In a move to provide timely assistance in ComDev to FAO country and regional programs, the Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development Division (OPC) of FAO, Rome partners with academia members of the Global Research Initiative for Rural Communication (GRI-RC) in pushing for the placement of young Comdev specialists to serve as interns or volunteers.
The project is conceived to have interns identify needs and opportunities for integrating ComDev in the programme of work of the FAO office of assignment and related field projects. Specifically, interns will provide local capacity building through on the job coaching and mentoring, conduct of community-based activities for awareness raising and mobilization, advocacy, production of quality communication materials, and networking.
Areas of work depend on the identified needs in the country and may revolve around agricultural policy, land tenure, rural livelihoods, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk reduction, among others.
Initial countries of placement are Haiti, Columbia, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Kenya, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The list may be expanded to also include Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Bangladesh, Philippines, and Egypt.
The internship program through the GRI-RC is looking for nominees with MS in Comdev, social science, or related disciplines, at least two years of experience in research, strategic ComDev planning and implementation and evaluation, and possess skills in effective oral and written communication. Academia members of the GRI-RC include the University of Queensland, University of Guelph, University of Reading, University of Wageningen, and the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Nomination is by active search among the GRI-RC academia members.