The Applied Conflict Transformation Center (ACT) at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has an opening for a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow for five months to help advance and support our growing body of work on the role of inclusive peace processes in preventing and resolving violent conflict. This would be a largely residential fellowship, based at USIP’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., although USIP offers some flexibility in terms of precise arrangements. 

Background

As reinforced in the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, building inclusive societies and fostering social cohesion are fundamental building blocks to sustainable peace. In conflict-affected countries, fostering inclusive societies means identifying ways in which to structure inclusive peace processes; support effective reconciliation processes; and promote equitable and participatory state structures, institutions and norms. While guidance will be provided on each of these elements, USIP’s Applied Conflict Transformation Center (ACT) will focus most closely on advancing thought leadership and practice on structuring inclusive peace processes in support of USIP’s broader objectives of addressing state fragility, strengthening the resilience of societies to violence and promoting inclusive politics.

Inclusive peace processes have been the focus of the international peacebuilding agenda for years now (2011 New Deal, 2012 U.N. Secretary General Report, U.N. Review on Peacebuilding Architecture 2015), given the broad recognition that exclusive state-society relations represent a major root cause and mobilization factor for armed conflict. Peace processes offer a window of opportunity to negotiate a more inclusive political settlement by creating a new social contract between ruling elites as well as between citizens and the state. As the assumed policy benefits have been laid out in numerous fora, evidence is also growing -- supporting the notion that inclusive peace processes increase the sustainability of peace agreements, particularly as it pertains to the benefits of inclusion of women and civil society. However, many challenges remain on designing and implementing inclusive, yet effective peace processes. The conceptual confusion on inclusion must be unpacked. For example, specific guidance can be developed around the timing and sequencing of inclusion and filling a variety of definitional and structural knowledge gaps that remain around the process of inclusive participation. What do we mean, beyond formal negotiations, by the term peace processes? How do we weave together levels and strands of peacebuilding activity? How can we deal with dilemmas in the politics of inclusion (such as when the inclusion of one group creates a backlash or brings a process to a halt)? What mechanisms have been used, and how effective have they been?

Led by ACT’s Global Practice and Innovation (GPI) team and drawing from work being carried out across the Institute, this effort encompasses supporting cutting-edge, data-driven research on inclusive peace processes, as well as identifying effective, innovative approaches and tools. Through this work, USIP can add value to a more nuanced and applicable understanding of inclusion, and ultimately advance the knowledge on how inclusion can effectively contribute to sustainable, legitimate and equitable solutions to armed conflict. 

Fellowship

The senior fellow will be critical in helping build a framework to guide the program dedicated to designing inclusive peace processes by bringing in the latest and most useful academic literatures, including field research, evaluative research and field-based experience. Focused on a multi-disciplinary approach to fostering social cohesion and building inclusive peace processes to end violent conflict, the senior fellow would expand and deepen USIP’s analytic work in this practice, advancing the field’s understanding of how inclusivity can be a key component for sustainable peace.

To this end, the fellow will undertake a project that contributes to emerging understandings of the intersection between peacebuilding, inclusive peace processes, writ large, and social cohesion. The fellow will help to develop the program by identifying and filling gaps in knowledge, sourcing best practices and garnering useful tools for practitioners. The output would be a USIP PeaceWorks and a policy-focused article.

Requirements

The ideal senior fellow is a reflective practitioner with deep knowledge in addressing and transforming drivers of exclusion that fuel violent conflict and to foster more inclusive: peace processes; reconciliation efforts; and social, political and legal structures, institutions and norms, as well as extensive experience working in the conflict-affected societies. USIP would look for knowledge of developing effective policy recommendations and implementation strategies; ability to identify pertinent questions facing practitioners related to inclusive peace processes; a strong writing/publication track record; demonstrated capacity to conceive and produce a writing project leading to publication; and potential to expand USIP’s relationships with practitioners, advisors and national, regional and international organizations engaged on inclusive peace processes. A successful proposal would demonstrate mastery in this domain as well as a thoughtful conceptual framework for developing policy and operational guidelines, as well as the deliverables set forth in the paragraph above.

The Proposed fellowship will for 5 months and could begin as early as October 2017, although later start dates are possible and the timing is flexible. The fellow would receive a stipend of $10,000 per month.

Application process

Interested applicants are invited to submit a letter of interest, a short concept note (3-5 pages) and CV by close of business on July 21, 2017 to Lili Cole, director of fellows, at ecole@usip.org and Rosarie Tucci, director of inclusive societies at rtucci@usip.org.

The concept note should describe a viable research project that supports a framework for supporting inclusive peace processes, including a proposed methodology, a timeline for the research, additional small budget costs (e.g. convening), and proposed outcomes that are substantive and appropriate for the type of policy and practice impact sought in this announcement. Please be sure to address how your proposal will confront the challenges and opportunities in bridging practice and policy in this field, and articulate the benefits that a residential affiliation with USIP will bring to this effort.