[KROC] IPJ WPM Fellowship Application 2024-2025

Key Information

Applications will be accepted March 1 - April 8, 2024.

For twenty years, the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (Kroc IPJ) at the University of San Diego’s Kroc School of Peace Studies has hosted the Women PeaceMakers Fellowship program. The Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for peacebuilders who focus on gender, peace and conflict to engage in a cycle of learning, practice, research and participation that strengthens peacebuilding partnerships. The Women PeaceMakers Fellowship facilitates impactful collaborations between peacebuilders from conflict-affected communities and international partner organizations. The Fellows also co-create research intended to shape the peacebuilding field and highlight good practices for peacebuilding design and implementation.

Anyone who considers themselves a peacebuilder working to reduce cycles of violence through a focus on gender, peace, and conflict is welcome to apply. People of all genders, including transgender and non-binary or gender-fluid people, are welcome to apply and are eligible for a fellowship. The Women PeaceMakers Fellowship program does not consider sex, gender, or any other protected status as part of the application and selection process. Applicants may come from any country, as long as they will be able to travel to the United States for the residency. Applicants must have at least five years of peacebuilding or violence reduction experience and must speak sufficient English to participate fully in Fellowship activities.

Throughout the Fellowship with the Kroc IPJ, selected Fellows will:

Learn from and with other Fellows and the Kroc School team;
- Learn about the Fellowship and past Fellows
Gain new skills, perspectives, and innovative approaches to peacebuilding
Expand their professional peacebuilding networks
Drive forward vital peacebuilding research that focuses on shaping practice and policy
- Read past research from the Fellowship

Fellowship Dates: September 2024 - July 2025.

Date of Residency at the University of San Diego in the United States: November 9 - November 23, 2024.

The health of our partners and community is our top priority, and the dates and format of the Fellowship are subject to change as COVID-19 conditions change around the world. The intention is to welcome Fellows to San Diego as part of this Fellowship, but it is possible that the Fellowship will be conducted entirely online if it is not possible to travel and gather safely. We will communicate with the selected Fellows to assess health and safety risks.

Fellows will receive a stipend of USD $15,000, which will cover their time spent in the fellowship as well as any costs for conducting fellowship-related research. The Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice will cover costs for the residency period at the University of San Diego.

2024-2025 Theme

Building peace within the diaspora

For the 2024-2025 fellowship year, the Kroc IPJ will select three Fellows who live in a diaspora community and work to build peace within their country of residence using a gender-responsive approach. This work may be focused on ending cycles of violence that affect members of the diaspora community or on leveraging a diaspora-led movement to end cycles of violence in their country of residence more broadly. Fellows will conduct research using a gender lens on diaspora-led movements to make their countries of residence more peaceful.

For the previous 2023-2024 fellowship year, the Women PeaceMaker Fellows focused their research on peacebuilding from the diaspora, with an emphasis on peacebuilders who are living outside of their country of origin but sending support to their country of origin. For the 2024-2025 fellowship, the Kroc IPJ will expand the program’s research on the theme of diaspora peacebuilding and focus on how members of the diaspora work in a gender-responsive way to end cycles of violence in their country of residence. Across these two research projects, the Kroc IPJ hopes to show how peacebuilders can leverage their roles in the diaspora to end cycles of violence and to better understand the strategies and tools they use to do so.

The Kroc IPJ will recruit Fellows who are members of a diaspora community and who work to end cycles of violence in their countries of residence using a gender-responsive approach. This work could take many forms - potential Fellows may be working in any sector, including government, civil society, academia, or the private sector.

For the purpose of this Fellowship, the Kroc IPJ considers diasporas to be migrants or descendants of migrants, whose identity and sense of belonging have been shaped by their migration experience and background, maintaining a connection to their home country. People who are part of a diaspora may have experienced forced displacement or may have moved voluntarily. This fellowship is open to peacebuilders from around the world, including from the US. The Kroc IPJ welcomes applications from people who migrated themselves but also from descendants of migrants. In the US context, this could include people who view themselves as part of the African, Caribbean or Latin American diasporas. Ideal candidates will have the following experience:

- Working or have worked as a researcher, with a substantial track record of academic and/or practitioner-based experience.

- Research experience that is based on engagement with conflict-affected communities and/or with peacebuilding organizations.

- Experience of at least five years working in the peacebuilding or related field.

- Experience implementing gender-responsive approaches in peacebuilding work or substantial academic experience related to gender, peace and conflict.

- Ability to participate in all activities during the year-long Fellowship and apply what they learn after the residency program.

- Sufficient English language proficiency to relate personal experiences and engage in discussions with a multi-country cohort.

1) Residency

Dates: Fellows will be based at the University of San Diego November 9-23, 2024. However, the health of our partners is our top priority, and the dates for the in-person components of the Fellowship are subject to change as the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic change.

Location: Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego in San Diego, CA, USA.

Who: Three selected Fellows and Kroc IPJ Research Team.

Focus: During this residency, the Fellows, the University of San Diego community, and the broader San Diego community will learn from and with each other. Together this group will share ideas, strategies, and knowledge on how to end cycles of violence locally and globally.

2) Learning Lab

Dates: Two days during the Residency (exact dates to be determined) and a virtual Lab in spring 2025.

Location: Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, San Diego, CA, USA.

Who: Three Selected Fellows, International Partners, and the Kroc IPJ team.

Focus: Selected Fellows will work with the Kroc IPJ team to identify International Partners with whom they would like to work collaboratively over the course of the Fellowship. Once three International Partners are selected, they will join the Kroc IPJ team and Fellows for two Learning Labs to collectively build out, inform and drive forward research on this year's areas of focus. This group will also gather to strengthen partnerships between the International Partners and Fellows.

3) Conducting Research

Dates: After the Learning Lab through July 2025.

Location: Fellow’s country of residence, connecting with the cohort virtually.

Who: Fellows, International Partners, and Kroc IPJ research team.

Focus: Strengthening partnerships between International Partners and Fellows; gathering additional data/evidence on this year's research focus, and developing and driving forward the applied research outputs. Fellows will be provided funds to conduct research in their own contexts, which will inform the final research report.

4) Participating in Public Events

Dates: Throughout the Fellowship.

Location: At the University of San Diego and virtually.

Who: Fellows, International Partners, Kroc IPJ research team, and University of San Diego students.

Focus: Fellows will be invited to speak at a range of events (these are subject to change based on COVID-19 health and safety requirements), including:

Annual Women PeaceMakers event.
A student-focused event at the University of San Diego.
Events to engage with faculty, staff, students, and donors of the University of San Diego.
Presentation to classes of graduate students as appropriate.
Launch events to disseminate the final research.
Other events as appropriate.

Public events at the Kroc IPJ featuring the Women PeaceMakers will be recorded and shared on social media. Please let Kroc IPJ staff know if you have any safety or security concerns around publicity or public broadcasting before the Residency. We understand that security conditions can change quickly, so please keep Kroc IPJ staff informed about any security concerns you have during the Fellowship as well.

5) Requirements and Expectations of Fellows

1) Fellowship activities and outputs
Fellows are expected to engage in all of the Fellowship's activities and drive forward the research process. These activities include the public events described in the “Participating in Public Events” section.

2) Identify and collaborate with International Partners
One of the most important goals of the Fellowship is to work with International Partners to exchange ideas and identify strategies to build more effective local/global collaborations to drive forward impact. Fellows will work with the Kroc IPJ staff to identify an International Partner and bring them into this program. Together, the International Partners and Fellows will collaborate during a virtual Learning Lab, work virtually, and co-implement data collection and report dissemination.

3) Conduct original research
Throughout the Fellowship, the Kroc IPJ will capture critical insights into diaspora-led and gender-responsive approaches to ending violence. This process involves conducting data collection through interviews, focus groups, surveys, or other tools in the Fellow’s country of residence. This research will inform the final research report and will also serve as the foundation of a case study specific to the Fellow’s country of residence.

4) Travel for the residency
Applicants should expect to be involved with full-time program activities throughout the two-week residency and should not schedule any conflicting engagements elsewhere in the US or overseas. An unscheduled absence from the Residency may result in the Fellow losing their Fellowship.

Accommodation will be provided at a guesthouse on the University of San Diego campus, and Fellows will be provided with a per diem to cover essentials.

5) Become a member of the Kroc IPJ Women Waging Peace network
Upon completing the Fellowship, Fellows will become part of the 1,000+ member Women Waging Peace network. The Kroc IPJ-based network provides a range of benefits to members.

6) Connect with the USD community
Fellows are expected to engage with members of the University of San Diego community, treating all community members with respect and professionalism.

The University of San Diego includes “community” as one of its core values: “The university is committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive and collaborative community accentuated by a spirit of freedom and charity, and marked by protection of the rights and dignity of the individual. The university values students, faculty and staff from different backgrounds and faith traditions and is committed to creating an atmosphere of trust, safety and respect in a community characterized by a rich diversity of people and ideas.” Fellows are expected to treat everyone with respect, including people of all backgrounds, ethnicities, disabilities, religions, sexual orientations, gender identities, and countries of origin, among other categories.

If at any point the selected Fellow does not meet or follow the requirements and expectations listed during their Fellowship, the Kroc IPJ has the right to revoke their Fellowship.

Women PeaceMakers Fellowship

2024-2025 Application

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