Deadline: 2 September 2011
Open to: Citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
The Ilko Kucheriv Democracy Fellowship Programme will assist the advancement of democratic practices in transitional democracies by empowering professionals of independent democracy and human rights advocacy NGOs and think-tanks from the CIS region. Fellows from the CIS region will gain expertise from well-established independent think tanks in the EU with experience of democratic transformation and protection of human rights.
The programme will provide mentoring and networking opportunities for five fellows from the CIS countries with the aim to gain practical skills, interact with other researchers, and exchange practices with well-established think-tanks and NGOs in the EU. The fellowships should focus on specific democratic transformation issues (e.g. media freedom, constitutional law, parliamentary democracy, judiciary, public opinion research, electoral processes, free and fair elections, building democratic awareness among the general public, etc.)
Eligibility
Applications are invited from researchers/policy analysts/professional staff, who are full-time employees of independent think-tanks, policy institutes, and democracy and human rights advocacy NGOs in CIS countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan). Applicants should be citizens of one of the 12 eligible countries.
Scholarship
Each fellow will receive up to a maximum of US$ 3,600 in expenses, covering international and local travel, visa costs where necessary, and subsistence and accommodation for the five weeks spent at the host organisation.
Each host organisation will receive US$ 2,500 in mentoring fees and US$ 500 in overhead costs for hosting the fellow. These fees are inclusive of all taxes.
Application
Applications must include ALL of the following materials:
1. Letter or application (1-2 pages)
2. Research proposal (maximum of six A4 pages) including a well-defined research problem, topic justification, research methodology, and expected outcomes of the research
3. Names and contact details of EU host institution for the five-week fellowship (where possible a letter of recommendation from the host institution).
Individuals that meet the above criteria are invited to submit proposals for this tender in line with the criteria set out above to: Jeff Lovitt, Executive Director, PASOS, at: democracyfellowship@pasos.org