BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Peace Catalyst International (PCI) is seeking full-time interns to join a small, dynamic team in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) and work directly with senior staff on programs, development, outreach, and communications strategies. This internship is ideal for graduating seniors or recent graduates interested in gaining hands-on peacebuilding experience while working for a small nonprofit, obtaining one-on-one mentoring, and connecting with local peacebuilding organizations in an international, post-conflict setting. Internships are offered for one-year periods, beginning in late August or early September. Interns are considered entry-level staff, and in addition to their work responsibilities and language learning, they will also receive orientation to BiH history and culture as well as peacebuilding training and mentoring from PCI BiH senior staff.

    • Learning or improving skills in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BHS) language

    • Attending preliminary orientation and formation activities with PCI BiH senior staff and peacebuilding partners

    • Assisting with programs, trainings, events, meeting logistics, guest lists, and invitations

    • Learning BiH’s context and history by visiting museums, sites of suffering, and locally-implemented peacebuilding programs

    • Volunteering with a local BiH peacebuilding organization to support its work, communications, programming and more

    • Identifying key outcomes and success stories from programs and developing avenues to share that information with stakeholders and program alumni (e.g. writing articles, video storytelling, developing social media strategy, etc.)

    • Developing new programs in partnership with PCI BiH peacebuilding partners

    • Preparing materials to be distributed at events, such as flyers and outreach material

    • Assisting with the day-to-day administrative needs

    • Engaging in research, writing, and site visits related to your own interests and PCI BiH team projects

    • Fundraising and partner development (see below)

    • (Preferred) Undergraduate degree with a concentration in peacebuilding, conflict transformation, international studies, peace-oriented theology, interreligious dialogue, or similar.

    • Interest in peacebuilding, conflict transformation, interreligious dialogue, international affairs, peace-oriented theology, and/or BiH and the Balkans

    • Experience working as a self-starter in a highly independent environment and with small, diverse teams

    • Basic computer and internet proficiency, especially with Google Suite and social media platforms

    • Organized, detail-oriented, and strong time-management skills

    • Effective verbal, writing, and communication skills

    Commitment to:

    • 10 hours per week to learn language or improve language skills

    • 10 hours per week to learn BiH history, current context, and peacebuilding skills

    • 10-15 hours per week to support and assist a local peacebuilding organization (after preliminary 4 months of orientation and formation)

  • PCI is a crowdfunded organization, which allows staff to sustain grassroots peacebuilding programs in their local contexts and engage in long-term strategic work for which it is often difficult to obtain grant funding. Interns will gain valuable resume-building skills in fundraising and will greatly benefit from having a team of supporters around them who are invested in their work, from their internship with PCI and onwards.

    Interns will receive fundraising training and a template budget for living in BiH. Prior to departing for BiH, they will build their support team and raise funds for their monthly salary. Upon arrival in BiH, interns will receive orientation and on-the-job training from PCI BiH senior staff while learning the PCI ethos, supporting local BiH peacebuilding organizations, and gaining valuable hands-on peacebuilding skills. Whether interns are new to peacebuilding or have lived internationally doing work of other kinds, joining PCI BiH’s internship program will help them dive into the field of peacebuilding.

  • Interns have the possibility to extend their positions for a second year in BiH based on a mutual discernment process with PCI BiH senior staff and partners at the end of their first year. During that second year, interns and PCI BiH senior staff will discern whether the intern would like to become a full-time PCI staff member (either in BiH, the USA, or another context) and begin the process of communicating with financial contributors to secure ongoing financial pledges to support their future work with PCI.

  • Twenty-six years after the Dayton Agreement ended Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War II, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to be plagued by divisive, identity-based politics and is socially divided according to wartime identities and narratives. Horrors were inflicted on all groups, although not in equal measure, and included ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, displacement of half the population, and genocide, all of which have left the country battling with competing narratives of victimization and unaddressed trauma. Religious groups in BiH have contributed to an atmosphere of exclusion, distrust, and violence, but some have also been pivotal in catalyzing and sustaining progressive peacebuilding efforts. Religious identities have played a role in ethnic identity formation, including the sacralization of nationality which legitimizes intolerance toward other groups. However, BiH also has a long history of inter-religious respect and collaboration across differences. For that reason, BiH is home to a unique generation of peacebuilders who grew up with a deep affection for their religious neighbors but who have also been dealing with alternative facts, dueling narratives, inflammatory rhetoric, and the political weaponization of religious and ethnic identities for the past 25 years. Their wisdom and experiences in peacebuilding across ethnic and religious boundaries can inspire and shape peacebuilding approaches elsewhere in the world.

  • Peace Catalyst International in Bosnia & Herzegovina (PCI BiH) focuses on:

    • Forming Bosnian and European Christians with peace-oriented theology & peacebuilding skills and providing opportunities for them to get involved in peace work

    • Partnering with Bosnian peacebuilders from various ethno-religious backgrounds in project development and implementation, networking, project evaluation, grant writing, and more to support and advance peacebuilding work in BiH

    • Facilitating intensive learning experiences for combined international and local groups to learn from local peacebuilders and apply lessons in peacebuilding in their home contexts.

    Since 2017, PCI BiH’s work, relational network, and opportunities have grown tremendously. Currently, we speak and lead workshops with Christian groups in BiH, across the Balkans, and throughout Europe about peace-oriented theology and practical peacebuilding skills. These workshops include leaders of Protestant churches, organizations, and networks, and range from one session to several-day conferences covering themes like theological paradigm shifts, dialogue skills, ethnic and religious narratives, forgiveness and trauma healing, and the Church’s role in God’s healing work toward shalom. We also partner with established peacebuilders in BiH to support existing peace programs and develop new ones to bridge the gap across ethnic and religious divides, whether by writing grants and doing monitoring and evaluation work, or initiating new courses and collaborative projects. Our intensive learning experiences bring together local and international participants to delve into topics like trauma, identity, interreligious collaboration, group narratives, and practical skills and approaches to work for peace in their own home context. Finally, PCI BiH has close relationships with numerous emerging peacebuilders in BiH who have participated in various local peacebuilding programs and have taken lead roles in some of our PCI projects. They are dedicated to the work of peacebuilding in their own divided society, and we provide them with more opportunities to contribute to peacebuilding work in BiH and to grow professionally as peacebuilders.

  • Interns with PCI BiH will spend a few months familiarizing themselves with the BiH context and getting to know local organizations, after which they will spend 10-20 hours a week volunteering with local organizations to support their work. Peace Catalyst BiH staff have developed partnerships and working relationships with a variety of local organizations, including Mali Koraci (Small Steps), The Peace Academy Foundation, Center for Peacebuilding (CIM), The Network for Peacebuilding, Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Jericho Foundation, PRONI Center for Youth Development, and Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR). We also work with local religious leaders, churches, and mosques to introduce peace-oriented themes and skills into religious spaces. We continue to cultivate relationships with international Christian groups in order to advocate for peace-oriented theology and approaches in Christian work and ministry and to train Christians to get involved in peacebuilding. These groups include the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA), The World Evangelical Alliance’s Peace & Reconciliation Network (PRN), Youth With a Mission (YWAM), Nazarene Church networks, and Baptists Church networks. Peace Catalyst BiH has also partnered with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies (Keough School of Global Affairs, University of Notre Dame) to host international trips.

  • Interns will have the chance to support existing projects of PCI BiH and other local peacebuilding partners as well as develop new programs in support of and in partnership with local BiH peacebuilding organizations. PCI BiH projects include some of the following:

To apply, fill out the application below. Once you’ve submitted the form, please also promptly send your resume and cover letter to Bryan Carey, Director of PCI BiH and PCI Director of International Partnerships, at bryan.carey@peacecatalyst.org with the subject “PCI BiH Internship.”

More questions?
Email Bryan at bryan.carey@peacecatalyst.org.