UNAOC 2022 Fellowship Programme:
Call for Applications
The theme of the Fellowship 2022 is “Countering discrimination and racism: the nexus to building pluralistic and diverse societies”. The choice of the theme stems from UNAOC’s core mandate of tackling racism and discrimination and finding ways to addressing root causes of polarization within and between societies.
The context of the current global challenges is more complex than ever before. Recent years have witnessed the rise of discrimination against various groups and hate crimes targeting vulnerable populations, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic which revealed that no society is spared. Growing intolerance, xenophobia, discrimination, and hate speech pose an enormous threat to international peace and security. Peace is the central promise of the Charter of the United Nations and one of the principal global public goods the United Nations was established to deliver (Our Common Agenda, The report of the Secretary-General). Thus, investing in prevention and peacebuilding is paramount to building pluralistic and diverse societies.
Discrimination and racism take many forms and impact all aspects of life. All of these can hinder the efforts of the international community to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The 2022 Fellowship Programme is designed to provide an excellent platform to build bridges across cultures, borders and beliefs and thus contribute towards achieving the Agenda 2030.
Intercultural dialogue represents an important tool to prevent conflict and build social cohesion, peace and stability. As a mainstay of UNAOC’s work, intercultural dialogue will remain a central focus of the Fellowship agenda with visits and activities aiming at providing participants with crucial comprehension tools to help them understand the plurality and the complexity of their surroundings, and to get an extensive grasp of their host country’s culture, politics, society, religion, media and more.
To be selected, candidates must be able to present professional achievements related to the theme. The Call will lead to the selection of a group of 8 young leaders from Europe, North-America (EUNA) and a group of 8 young leaders from the Middle East and North-Africa (MENA) who will travel together to selected countries in both regions for two weeks.
The goal of the Fellowship is to challenge perceptions and deconstruct stereotypes by providing participants with first hand exposure to cultural diversity. In every country they visit, UNAOC Fellows will interact with a wide range of local stakeholders. Together, they will explore opportunities for intercultural collaboration and exchange ideas and good practices on building pluralistic and diverse societies as a foundation for sustainable peace.
Candidates have until Sunday, 5 June 2022, 11:59 PM EDT to apply.
1. Eligibility Criteria
Applicants have to meet the following eligibility criteria to apply:
EUNA
- Be nationals of EUNA* countries;
- Be born between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 1997;
- Be fluent in English;
- Have a solid experience in the fields of peacebuilding/conflict prevention and/or tackling discrimination and racism;
- Have knowledge of the UN and its global agenda;
- Be in possession of a passport valid at least 6 months beyond September 2022 (1 April 2023 and beyond);
- Must not have participated in any of UNAOC programmes before.
*Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo* (References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution 1244 – 1999), Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America.
MENA:
- Be nationals of MENA** countries;
- Be born between 1 January 1987 and 31 December 1997;
- Be fluent in English;
- Have a solid experience in the fields of peacebuilding/conflict prevention and/or tackling discrimination and racism;
- Have knowledge of the UN and its global agenda;
- Be in possession of a passport valid at least 6 months beyond September 2022 (1 April 2023 and beyond);
- Must not have participated in any of UNAOC programmes before.
**Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, State of Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
2. Selecton Process
Participants are selected for their potential in shaping opinion and taking strong initiatives within their community. In their applications, candidates have to demonstrate a strong interest – backed by concrete ideas – to engage with peers and partners from the countries they are going to visit, and propose positive and innovative models of intercultural cooperation.
Candidates have to show a level of professional accomplishment in intercultural dialogue and in the theme chosen by UNAOC, through their involvement in politics, civil society, media, local community organizations, faith-based associations, grassroots initiatives, academia, think-tanks, arts, and any other fields relevant to the objectives of the Fellowship Programme.
Candidates meeting all the eligibility criteria will have their application reviewed by a jury composed of UNAOC staff, and experts working in the fields of intercultural dialogue, peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
The jury will be looking for candidates with strong interest in learning more about other cultures and societies. To be selected, participants should also express their motivation in developing cross-cultural collaboration with peers and partners from different countries.
The jury will also be assessing professional accomplishments in the relevant fields and will look for applicants with a potential in shaping opinion and taking strong initiatives within their community.
The jury will also make sure that the final selection is:
- Gender balanced
- Geographically balanced
- Limited to two participants per country
- Professionally balanced with no more than a third of participants working in the same sector or industry.
To preserve the above-mentioned balance and to ensure the quality and diversity of participants, the selection jury will select the next highest scoring candidate to replace the lowest scoring redundant candidate.
Shortlisted candidates may be contacted for a short interview.
3. Instructions
Please submit your complete application no later than Sunday 5 June 2022 , at 11:59 PM EST
- Only fill in the following application if you meet all the eligibility criteria mentioned above
- The application is to be completed in English only
- The application is to be completed truthfully and, in its entirety
- Make sure to attach all the documents required
- Resume must be in English
- Do not attach anything else but the documents required
Only complete applications meeting the eligibility criteria and submitted before the deadline will be considered.
Disclaimer: UNAOC reserves the right to not select any applicants, or to cancel the Fellowship Programme for any reason. UNAOC accepts no liability for cancelling the Fellowship Programme or for anyone’s failure to receive actual notification of cancellation.
Please note that ONLY shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Due to the high volume of applications, we are unable to respond to individual requests for a follow-up.
“What really changed my worldview is the fact that I found more similarities than I did differences in cultures. I was seeing things in Morocco that I recognized from my childhood.”
Aaron Morison, U.S.A., 2013 EUNA cohort
“This Fellowship helped me overcome biases that I was not aware of and breaking all the stereotypes. The irony is that it was not breaking stereotypes between East and West, it was breaking stereotypes between us as MENA fellows.”
Sofana Dahlan, Saudi Arabia, 2011 MENA cohort
“It was amazing because we visited three Muslim countries, Morocco, Egypt and Qatar, and it was really interesting to see that even if those three countries share the same religion they don’t have the same practice.”
Fatoumata Kebe, France, 2015 EUNA cohort
“What really changed my worldview is the fact that I found more similarities than I did differences in cultures. I was seeing things in Morocco that I recognized from my childhood.”
Aaron Morison, U.S.A., 2013 EUNA cohort
“This Fellowship helped me overcome biases that I was not aware of and breaking all the stereotypes. The irony is that it was not breaking stereotypes between East and West, it was breaking stereotypes between us as MENA fellows.”
Sofana Dahlan, Saudi Arabia, 2011 MENA cohort
“It was amazing because we visited three Muslim countries, Morocco, Egypt and Qatar, and it was really interesting to see that even if those three countries share the same religion they don’t have the same practice.”
Fatoumata Kebe, France, 2015 EUNA cohort