Category: News

IWA is pleased to announce the launch of the new Extractive Industries and Human Development Center.  The Center seeks to promote best practices in the extractive industry sector to ensure countries, communities and businesses prosper by helping new and ongoing mineral, petroleum and gas projects implement in a manner that benefits the interests of stakeholders. The Center will focus on facilitating cooperative relationships between public and private sector actors and by anticipating and proactively addressing contending interests, mindful of power disparities between local, national, and international actors.

The Center will be led by Dr. Gregory Pirio, a global leader in the use of communications and the media for constructive social change, and supported by Senior Advisors from around the globe with extensive experience in social and economic change, natural resource management, community organizing, and local governance.

IWA Internship on Women, Peace and Security (WPS)

This internship will support the work of IWA’s program on Women, Peace and Security (WPS). Over the past several years IWA interns have developed a database of resources pertaining to the work of women in the peace and security space. New interns will be responsible for updating the database and for conducting case studies on the record of select countries in implementing or opposing women’s engagement in peace and security affairs. Interns will also be expected to represent IWA at meetings mostly in Washington, DC that pertain to women, peace and security. This internship will immerse the individual selected in various aspects of women’s engagement in the peace and security sector from academic research to applied fieldwork. It will provide an opportunity to work directly with recognized experts and under the direction of a scholar-practitioner, IWA’s Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, with many years of experience in the field. Outstanding research skills as well as demonstrated familiarity with the topic are required.

Qualifications: Applicants must be enrolled in or recent graduates of programs in peace studies, conflict resolution, development, human rights and allied fields. Field experience is preferred. Applicants must have excellent research, writing, and organizational skills, and be able to work independently. IWA interns generally work remotely.

Application Process: Applicants must submit a resume and a cover letter describing their experience and qualifications, and the particular program at IWA that is of interest to them and why. All internship correspondence should be directed to Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, Director of Internships, Institute of World Affairs at [email protected].

IWA Internship on Preventing Youth Violence

The internship is in support of the work of the Institute of World Affairs (IWA) to provide youth in Washington, DC with conflict prevention and management skills. This undertaking is a collaboration between IWA and the Alliance of Concerned Men (ACM), a non-profit community-based organization in Washington, D.C. The internship entails adaptation of training materials on conflict resolution developed by IWA and ACM to ensure they are age-appropriate and culturally suitable for the target audience. The intern will assist in the development and presentation of workshop materials and the implementation of a capstone simulation that permits the application of lessons learned by workshop participants. The intern will need to possess a basic understanding of the causes of community violence and potential conflict mitigation strategies. The internship will be supervised by Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, a senior program director at IWA.

Qualifications: Applicants must be enrolled in or recent graduates of programs in peace studies, conflict resolution, development, human rights and allied fields. Field experience is preferred. Applicants must have excellent research, writing, and organizational skills, and be able to work independently. IWA interns generally work remotely.

Application Process: Applicants must submit a resume and a cover letter describing their experience and qualifications, and the particular program at IWA that is of interest to them and why. All internship correspondence should be directed to Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, Director of Internships, Institute of World Affairs at [email protected].

We are happy to announce that IWA has been awarded a two-year grant by the JAMS (Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services) Foundation for a project to provide conflict resolution training for children in some of the most challenged communities in Washington, DC.  IWA will partner with the DC-based community organization, Alliance of Concerned Men (ACM), to implement this project.

The project involves conflict resolution training for elementary school children to provide skill sets for the mitigation or resolution of disputes before they escalate into violence. Project objectives include development of a training manual and instruction by respected community trainers. A capstone element is a simulation of a conflict situation wherein students can put learning into practice in a controlled setting. This project builds on previous work done for older youth by IWA and ACM.

Program description

This internship will support the work of the Institute of World Affairs (IWA), under the direction of Dr. Joyce P. Kaufman, in collaboration with the Alliance of Concerned Men (ACM), a non-profit community-based organization in Washington, D.C. During this period of increased violence particularly in economically and socially challenged communities, it is imperative to develop and implement programs that provide youth, especially, with tools that can help prevent violence while also building life-skills necessary to build productive lives. The target population for this effort is high school age youth from violence-prone communities in the District of Columbia. For the first time starting in the fall, we will also be working with a younger (middle school-aged cohort) at Chester Charter School in Pennsylvania as well. This project draws on IWA’s extensive experience in violence prevention, negotiation and mediation. The workshops are all developed in consultation with our ACM partners, and are presented using a hybrid format, with some of the participants in person, and others connecting via Zoom. With the exception of the final simulation, our work and delivery of the workshops will all be done via Zoom. The capstone simulation uses the University of Maryland International Communication and Negotiation Simulation (ICONS) platform. This system provides ongoing written transcripts of all interactions that can be used for analysis, debriefing and assessment.

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