Internship: Partners in Humanity

Summary of position:
Search for Common Ground's Partners in Humanity program is seeking candidates for a full-time summer internship to support operations of our Washington, DC office.

Search for Common Ground is an international non-governmental organization that works to transform the way the world deals with conflict: away from adversarial approaches, toward cooperative solutions. With programs in or with Angola, Belgium, Burundi, DR Congo, Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Liberia, Macedonia, Middle East, Morocco, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Ukraine, and the United States, our "toolbox" includes mediation/ facilitation, shuttle diplomacy, training, radio/TV, journalism, sports, drama, and music.

The Partners in Humanity program is designed to address feelings of mutual fear and suspicion between the West - especially the United States - and the Muslim world that have arisen because of perceived and real injustices, extreme inequality in political and economic opportunity, and pervasive stereotyping. To improve perceptions, and promote understanding and communication between the Muslim world and the West, Partners in Humanity seeks to cultivate a sense of shared destiny and serve as a catalyst for Muslim-Western partnerships that reflect mutual respect, a shared commitment to addressing problems and meeting needs, and an ongoing process of mutual learning and challenging of stereotypes. We believe this attitude and approach reflect the most effective means for creating long-term progress and security.

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) provides news, op-eds, features and analysis by local and international experts on a broad range of issues affecting Muslim-Western relations. CGNews-PiH syndicates articles that are constructive, offer hope and promote dialogue and mutual understanding, to news outlets worldwide. With support from the Norwegian government and the United States Institute of Peace, this news service is a non-profit initiative of Search for Common Ground. CGNews-PiH is available in Arabic, English, French, Indonesian and soon-to-be Urdu.

This news service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in June 2003.

This internship is full-time and involves lending support to various projects at the direction and under the supervision of the program director, Leena El-Ali, and the CGNews Program Coordinators, Andrew Kessinger and Diya Agha.

• Miscellaneous clerical work (faxing, mailing, printing, database entry);
• Submission/reading/voting of weekly CGNews-PiH articles;
• Researching, contacting, and commissioning of articles for CGNews publication;
• Pro-active attempts at increasing CGNews subscriber rates;
• Editing assistance for our Common Ground News Service (CGNews);
• Communicating with authors of CGNews-PiH articles;
• Promoting and tracking CGNews-PiH article republication;
• Contributing to CGNews-PiH development, monitoring and evaluation;
• Contributing to various research and writing projects aimed at bettering Muslim/Western relations.

• Excellent editing skills (in English);
• Good writing and communication skills;
• A keen interest and knowledge in international affairs, especially pertaining to Muslim/Western relations, and/or conflict resolution;
• Excellent organizational abilities with a proactive style;
• A self-starting, enthusiastic and flexible approach to the organization;
• Computer proficiency and experience with Internet research;
• Knowledge and/or contacts in one or more of the following: local media, Internet media services, Muslim-Western relations and/or conflict resolution;
• Arabic / Urdu language skills a plus, but not necessary.

Interested candidates should email a cover letter and resume to:
Diya Agha
dagha@sfcg.org

In your cover letter, please clearly state why our program is of interest to you, what you can bring to it and what you hope to gain from it. Also, please include the dates of your availability and the number of hours per week to which you can commit. We are requesting a 35+ hour per week minimum commitment. Please note this is an unpaid internship. 

For more information on our projects in the Partners in Humanity department, please visit http://www.sfcg.org/programmes/humanity/programmes_humanity.html.

For more information on the Common Ground News Service, please visit http://www.commongroundnews.org.