Deadline: 28 June 2020
If you are passionate about youth-led change, love mobilizing and empowering others to act, and want to be part of a global team that helps young people make a difference right now, Peace First invites you to apply for the “Fellow-in-Residence” – a year-long, paid program for emerging social change leaders who want to make an impact by leading Peace First’s support to young people in their part of the world.
For over 25 years, Peace First has helped young people like you create social change in their communities. Now, they are scaling their work to support thousands of teams across the globe to lead peacemaking projects that make a difference in their communities.
As they do, they are building a team of Fellows-in-Residence – expert youth peacemakers based around the world – who will lead the delivery of their programs, supporting young people across the globe to challenge injustices, create impact, and build a lasting culture of peace.
At Peace First, they support young people to create peacemaking projects – projects that address an injustice (a social problem that causes harm or creates inequity, such as violence, poverty, or racism) in their community through compassion, courage, and collaborative leadership. They take them through a 5-stage journey to choose an injustice, understand why it occurs, plan a project that will make a difference, act on their plan, and reflect on their work. They target their recruitment efforts to young people who aren’t often called on to be peacemakers – those who might not otherwise have access to resources.
A growth opportunity and a learning community.
The Fellowship-in-Residence, a paid, year-long Fellowship with Peace First, is an unparalleled opportunity to build your skills and networks as an emerging leader — and set you up for a career of lifelong leadership for social change.
- Build a diverse skill set: In your day-to-day work, you’ll hone your skills at program design, facilitation and training, grant-making, organizing, and more. Fellows-in-Residence will also have opportunities to interact with and learn about the other operational areas of a global nonprofit, and regularly meet with and work alongside members of our senior team.
- Build a network: As the lead ambassador for Peace First in your region, you’ll work to build our visibility and credibility by creating a broad and deep partner network — and, in the process, build your own network
of peers and mentors. - Access support and coaching: The Director of the Fellows-in-Residence Program will be a constant source of support and feedback, and Fellows-inResidence will have regular touch points with the Founder & CEO and other senior leaders of the Peace First team. Peace First will match each Fellow-inResidence with an external mentor, who you’ll meet with biweekly to support your personal and professional growth.
- Professional development stipend: Peace First will offer a professional development stipend to help you access professional development opportunities from conferences to continuing education.
- Community of practice: They’ve structured the Fellowship-in-Residence as a community of practice – meaning that your fellow Fellows-in-Residence are a source of learning and support. Through in-person retreats and constant virtual communication, Fellows-in-Residence will build a tight-knit community, offering a space for you to work through challenges, share joys, process frustrations, brainstorm new ideas, learn new
things, and feel supported, valued, and championed.
What you will do
Along with your team of Fellows-in-Residence, supported by the Program Director, Fellows-in-Residence and the Program Design and Quality team, you will lead the implementation of Peace First programs and help young people around the world start and lead thousands of peacemaking projects. You’ll support them to generate new and innovative ideas to social problems, create impact in their community, and change the way the world sees young people.
- Coach: Plan and facilitate workshops and trainings that support young people to launch, lead, and scale peacemaking projects, both in-person and online from the Peace First Labs that help young people start projects, to the Peace First Accelerators that help young people who have completed projects take them to scale, to workshops that young people through the different stages of creation.
- Curate: Lead the selection processes for the Peace First Accelerators, Peace First Prize, and Peace First Fellowship, and identify stories of change to be shared through Peace First’s storytelling initiatives.
- Partner: Raise the visibility and credibility of Peace First in your region by building partnerships and relationships with key youth-serving organizations, governments, and influencers, managing a small budget for region-specific work Engage: Represent youth community and program team in conversations with funders and campaign partners.
- Design: Serve as lead designers for Peace First’s platform and programs, providing feedback and insights to inform continued development of the tools, resources, and supports for young people, and participating in other organizational design and decision-making processes as needed.
- Inspire: Lead efforts to activate young people in your assigned region to join the peacemaking community and start a peacemaking project, with a focus on activating young people who may not otherwise have the resources and opportunities to do peacemaking work.
- Support: Facilitate young people’s progress through the Peace First Challenge, providing feedback, support, and encouragement to young people as they design and carry out peacemaking projects, including approving & processing mini-grants, working to meet ambitious goals for project completion, quality and impact within your assigned region. This will be the most significant area of work for all Fellows, and will take place predominantly online through the Peace First digital platform.
- Connect: Lead community management efforts on Peace First digital platform, implementing the community management protocols and upholding the community norms to build relationships and connections between peacemakers and ensure safeguarding of all users.
Who you are:
You are a peacemaker– meaning that in everything you do you act with the core values: Compassion: You seek out and listen to the perspectives of others, and recognize the inherent dignity of every person.
Courage: You speak out for what is right, even when it is risky.
Collaboration: You bring others together to make change.
You have led a peacemaking project– meaning that, over a sustained period of time, you have:
- Identified an injustice in your community that was causing harm or inequity.
- Talked to others to understand the root causes and come up with a solution.
- Built a team and worked with them to create a plan for bringing your solution to life.
- Implemented your solution and created meaningful, measurable change.
- Reflected on your work and identified what you have learned and would have done differently, and how you might work to remedy the injustice in the future.
You are a great team member– meaning you:
- Work well with others who have very different perspectives and experiences;
- Act with integrity at all times;
- Have a positive, problem-solving mindset;
- Lead Peace First’s growth in your region, meaning you:Have a clear understanding of, and connection to, other youth-led movements in your region;
- Have a high level of intercultural competency and are able to build relationships across lines of difference with curiosity, humility, and clarity;
- Can identify cultural and political differences between different communities and countries in your region and incorporate this knowledge into your practice.
Eligibility Criteria
- Under 26 years old on August 1, 2020;
- Have reliable access to fast, stable internet (assuming the cost of internet access is covered);
- Able to commit to at least one year as a Fellow-in-Residence, beginning August 2020;
- Hold a valid passport and are able to travel between 10 and 20% of your time;
- Must be based in the region where you intend to work;
- Fluent in English;
- MENA Fellows-in-Residence must also be fluent in Arabic. Fluency or proficiency in other languages, especially French, is highly desirable;
- Peace First is currently hiring Fellows-in-Residence in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East & North Africa.
For more information, visit https://www.peacefirst.org/apply-be-fellow-residence