Placement Report Internship at the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, GPPAC

Placement Report

Internship at the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, GPPAC

Student: Jill Elisa Wijngaard Student number: 3412806

Course: International Relations and International Organization (IRIO) Track: International Security (IS)

Placement supervisor: Ms. Lenneke Sprik

Contents

Introduction...3

The Global Partnership of the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)...3

Working Themes...3

Why GPPAC?...5

Personal Learning Goals...6

My personal learning goals at GPPAC included:...6

Responsibilities...7

My tasks for the Gender team:...8

My tasks for the Policy and Advocacy Team:...10

Reflection...11

Reflecting on my Personal Learning Goals...11

Reflecting on my supervision at GPPAC...13

Conclusion...14

Introduction

The Global Partnership of the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC)

GPPAC is a network based organization that consists of hundreds of civil society organizations from around the world with a common goal which is to dedicate themselves to conflict prevention and peacebuilding. The organization’s mission states the following: “GPPAC is a global network that links civil society with relevant local, national, regional and international actors and institutions to collectively contribute to a fundamental change in dealing with violence and armed conflicts: a shift from reaction to prevention.” The organization predominantly places its efforts in creating projects and trainings, and most importantly support for its members all across the globe. The GPPAC network consists of local, regional and international civil society organizations and networks involved in conflict prevention and peacebuilding activities. It engages with CSOs, independent members, governments, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, as well as private sector associations and many other relevant bodies. I was accepted as an intern at the Global Secretariat at GPPAC which is the office in The Hague.

Working Themes Gender

One of the Working Themes I would be focusing on during the placement was Gender. Gender mainstreaming is a cross-cutting priority for GPPAC. They believe in the idea that sustainable peace is only achievable when every member of society is included, regardless of certain aspects of their identity including gender, religion, class, race, age or nationality. Women are both actors in war and peace, and can be both victims as well as perpetrators and should therefore be fully included and be their own agents in mediation processes, prevention mechanisms and in peace talks and solutions. The GPPAC International Steering Group adopted the Gender policy in 2010 that set principles for the integration of gender perspectives in the network’s work on conflict prevention. The Gender program supports all GPPAC’s regions and programs in making sure they integrate gender sensitive peacebuilding perspectives into their work. GPPAC’s strategic plan for the period 2016-2020 is to set priorities for the whole network, including their focus on the UN’s Women, Peace and Security and UNSCR 1325, and how make it more applicable for the network. The ways in which GPPAC supports the network in integrating a Gender aspect include the following:

 Training and capacity building where GPPAC will work with member organizations and gender

focal points on raising capacities of women involved in mediation/negotiation processes and

training other actors (especially institutions) together with women on gender-sensitive conflict prevention practice and processes.

 Policy and advocacy where GPPAC will focus on bringing prevention perspective to Women Peace and Security and engaging in the broader discussion around the issue (including issues of patriarchy, allying with men and gender mainstreaming). The main aspects of this area of work will be a) Engendering Peace and Security; and (b) Bringing Peace and Security into gender/feminist group advocacy.

Policy and Advocacy

The Knowledge, Practice and Advocacy team (KPA) facilitate the knowledge exchange and development amongst GPPAC members on specified themes within the conflict prevention field. The program products also feed into GPPAC advocacy and outreach strategies at different levels. My fit in this department was basically to provide support and initiatives to one of the heads of the KPA team, my supervisor Pascal.

Since Policy and Advocacy is not a Working Theme as much as part of the department of Knowledge, Practice and Advocacy within GPPAC, I would like to focus on the SDGs which were one of the main themes I was focusing on when working on Policy and Advocacy work. In September 2015 the international community adopted Agenda 2030 which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are built on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which lasted from 2000 to 2015.

The SDGs are particularly relevant for the building community for two reasons. First, the Agenda explicitly recognizes the link between peace and sustainable development; and second, peace is a central topic across the Agenda as well as in a separate goal, SDG 16 on peaceful, just and inclusive societies.

GPPAC is supporting its members by raising awareness about the SDGs and jointly explores opportunities for our members and other CSOs working in peacebuilding and conflict prevention to link their work to the framework.

Why GPPAC?

The reason for my application to GPPAC was because I wanted to gain practical experience at an

international organization that focuses on conflict, the prevention of it as well as its resolution, and one

that contributes to peace building. I studied International Relations for my Bachelors program and

International Security for my Master’s program. I was looking for work experience in the field of counterterrorism, conflict prevention/resolution, peacebuilding and/or other forms of security matters. I applied to the opening of the department of Gender, Policy and Advocacy because the tasks seemed much more varied and multifaceted compared to the other positions available. I would also be working for two different programs; one focusing on gender and one focusing on policy and advocacy work. I personally think this was the right choice, as I did not only have to focus my energy on one particular goal or project, which helped me learn about a lot of different activities and needs within an international organization. I have also chosen to write my MA thesis on the topic of terrorism with a gender aspect, which gave me more of an incentive to choose this internship program.

After my application I got an email back relatively quickly with the question if I would be available for a Skype Interview. I was very thrilled to be getting this news, and immediately prepared for the interview by studying their website; I watched YouTube videos of their work and I prepared information about myself and really thought of why I would be a fitting candidate for the position. The interview was my first official interview for an internship position, I have had informal interviews for jobs, but this one made me quite nervous. I stumbled over my words a few times, but when they asked direct questions about the topics, tasks, and other explanations they had given on their internship page I said everything I wanted to say. What they found most important was that I could communicate well, even when they were travelling abroad. I explained when I studied in Thailand; I still contributed to the organization of events back in Leiden, which really helped me understand the benefits of communicating well and often. The evening of the day of the interview I got an email back that I had been chosen to be the intern for the Gender, Policy and Advocacy department.

The internship was initially open for three months but they had already requested me to extend it to five

months which I was very pleased about. However, after the first month of working at GPPAC I got an

email from The Organization of the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague asking if I

was still available for the internship position I had applied to even before I applied to GPPAC. During my

BA studies I was already very interested in doing an internship at The OPCW and although I was excited

to hear this news, I was also extremely worried that I would either disappoint GPPAC or lose out on this

amazing opportunity. I let The OPCW know that I was already in a placement at that moment and that I

would need at least a months’ notice in order to respectfully leave my position without creating any issues

for my supervisors at GPPAC. This was accepted by the OPCW, which meant that my official last day at

GPPAC would be June 15. I discussed this with my supervisors and the HR department at GPPAC and

although disappointed, fortunately they were also supportive of my decision.

Personal Learning Goals

I went into the placement with a number of personal learning goals. First and foremost, I wanted to experience how it would really be to work for and in a non-governmental organization, especially an international one (one that works with members and organizations abroad, and one that has a culturally diverse workforce). I also wanted to see how I could apply my knowledge and skills I have learned at university in a work setting. Studying International Relations and then International Security, I was eager to learn more about my specific interests and passions and I think the best way to find out what you do and do not like as a career option is to work in different organizations and in different fields. The fields of conflict prevention and peace building are ones I am passionate about, and working in an NGO-like organization working on these goals would really shape my perspective on whether I would see myself working in this field in the future, and especially whether I would see myself working at an NGO.

Moreover, I had a very broad idea of what I wanted to write my MA thesis on (a gender aspect in terrorism), and one of my personal goals was to tighten the topic, idea and approach I wanted to take for my thesis, as I believe you learn very different things by working in an organization that actually works in the field of Gender compared to doing secondary research.

My personal learning goals at GPPAC included:

Operation of international organizations

To learn how NGOs/IGOs work, operate, especially one that focusses on building peace and conflict prevention. I wanted to know what specific tasks such an organization would have to do in order to achieve their short term missions, and essentially work toward their long term goals.

Gender aspect

To learn how a Gender aspect is implemented in an organization and how it is assured that this is enforced throughout all work. I was also very eager to learn in what way gender is portrayed, understood and communicated throughout international organizations, instead of just having a written ‘gender section’ in their mandates or programs. This again relates to the gaining an idea of the ‘practical’ side to theoretical concepts.

SDGs and sustainable development

I was quite enthusiastic about working on the SDGs, as the MDGs used to be a topic I was highly

interested in, I was quite curious how the newer SDGs (2015>) are implemented in international

organizations and how they remain a priority throughout all projects, tasks, trainings, and what challenges

organizations experience when they wish to do their work in peacebuilding without harming any other goals such as environmental protection and gender equality.

Advocacy

Learn about advocacy work, this is a topic you hear about a lot when talking about NGOs, and I was excited to work with this and learn what it exactly entails and how NGOs go about doing it.

Field of security

Of course one of the most important personal learning goals for me was to find out more about one particular field within international affairs, specifically international security. NGOs play a significant role in policy making, the promotion of human rights, as well as the contribution to human security all over the world. By being involved in the works of one such organization, you get a feel of what type of work you would be doing and whether this is the particular type of job that I would want in the future. In this regard I was also eager to learn more about gender mainstreaming and a gender aspect in conflict prevention and peacebuilding. Although I did learn a lot more about this topic, my MA thesis supervisor told me that the information I have learned does not fit well with my thesis topic and idea, neither with qualitative analysis to incorporate information from my internship. That was a little disappointing, but very understandable.

Responsibilities

My placement included the responsibility of supporting the two different departments at GPPAC, the

Gender team, of which my supervisor Maja Majstorovic is based in Belgrade, Serbia; and the Policy and

Advocacy team, under the supervision of Pascal Richard based in The Hague. The beginning phase of my

internship was dedicated to the Gender team, since the big anticipated Gender Week occurred during my

official first week. The first two days of work were dedicated to a quick introduction to the organization

itself, but mostly preparing for the big Gender Week that was happening the following week. The weeks

after that were more relaxed than the hectic Gender Week and I worked at the office on most days. Some

days, especially during the first few weeks, I would attend conferences, external meetings and events

where I supported visitors, took photos for our website and updates (which are GPPAC’s newsletters),

and took notes to be able to give GPPAC feedback on how the events went, important concepts that were

discussed, and most importantly any recommendations and requests for GPPAC by any visitors, speakers

and participants. During these events I could also write down my own recommendations and observations

that I thought would be beneficial for GPPAC to know and perhaps change for future events.

My tasks for the Gender team:

Gender week

My first week was filled with preparations for this week, including finalizing guide books and details of the meetings for the guests. The first meeting of the Gender Week was held at the BadHotel in Scheveningen, I arrived early in order to settle down and check in with my supervisor, who had flown in from Serbia in order to be here for the Gender Week. My main task of that day was to take minutes and make sure I noted all relevant information down, including recommendations from the experts, questions, and suggestions both for GPPAC but also for all the organizations the Gender Experts were representing.

During the entirety of the week I got to listen to, learn from and converse with Gender Experts and Gender Focal Points (GFP) [Gender Experts that work with GPPAC in different member organizations]

from all over the world representing 20-25 different organizations, including local, national and regional projects the women are working on to improve gender equality and safety in their regions. I contributed to presentations and even presented one of them myself that we made in a group (with the experts) with proposed ideas for including more women in [peaceful] mediation processes in Tonga, South Pacific.

This week was a very effective way to be introduced to the organization, as it got me to interact with members I would usually just converse with through virtual means. I also got in-depth information about the work the GFPs do on a daily basis, and how they achieve their goals. My most personal gain from this experience was for sure the stories the Gender Experts had to tell about how and why they got involved in women rights and conflict prevention as well as the personal interaction I had with all the women, where they answered any questions I had. One of the most shocking stories came from a GFP from Sri Lanka who had lost her son to the LTTE rebel group. This was the reason she became the founder and chair of the Association of War Affected Women (AWAW) and the Parents of Servicemen Missing in Action.

Another expert is fighting for girls and young women in Cameroon, who experience Gender Based Violence (GBV) on a daily basis, and experience genital mutilation as well as breast ironing.

Gender Report

My main task for the Gender team was a report I was going to produce from all the minutes I took during the Gender Week, all the projects we had worked on, the presentations made by all the experts, as well as any other recommendations the members had suggested. After the week I had a 60 page document, 10 sheets of presentations and multiple other documents that I had to summarize and combine in order to produce the report for the Gender Update. (Due to leaving GPPAC earlier than expected, I did not manage to fully finish the report).

Gender Update

Apart from the GPPAC updates [internal and external newsletters], the Gender Team also has an update to inform any member or party interested in topics related to gender, especially in peace processes and conflict prevention. For this I had to do research and gather relevant information/articles on topics such as: Trainings & webinars, progress in gender equality (e.g. women being able to drive in Saudi-Arabia), women involved in mediation/peace processes, funding opportunities for NGOs/IGOs as well as outstanding information on gender inequalities/struggles.

Portal updates

In between working on the Gender report I worked on updating, improving and renewing bio pages of experts and speakers for on the GPPAC website, database, and updates (internal and external newsletters).

Writing Articles

Another task from the Gender Week was writing an article on one of the events GPPAC was partly responsible for, which was a conference held in the Spaces, Red Elephant building in The Hague called The Gender Expert Meeting: "We are not there yet: Women’s participation in conflict prevention".

Meetings

I had skype meetings with Gender Focal Points, mainly from West African countries; here I represented my supervisor Maja who was often travelling for work. Here I took minutes, shared projects GPPAC wanted to work on, and suggest collaboration opportunities. This was a very special task to do, as the GFP’s were usually extremely open and willing to work with me and did not treat me as an intern at all, but took what I had to say seriously.

My tasks for the Policy and Advocacy Team:

Near the later stage of my internship I had to focus more on the work for the Policy and Advocacy team.

Initially, this meant attending and participating in a number of staff meetings, and pre-reading documents on the SDGs, Sustaining Peace and other UN frameworks we would potentially work with.

Concept Note

The next project my supervisor wanted to work on was getting an acceptance from his colleagues and our

UN liaison to write a policy brief on how to connect the SDGs and Sustaining Peace frameworks

together, and how to make these implementable on the ground. This meant I had to kick start a concept

note for the policy brief in order to get acceptance to continue on the policy brief, this required

background research as well as implementing information I had gathered from the pre-reading on the

topics. Other research tasks were for the policy brief itself, I had to find information available on any

linkages that have been found between the SDGs and Sustaining Peace, and find if they have ever been used together in projects or trainings. I also had to research in our database any interviews GPPAC has held with members and find any information if they have worked with the SDGs before, and how. I would have been involved in writing the policy brief, however since I cut my internship short this is also a task I had to handover to the new intern. This was by far the task where I could use specific skills that I had learned during my master’s program, during one of my research seminars I had to develop a concept note, which significantly helped me write this one for GPPAC.

Translating/summarizing for GPPAC Update

I had to do desk research and translating tasks on Dutch policy notes, make summaries and evaluations for certain new policies that were going to be implemented by Dutch ministers in different ministries, and if and how these policies could bring potential opportunities for GPPAC to collaborate with, or take further to next projects. This information I had to publish in the GPPAC update.

Translating

Other translating tasks were a little bit more out of my comfort zone as the information I was provided was all in German. I am learning German for personal reasons, so this was something exciting as well as scary to do, however with the help of my German friend I came a long way. This included translating presentations of meetings my supervisor (Swiss-German) had held in Germany, and had no time yet to transcribe and translate it.

Recruiting

Another task I was responsible for in my last few weeks was the recruiting of a new intern to fill up my position, because I am cutting my internship short I offered to help out with the recruitment process. I received around 10 applications and in order to help my supervisor find it easier to pick the right person for the position I created a spreadsheet with all candidates’ experiences, skills and an explanation of why they were the right or wrong candidate for GPPAC.

Reflection

Reflecting on my Personal Learning Goals

Since my internship was cut shorter than expected, I realized that it is possible that I may not realize/reach

some of my expectations and personal learning goals. However, especially due to the external events and

meetings, the opportunity to meet so many more people in the fields of conflict prevention, gender

mainstreaming, sustainable development, sustainable peace as well as peacebuilding has really broadened

my perspective on IR and IS in general. This is because before I started this position, I was quite unaware

of what type of jobs there would be out there for me, apart from a general idea of working at NGOs/IGOs, Embassies, Ministries etc. Thus, meeting so many more people doing different types of work in similar fields has really opened up my mind to the endless possibilities for potential jobs in the future.

I also did meet the expectation of learning how international organizations operate. Since GPPAC is a member based organization and works tightly with people in every continent, I got to experience how collaboration, communication, and relationships are upheld and how they decide upon projects. Of course there is always more to learn, but I definitely got a better understanding how such organizations work.

Regarding the gender aspect, since I was focused on the gender aspect for the most part of my internship, I did get to learn a lot about gender mainstreaming, how the organization promotes gender

mainstreaming, and how they advocate for this concept. I also thought it was very special to be a part of such a huge meeting as we had the first week, to meet gender experts who dedicate their lives to their work in very different ways but for the same purpose and end goal. I think I got to learn a lot about gender aspects in an organization as well as conflict peacebuilding work, and thus feel quite satisfied with that learning goal.

Regarding the SDGs and sustainable development, since these were the highlighted topics for the Policy and Advocacy Team, I expected to learn a lot about them, how they are used and promoted by

organizations and more specifically how these goals are used by people on the ground. Since these were exactly the topics I got to read on, my knowledge on this definitely improved. I also read a lot of studies and policy briefs written by my supervisor and colleagues, which made it even more interesting.

However, because I cut my internship short I missed out on quite a lot more information and actually working on the SDGs as well as other UN peacebuilding frameworks. I did not get to contribute to the policy brief on the SDGs and Sustaining Peace, which was quite disappointing.

This leads to my expectations of gaining a better understanding of advocacy. This was definitely the case, I attended workshops and presentations held by my supervisor for members with tips, tricks on how to improve organization’s tactics for advocating. Although I unfortunately did not get to personally work on the aforementioned policy brief, I did not really get the feeling that I had genuinely contributed on an advocacy level, which I wish I had.

Reflecting on all the tasks I did work on and learned from I do think I got the most out of it for a two

month placement. Since I got to work more on gender topics, this is also definitely the topic I learned

most about. I feel a lot stronger when talking about gender mainstreaming and topics regarding gender

concerns in general. This has boosted my confidence when discussing this topic. However, although I

have learned a lot on the SDGs, UN frameworks, and also what advocacy includes, I missed out on a lot

of tasks, projects, and other contributions for this part of the internship. This is disappointing, but I had to make a decision whether I wanted to continue at GPPAC for three more months, or start an entirely new placement at The OPCW for six months. I ended up choosing the latter, and I am therefore aware that it was my own decision that led to a lack of work in the field of policy and advocacy. Overall, when it comes to my studies, I think the placement at GPPAC fulfilled the expectations to a certain degree.

Topics I was interested in during my MA courses revolved around conflict prevention, counter terrorism, peacebuilding, and also gender mainstreaming within these topics. I definitely got to experience most of these topics in a practical setting, however since the Global Secretariat at GPPAC mostly steers and provides support to its member organizations abroad, we do not get to experience these topics at first hand. It is bureaucratic and the office in The Hague therefore really focusses on advocacy work,

influencing policies and communicating with other organizations including the UN as well as the Dutch MFA. This means that I got a taste of what it is like ‘behind the scenes’, and did not get to travel or see actual physical work done, or see bottom up approaches being implemented. From this perspective, I did not get to learn everything I wished for at an international organization in the field of security.

Reflecting on my supervision at GPPAC

My supervision at GPPAC was twofold, since I started off with focusing on the gender aspect of the

placement I was in close contact with my supervisor Maja. She was in The Hague for my first two days of

orientation, and then the full first week of Gender Week. I got along with her great; she was straight to the

point, serious, hardworking, but at the same time kind. I like to be held on my toes, especially in the first

week where it really sets the foundation of the rest of the placement. Her attitude therefore made me take

everything extra serious, and I was very focused. After that week she went back to Belgrade, and I had a

dual skype meeting with her on a weekly basis together with my other supervisor Pascal. This was held

on a Monday, where we could discuss all the tasks for that week, they also made it clear they did not want

to overload me with double work so they kept in contact with each other as well. Moreover, I kept into

close contact with Maja throughout the week, we had regular skype calls and were constantly conversing

over email and something called Google Chat. I thought this personally worked out very well, because I

was not tempted to just jump into her office with every question I had, I really tried to figure things out

myself. Near the later stage of my internship I became closer with Pascal, and we now also had weekly

chats on tasks he wanted me to start on and always made sure to mention that I can always contact him

for any questions or concerns. I personally felt very great with my two supervisors. I also got a sense of

individuality and independence. Since Pascal is often travelling for work and very busy in general and

Maja is positioned in Belgrade, I was left to do my tasks alone and was given time to do them. Although

we had regular check-ins, I did not feel like my supervisors were hovering around me or controlling my every step. This gave me confidence and brought me creativity throughout my tasks.

Apart from my supervisor the head of HR/office manager also holds the position of intern curator. This meant we had monthly meetings where I could check in with her in confidentiality about my position at GPPAC, my tasks and discuss any concerns regarding my colleagues or supervisors. Since everything went really well, I only had positive things to tell her. However, in case I was unsure about something and my supervisors were both busy, it was really comforting to know there was another person I could go to. I therefore think that GPPAC really handles interns well.

Conclusion

Overall I have really enjoyed my, short but sweet, stay at GPPAC. I have loved the topics I had to work

with and on, I have absolutely enjoyed the other interns at the organization as well as all other staff. The

place itself I would say is therefore fantastic for interns to start in. I say start in, because GPPAC provides

you with 150€ compensation a month. Although this is normal when interning for NGOs, I find it

personally quite tough because you basically pay to be interning there. Apart from this, I would very

much recommend students to intern at GPPAC, I have already told a number of my friends to apply for

the next application procedures. I would have liked to work further on the tasks I had started, especially

due to the nice work environment but a chance to intern at The OPCW is something I had to take for

myself. I feel a lot more confident and ready to start an internship at The OPCW now I got to experience

it at GPPAC, which makes me feel very grateful for this opportunity.