About the Community Solutions Program

The Community Solutions Program brings the best and brightest global community leaders working in Transparency & Accountability, Tolerance & Conflict Resolution, Environmental Issues, and Women & Gender Issues from around the world to the U.S. for an intensive professional development program. Leaders bring years of experience to community development in the U.S. while strengthening their capacity for leadership and development in their home countries. Through tailored fellowships, leaders gain hands-on experience in community work; collaborate and learn best practices through an online leadership institute; and create action plans for community-based initiatives back home.

Program Activities

Four-month U.S. Fellowship: Community Solutions leaders work in community-based, non-profit organizations or government offices across the U.S. where they work in partnership with American counterparts to address local issues.

Community Leadership Institute (CLI): Community Solutions leaders develop leadership and organizational management skills through online courses and in-person training that complement their community placements.

Follow-on Projects: Community Solutions leaders develop follow-on community projects in partnership with their U.S. hosts. Follow-on projects will be completed after leaders return to their home countries.

Eligible Countries: Albania, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burma, Cambodia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, West Bank/Gaza, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Application Information: For eligibility requirements and the program application, please visithttp://www.irex.org/application/community-solutions-information-applicants or email csp@irex.org

Journalists whose work addresses international peace and security challenges can apply for this fellowship.

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Jennings Randolph (JR) Senior Fellowship provides scholars, policy analysts, policy makers, journalists and other experts with opportunities to spend time at the Institute in D.C., reflecting and writing on proposed projects.

Priority is given to proposals deemed likely to make timely and significant contributions to the understanding and resolution of ongoing and emerging conflicts and other challenges to international peace and security. Projects will also be chosen based on the quality of project design and its ability to be implemented, as well as the candidate’s project track record and potential as a fellow.

Senior Fellowships usually last for 10 months, starting in October, but shorter-term fellowships are also available. Fellowships are open to citizens of any country. Fellows will contribute to the collegial life of the Institute by presenting their work and participating in workshops, conferences and other events. The editorial staff of the Institute will work closely with Fellows to develop manuscripts for consideration by the Institute Press or for publication as Institute reports.

The program attempts to match the recipient’s earned income during the year preceding the fellowships, up to a maximum of US$100,000 for 10 months. In certain cases and budget permitting, the Institute will provide coverage of 80 percent of health premiums for the fellow and eligible dependents, with a cap of $500 per month. Fellowship housing will not be provided. Each Fellow is given part-time research assistance during the fellowship.

The application deadline is Sept. 6.

For more information, click here: http://www.usip.org/grants-fellowships/jennings-randolph-senior-fellowship-program/senior-fellowship-application-informa#Fellowship_Activities

Young directors of documentary, fiction and animated films from around the world can participate in this contest.

The international film school festival and workshop “Kinoproba” is organized by the Sverdlovsk Region Ministry of Culture and the Ural Department of Cinematographers Union of RF. The festival and contest will take place in Yekaterinburg, Russia, from December 1 — 4. The four-day festival program ranges from master-classes focused mainly on a professional audience to information programs for a nonprofessional audience.

Applications are accepted from film schools in Russia and abroad, as well as from independent filmmakers and studios.

Submitted films should be no longer than 30 minutes, and produced no earlier than January 2012. Submissions must be by a student or a debut work of a director.

Deadline for applications is Oct. 1.

For more information, click here: http://kinoprobafest.com/english/129/

Professional and amateur photographers from around the world can enter this contest.

Picture Dignity 2013, sponsored by +Acumen, is a photography contest aimed at inspiring the global community to define, illustrate and show what dignity means to them.

Photographs must be in digital format and have been taken in the past two years.

The winner will receive a US$500 grand prize. The top 30 finalists will win a subscription of 500px, a photo sharing platform.

The deadline to enter is Sept. 1.

For more information, click here: http://picturedignity.strutta.com/about

Journalists can attend this free online session.

LinkedIn is offering a tutorial and a free one-year upgrade to LinkedIn Executive. The 35-minute session will take place at 2:30 p.m. EDT on Aug. 15.

The tutorial will be led by Yumi Wilson, journalism professor at San Francisco State University and community manager of LinkedIn for Journalists.

The session and access to LinkedIn Executive is available to all professional journalists and members of the media. To join the session, participants must be logged in to their LinkedIn account. LinkedIn will provide a call-in number, depending on where participants are located.

For more information, click here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/JOURNOS-NEXT-LFJ-tutorial-is-3753151.S.259422148?qid=9af663c2-c502-4e90-a996-2d0590fb62e6&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_3753151

Photojournalists worldwide can participate in this contest.

The Carmignac Gestion Foundation is accepting applications for the fourth annual Carmignac Gestion Photojournalism Award. The foundation awards those who wish to go where others will not, visiting zones that are largely ignored by the mainstream media. The topic of this year’s competition is Iran.

Every year, a EUR€50,000 (US$66,170) grant is awarded to fund a photo series completed over a period of several months on a specific, topical subject. The foundation promotes the award via an exhibition and the publication of a monograph. It also purchases four of the photographs included in the report.

The application deadline is Sept. 30.

For more information, click here: http://www.fondation-carmignac.com/photojournalism-award/call-for-candidates/

Journalists whose work addresses international peace and security challenges can apply for this fellowship.

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) Jennings Randolph (JR) Senior Fellowship provides scholars, policy analysts, policy makers, journalists and other experts with opportunities to spend time at the Institute in D.C., reflecting and writing on proposed projects.

Priority is given to proposals deemed likely to make timely and significant contributions to the understanding and resolution of ongoing and emerging conflicts and other challenges to international peace and security. Projects will also be chosen based on the quality of project design and its ability to be implemented, as well as the candidate’s project track record and potential as a fellow.

Senior Fellowships usually last for 10 months, starting in October, but shorter-term fellowships are also available. Fellowships are open to citizens of any country. Fellows will contribute to the collegial life of the Institute by presenting their work and participating in workshops, conferences and other events. The editorial staff of the Institute will work closely with Fellows to develop manuscripts for consideration by the Institute Press or for publication as Institute reports.

The program attempts to match the recipient’s earned income during the year preceding the fellowships, up to a maximum of US$100,000 for 10 months. In certain cases and budget permitting, the Institute will provide coverage of 80 percent of health premiums for the fellow and eligible dependents, with a cap of $500 per month. Fellowship housing will not be provided. Each Fellow is given part-time research assistance during the fellowship.

The application deadline is Sept. 6.

For more information, click here: http://www.usip.org/grants-fellowships/jennings-randolph-senior-fellowship-program/senior-fellowship-application-informa#Fellowship_Activities

Journalists, designers, developers and public information officers can register for this free online course.

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas has brought together five experts, including practitioners from The New York Times, ProPublica, NPR and the Houston Chronicle, to teach the Massive Open Online Course (or MOOC) in English, “Data-Driven Journalism: The Basics.”

The MOOC will give participants an overview of what data-driven journalism is and how it is practiced in newsrooms in the United States. Besides learning about the basics of this increasingly vital discipline, students will learn how data is used in the media industry today, where to locate data, how to clean and analyze it critically, and how to optimize the presentation of information for maximum readability and interactivity.

The five-week course, from Aug. 12 to Sept. 16, will have a different instructor leading the class each week. The instructors and the topics they will cover are:

• Amy Schmitz Weiss, San Diego State University – Intro to Data Journalism
• Lise Olsen, Houston Chronicle – Where to Find Data and the Stories
• Derek Willis, The New York Times – How to Interview the Data
• Jeremy Bowers, National Public Radio – How to Bring Data to Life, Part 1
• Sisi Wei, ProPublica – How to Bring Data to Life, Part 2

For more information, click here: https://knightcenter.utexas.edu/00-14174-team-experts-teach-knight-centers-new-mooc-data-driven-journalism-basics-register-now

Competitors will submit their works on the importance of freedom for the Bastiat Prize for Journalism.

The Reason Foundation is presenting the 12th Annual Bastiat Prize for Journalism. The prize is named after Frédéric Bastiat, the classical liberal essayist whose writings on free markets, political economy and individual rights remain a touchstone in libertarian thought.

Submissions are judged by their intellectual coherence, persuasiveness, wit and creativity, relevance, clarity and simplicity and wider impact.

Participants can enter more than one article, but the materials should be no more than 5,000 words combined. Articles must have been published for the first time between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013.

The Bastiat Prize is open to all writers, anywhere in the world; writers need not be full-time journalists or associated with any specific publication.

The first place winner will receive US$10,000, and second and third places will receive US$5,000 and US$1,000, respectively.

The deadline is July 31.

For more information, click here: http://reason.org/news/show/bastiat-prize-2013