Peace First Paid Fellowship Programme For Sub-Saharan Africa Youths (Monthly Stipends)

Deadline: 4th June, 2021

Peace First paid Fellowship Programme For Sub-Saharan Africa Youths (Monthly Stipends)

Application is now open for Peace First Fellow in Residence For Sub-Saharan Africa Youths 2021. The application is open to youths who are a movement builder and deeply committed to compassion, courage and collaboration.

Peace First has helped young people to create social change in their communities for over 25 years. We are now scaling our work to support thousands of teams around the world to lead changemaking projects that make a difference in their communities.

We are building a team of Fellows in Residence – expert youth changemakers based around the world – who will lead the delivery of our programs, supporting young people around the world to challenge injustices, create impact and build a lasting culture of social change.

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​, we invite you to apply to the Fellows in Residence program – a one year, paid fellowship 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.

Work to build a movement

At Peace First, we support young people to create changemaking 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 – on our digital platform, PeaceFirst.Org. We take them through a five-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. We target our recruitment efforts to young people who aren’t often called on to be changemakers – those who might not otherwise have access to resources. 

We provide young people with access to the tools and resources they need to support their work – including guided training, feedback and mentors, a global community of young people and $250 mini grants to support their work. We’re regularly testing new offerings to improve the support we offer our global youth community, including opportunities for accelerated support for young people who have received a grant from us and are interested in deepening their work.

BENEFITS

A growth opportunity and a learning community

The Fellow in Residence, a paid, one year fellowship program 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, storytelling 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 Senior Program Manager will be a constant source of support and feedback, and Fellows in Residence will have regular touch points with the Director of the Programs, the Founder & CEO and other senior leaders of the Peace First team. Peace First will match each Fellow in Residence with a 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 opportunities from conferences to continuing education.

Community of practice: ​We’ve structured the fellowship 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.

n What you will do

Along with your team of Fellows in Residence, supported by the Senior Program Manager, 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 changemaking 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. Much of this work takes place online, through our digital platform at PeaceFirst.Org, and successful applicants will be highly comfortable communicating digitally. While no two weeks will look the same, here are the things you can expect to be doing on a regular basis:

Inspire: ​Lead efforts to activate young people in your assigned region to join our changemaking community and start a changemaking project, with a focus on activating young people who may not otherwise have the resources and opportunities to do changemaking 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 PeaceFirst.Org digital platform.

Connect: ​Lead community management efforts on PeaceFirst.Org, implementing our community management protocols and upholding our community norms to build relationships and connections between changemakers and ensure safeguarding of all users.

Coach: ​Plan and facilitate workshops and trainings that support young people to launch, lead and scale changemaking projects, both in person and online from our Peace First Labs that help young people start projects, to our 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 our Peace First Accelerators, when available, 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 the 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 our tools, resources and supports for young people, and participating in other organizational design and decision making processes as needed.

Amplify: Work closely with the communications team to curate, identify and amplify stories of young people leading social change in your region. Some of the activities you will engage in include storytelling workshops, hosting monthly live streams, contributing to the social media content calendar with local content and translations and helping to design online recruitment campaigns and community events. To see examples of stories of projects that you will be working with in the MENA region, check out the SSA regional page.

Who you are

You are a changemaker– meaning that in everything you do you act with our 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 changemaking 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 through this or another project.

Please note: A successful changemaking project does not have to be “grand” in terms of size or scope. Rather, we’re most impressed by projects that are a true reflection of compassion, courage and collaboration and create impact at any scale.

You are a youth ​​movement leader ​ ​–meaning you:

• Can connect to and build relationships and trust with all kinds of young people – including across lines of difference.
• Communicate in a clear and engaging way with young people, and are comfortable doing so primarily online
• Have a track record of mobilizing and leading other young people, and inspiring other young people to become leaders themselves
• Can provide flexible, adaptive support and advice to young people that is aligned with their needs and goals for their projects and communities
• Believe deeply in the power of young people to lead and make change, ​today, not some day.

You are a great team member​  ​– meaning you can:

• Work well with others who have very different perspectives and experiences.
• Act with integrity at all times.
• Have a positive, problem solving mindset.

You can 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

You can successfully implement our programs ​​ – meaning you:

• Can successfully manage multiple projects, prioritizing and paying attention to detail.
• Are creative, flexible and open to change.
• Are comfortable with doing your work largely online, and have experience learning new technology quickly.
• Are willing to take on any task, big or small — and can move easily between the high-level strategic work of program design and administrative functions of the job such as processing mini grants.

ELIGIBILITY

You meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Under 26 years old on June 1, 2021.
• Based in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Fluent in English.
• Have reliable access to a fast, stable internet connection (assuming the cost of internet access is covered).
• Able to commit to at least one year as a Fellow in Residence, beginning August 2021.
• Hold a valid passport and are able to travel. 

Fellows in Residence will be selected for one year, renewable term.

Each Peace First Fellow in Residence will receive a fellowship stipend that varies based on location. The stipend takes into consideration the cost of living, comparable fellowship stipends, local compensation for full time employees, local taxes and local purchasing power. To ensure pay equity among our fellows, we run an annual stipend audit and use the learnings from the audit to inform our fellowship stipend band for the following year.

In addition to intensive training and network building, Peace First will offer Fellows dedicated professional development support, including mentorship and a $1,000 USD fund for professional development expenses.

Peace First will also provide an additional $80USD/month stipend for tech and internet expenses. Fellows may elect to use their own laptop or a Peace First-provided one. Peace First will also cover all of the Fellows’ travel expenses.

Fellows in Residence report to the Senior Program Manager.

APPLY HERE

If you have any questions, please email the Senior Program Manager, Mohammad Sammour: msammour@peacefirst.org

For more information visit the official webpage of Peace First Paid Fellowship Programme For Sub-Saharan Africa Youths