Internship opportunity at the Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts, India

About the Forum:

The Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India 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 Forum and its work

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 centering 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.

The Forum's Vision:

The Forum believes that it is important to safeguard ecology and environment in general and water resources in particular while ensuring that the poor and disadvantaged population in our country is assured of the water it needs for its basic living and livelihood needs. The Forum is committed to the core values of equity, environmental sustainability, efficiency, livelihood assurance for the poor and democratisation.

The Forum’s Mission:

The Forum's mission is to influence policies and actions at all levels and work towards resolving, and preventing water conflicts in an environmentally and socially just manner, and creating awareness for achieving participatory, equitable, and sustainable water use. The Forum aims to carry out these through stakeholder interactions, knowledge creation, policy advocacy, training, networking and outreach.

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 http://conflicts.indiawaterportal.org; www.waterconflictforum.org).

The Internship Programme: The selected interns would be expected to work primarily on any of the four above mentioned themes. If anybody is interested in an area which may not be captured under the four themes but is very much related to water conflicts that also could be considered. The intern may be involved in research and writing (which could be field based, conceptual, etc.) or policy level work. The plan is to take four interns a year for the next 3-4 years. Out of these four, two would be paid a monthly stipend of Rs. 15,000 plus a lump sum of Rs. 5000 as travel support. The other two interns would not get any financial support and they are expected to raise their own resources.

Eligibility: 

• Pursuing or completed a Masters’ level or above degree in any 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 sue 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 Shruti Vispute at waterconflictforum@gmail.com In the application letter kindly mention:

1) the Internship 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 15 March 2014. Shortlisted candidates would be interviewed over Skype or in person at Pune. K. J. Joy (For Forum)