a newsletter • Send regular information back to AP for dissemination • Organize trainings (e.g. ICT) for Traveler children and Association members • Develop the Travelers partner page (AP website) • Develop eco-network of local ICT supporters • Develop the Travelers’ growing national and international network of support, particularly in Europe and North America • Help devise and support imaginative collective action to oppose evictions but also build bridges with the local community • Help the Travelers at meetings of the local Council • Liaise with legal representatives of the Travelers Qualifications • Self-starter who is not afraid to plunge him/herself into the community and hit the ground running • Knowledge of international human rights laws and norms, especially regarding housing and freedom of movement (knowledge of UK laws a plus) • Awareness of issues facing severely marginalized groups (Roma, Gypsy, Traveler population a plus) • Understanding of key elements of effective advocacy and activism (direct experience preferred) • Good computer skills & website skills • Effective communication skills (oral & written) • Willingness to travel throughout region for reporting purposes • Self-starter, energetic, confident • Familiarity using and creating new media (video, blogs, photos, podcast), editing experience (preferred) BACK TO TOP 2. BANGLADESH: Using micro-credit to empower the disabled community, raising awareness about disabilities, and advocating for disability rights in Bangladesh Based in: Dhaka, Bangladesh Host: Since 1991, Blind Education and Rehabilitation Development Organization (BERDO) has been working for the development and protection of the disabled community in Bangladesh. Founded and run by individuals living with blindness themselves, BERDO’s programs include microcredit, rehabilitation, a Talking Library, scholarships, job placement, health services, and disability prevention. BERDO fulfills its mission through networking, research, advocacy, and service. Responsibilities: • Identify and define a clear social justice agenda, • Work with BERDO to develop their micro-credit programs, and disseminate information on these programs • Produce a newsletter regularly, website content, and press releases • Place articles with the local and international press • Explore existing and new ways to help disabled persons exploit ICT, including social networking • Develop eco-network of local ICT supporters • Continue developing BERDO’s website • Expand upon the BERDO partner page (AP site) • Expand BERDO’s network of micro-credit contacts, locally and internationally • Expand BERDO’s network of contacts with disability rights advocates • Limited fundraising (small social justice projects) Qualifications: • Understanding of disability issues, rights, and advocacy possibilities, including the new International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities • Knowledge and experience of microcredit (preferred) • Sensitivity, flexibility, open-mindedness, and a willingness to confront new challenges • Experience in advocacy or activism • Networking and excellent interpersonal skills • Strong writing skills • Familiarity using and creating new media (video, blogs, photos, podcast), editing experience (preferred) BACK TO TOP 3. PERU: Restoring the Identity of the Forcibly Disappeared & Seeking Justice for Survivors Based in: Lima, Peru Host: Equipo Peruano de Antropología Forense (or Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team – EPAF) applies forensic anthropology to the search for forcibly disappeared persons during the period of internal political conflict from 1982-2000. EPAF began work in 1997, when a group of Peruvian professionals working for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia decided to apply their expertise in their own country. Their aim is to restore the identity of the thousands of missing Peruvians that rest in hidden burial sites across the country. Responsibilities: • Help to define EPAF’s human rights and social justice mission, with specific campaign objectives • Reach out to relatives of the disappeared and develop outreach activities and collective action • Profile the relatives of disappeared via video, photos, blogs • Develop outreach activities with local communities, including the possible production of handicrafts used to “tell the story” • Produce content for a newsletter and press releases, in Spanish and English • Produce content for an EPAF website, in Spanish and English • Produce content for the EPAF partner page (AP website) • Develop EPAF’s use of ICT (including video and photos) as an advocacy tool • Work with AP to expand EPAF’s network of contacts, including in the Peruvian diaspora Qualifications: • Commitment to human rights and knowledge of human rights tools and standards • Intermediate Spanish • Work experience in Latin America (preferable) • Writing or journalism skills • ICT skills (website, social networking) • Willingness to travel • Familiarity using and creating new media (video, blogs, photos, podcast), editing experience (preferred) BACK TO TOP 4. GUATEMALA: Empowering Rural Communities to Seek Solutions after the 1980s Massacres Based in: Rabinal, Guatemala Host: The Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of Violence in the Verapaces, Maya Achí (ADIVIMA) is an indigenous organization whose mission is to seek solutions to social, economic, education, and political problems caused by the internal armed conflict of the 1980s; help ensure adherence to the Peace Accords; construct monuments in honor of the 49 Baja Verapaz massacres; facilitate the process of reflection and healing; and empower the communities so that they can be influential in governmental and social affairs and in the solutions to their own needs. Responsibilities: • Help ADIVIMA to build a global constituency for advocacy, including in the Guatemalan diaspora, and partners for programs • Promote ADIVIMA’s social justice programs and projects (e.g. exhumations) • Work with ADIVIMA to produce and sustain the quarterly newsletter • Produce other types of information (short videos, documentaries, etc.) • Develop eco-network of local ICT supporters • Website updates and maintenance • Develop partner page (AP website) • Encourage creative use of ICT and social networking in ADIVIMA’s advocacy • Develop outreach activities with local communities, including the possible production of handicrafts used to “tell the story” of the 1980s massacre Qualifications: • Ability to speak intermediate-high or advanced Spanish required • Work in Guatemala or Latin America (preferred) • Knowledge of Guatemala, including the social, economic, educational, and political problems caused by the internal armed conflict of the 1980s • Sense of improvisation, creativity, and ability to work in ambiguous environments • Familiarity using and creating new media (video, blogs, photos, podcast), editing experience (preferred) BACK TO TOP 5. INDIA – Sustainable Consumption and Environmental and Social Justice Based in: New Delhi, India Host: Chintan was founded in 1999 to address issues of sustainable consumption and environmental and social justice. Chintan promotes strategies that secure environmental and social justice in a rapidly transforming India. Chintan believes that it is increasingly critical to work directly with the poor and marginal communities in India (e.g. waste pickers or “Waste Recyclers”) and form new kinds of partnerships to move us closer to a vision of an environmentally and socially just world. Chintan uses a grassroots approach that informs all of their work, right up to advocating for better policy at the state and central level. Responsibilities: • Collaborate with Chintan to define and promote the social justice agenda for the World Bank proposal on community based carbon trading scheme • Research World Bank program for community based compensation for Carbon Trading scheme • Produce report or bulletins for Chintan to use in their advocacy with the World Bank. • Work with Chintan to produce and sustain the quarterly newsletter • Produce content for press releases and AP Bulletins • Outreach: Follow up with World Bank upon return to promote Chintan Carbon Trading initiative Responsibilities: • Background in Environmental studies, particularly with emphasis on Carbon Trading (preferred) • Creativity and sense of improvisation • Ability to work effectively in a cross-cultural team • Excellent communication skills (written and oral) • Advocacy or lobbying experience (preferred) • Familiarity using and creating new media (video, blogs, photos, podcast), editing experience (preferred) BACK TO TOP 6. INDIA – Sustainable Consumption and Environmental and Social Justice Based in: New Delhi, India Host: Chintan was founded in 1999 to address issues of sustainable consumption and environmental and social justice. Chintan promotes strategies that secure environmental and social justice in a rapidly transforming India. Chintan believes that it is increasingly critical to work directly with the poor and marginal communities in India (e.g. waste pickers, or “Waste Recyclers”) and form new kinds of partnerships to move us closer to a vision of an environmentally and socially just world. Chintan uses a grassroots approach that informs all of their work, right up to advocating for better policy at the state and central level. Responsibilities: • Work with Chintan to clearly define their social justice campaign • Use ICT to improve Chintan’s social networking initiative • Conduct internet research to identify key organizations, individuals, and websites that can support Chintan’s advocacy (creating networking databases, etc. to help Chintan disseminate their information) • Conduct an analysis of Chintan’s current promotional materials, identify the “gaps” in the information, and make improvements as necessary • Work with Chintan to produce and sustain the quarterly newsletter • Produce other types of information (short videos, documentaries, etc.) • Further develop partner page (AP website) • Encourage creative use of ICT and social networking in Chintan’s advocacy • Develop outreach activities with local communities Qualifications: • Experience with photography and creating other types of audio-visual materials • Experience in website design and additional IT-related technical skills • Ability to work effectively in a cross-cultural team • Experience working with audio-visual projects • Excellent communication skills (written and oral) • Preferred: Experience facilitating trainings • Familiarity using and creating new media (video, blogs, photos, podcast), editing experience (preferred) BACK TO TOP 7. KENYA – Contributing to the Socio-Economic Empowerment of Street Children and Other Vulnerable Youth Based in: Nairobi, Kenya Host: Undugu Society of Kenya works to improve the lives of street children and other marginalized youth through lobbying and giving them access to attainment of decent livelihoods through education, training and networking. They provide education and skills through their Undugu Basic Education Program as well as their Informal Skills Training Program. Undugu also aims to develop communities economically in order to prevent children to turning from the streets and in addition, they have implemented an Income Generating Program dedicated to finding ways to produce income for the poor. Responsibilities: • Help promote Undugu’s social justice campaign and projects for street children • Work with Undugu to produce and sustain the newsletter • Produce other types of information (short videos, documentaries, etc.) • Profile of street children and partner organization • Update partner page (AP website) • Encourage creative use of ICT and social networking in Undugu’s advocacy • Help Undugu to build a global constituency for advocacy • Help Undugu to identify and define specific social justice campaign goals Qualifications: • Ability to communicate cross culturally • Work in Africa and Kenya in particular (preferred) • Knowledge of African history, including the social, economic, educational, and political problems of the region • Experience working with children a plus • Ability to improvise and find creative solutions to difficult problems • Familiarity using and creating new media (video, blogs, photos, podcast), editing experience (preferred) BACK TO TOP 8. UGANDA – Advocating to end discrimination against indigenous populations, stopping the exploitation of natural resources on their land, and promoting peaceful co-existence with surrounding communities Based in: Kampala, Uganda (travel in Central Africa may be required) Host: World Peasants/Indigenous Organization (WPIO) advocates for the rights of indigenous populations (pygmies), including ending natural resource exploitation, slavery, discrimination, and sexual exploitation. It reaches, mobilizes, empowers, and links indigenous and rural communities through capacity building, lobbying, and advocacy for community development. WPIO’s vision is to foster equal, empowered, just, and self-sustaining communities in forests and rural areas. WPIO carries out sustainable life, peace, civic & health education programs for indigenous communities and the surrounding communities. Responsibilities: • Promote WPIO’s social justice programs and projects • Organize network of NGOs for future Anti-Slavery Campaign • Work with WPIO to produce and newsletter • Produce other types of information (short videos, documentaries, etc.) • Develop and promote partner page (AP website) • Encourage creative use of ICT and social networking in WPIO’s advocacy • Help WPIO to build a global constituency for advocacy, including in among diaspora, and partners for programs • Develop outreach activities with local communities, including the possible production of handicrafts used to “tell the story” of the slavery victims Qualifications: • Work in Africa or Global South (preferred) • Knowledge of Great Lakes region, and specifically Uganda and Congo, including the social, economic, educational, and political challenges for the region • Journalistic or story telling skills a plus • Good grasp of multimedia, including video and photo or willingness to learn • Sense of improvisation, creativity, and ability to work in ambiguous environments • Good interpersonal skills and cross cultural awareness
Application instructions:
To apply for any of the positions listed below, please send your resume and cover letter by email to AP Fellowship Coordinator Tassos Coulaloglou at: fellowships@advocacynet.org. Please list the position name in the subject of your email. Applicants do not need to be US citizens or attend US-based universities. You may apply for up to two positions, but please indicate in your cover letter your order of preference, explain why you are interested in each, and why you would be a good fit for the Fellowship. Please note: several of the positions also require a writing sample. To gain a better understanding of each Fellowship experience, applicants are encouraged to: o Read the blogs written by past Peace Fellows. (http://www.advocacynet.org/blogs/). Blogs are organized by Fellow, Year, and Country. o Review the AP Partner Pages (http://www.advocacynet.org/page/communitiespartners). PLEASE NOTE: Due to an overabundance of spam, messages sent to AP’s general email addresses sometimes get filtered out. To ensure that your application reaches us, please send it to the address listed (fellowships@advocacynet.org). If you do not receive notification of receipt within a week, please follow up. APPLICANT RESTRICTION NOTICE: The Advocacy Project is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or other personal factors. However, given the highly sensitive nature of some of our positions, we must occasionally limit recruitment to women only. This may be due to cultural and security constraints or to psychological considerations for beneficiaries. We hope you understand.