OPPORTUNITY
Applications invited for internship with The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India
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The Forum has instituted an internship programme for students in its present phase of work. In the past many students – both from India and abroad – had approached the Forum to work as interns on water and more specifically on water conflict issues. The Forum believes that this would be a good opportunity to engage with at least a small number of students in a mutually enriching manner.  The internship is open to both students and activists.

 

About The Forum

The Forum is a dynamic initiative of individuals and institutions that has been in existence for the last eight years. Initiated by a handful of organisations that had come together to document conflicts and supported by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), it now has more than two hundred individuals and organisations attached to it. It has completed two phases of its work, the first centring on documentation, which also saw the publication of `Water Conflicts in India: A Million Revolts in the Making’, and a second phase where conflict documentation, conflict resolution and prevention were the core activities. Presently the Forum is in its third phase where the emphasis is on backstopping conflict resolution. Apart from the core activities like documentation, capacity building, dissemination and outreach, the Forum would be intensively involved in right to water and sanitation, agricultural and industrial water use, environmental flows in the context of river basin management and groundwater as part of its thematic work. The right to water and sanitation component is funded by WaterAid India. Arghyam Trust, Bangalore, which also funded the second phase, continues its funding for the work of the Forum in its third phase and the resources required for the internship programme come from the Arghyam support.  The Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM), Pune anchors the work of the Forum and Forum’s secretariat is located at SOPPECOM.   

Present focus of Forum's work

Presently the Forum is in its third phase of work. The work of the present phase is primarily grouped into two: core activities and thematic activities. The core activities include research and documentation, training, dissemination and outreach, internship and policy dialogue. Under the thematic work the four themes of Right to water and sanitation, Environmental flows, Agricultural and Industrial water use and Groundwater are included.  These themes would be taken up in the Mahanadi river basin (primarily in the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha). The location of the intern could be flexible and could be decided as per the requirement of the theme as well as the nature of work the intern would be involved in.

(For details of Forum’s work see www.waterconflictforum.org).

The Internship Programme

In this round of internships four interns will be taken. Out of the four, one intern will work primarily on the Environmental Flows theme and another one to assist with the Forum’s core activities (development of its website and media outreach content). With this in mind one intern who has an interest in the topic of Environmental Flows and familiarity with issues relating to rivers, dams and aquatic biodiversity and another who has experience in media and communications will be taken.

Besides these two areas, the other applicants can chose a theme which may not be mentioned above but is very much related to water conflicts. The interns may be involved in research and writing (which could be field based, conceptual, etc.) or policy level work.

Out of the four interns, the Forum has a provision to pay two interns a monthly stipend up to Rs. 15,000 plus a lump sum of Rs. 5000 as travel support. The other two interns would not get financial support and they are expected to raise their own resources.

Eligibility

  • Pursuing or completed a Masters’ level or above degree in a relevant discipline from any University/academic institution in India or abroad
  • Activists and/or NGO personnel who have an interest in research 
  • Proficiency in English. Knowledge of Hindi is desirable
  • Capable of independent writing in English

To apply

Interested candidates please send:

  • CV (that also mentions the names of two references)
  • A short write up (about 1500 to 2000 words) that provides an abstract of the theme and/or the type work the candidate would like to undertake as part of the internship and your relevant expertise and experience, motivation for applying for this post, how it would of use to you, etc.
  • A no-objection letter from the head of the institution/department if the applicant is currently a student or is employed
  • One published article (if there is one)

Please send these documents via e-mail to Craig Dsouza at waterconflictforum@gmail.com

In the application letter kindly mention: 1) the Internship theme and period you would prefer, 2) whether you are applying for a paid or non-paid internship and if paid then provide the reasons for requesting financial support, and 3) if you have any special needs/requirements.

The last date to send applications is 20 January 2015.

Shortlisted candidates would be interviewed over Skype or in person at Pune.