UNICEF/UNI339401
Vasai, Maharashtra, India. Beneficiary arrive to receive Jeevan Rath ration kit in a tribal village during COVID-19 virus outbreak in Vasai, Maharashtra. . Jeevan Rath is UNICEF's response initiative in Maharashtra working towards providing relief to migrants travelling back home during the COVID Crisis. This was the genesis of the MAHA C19 PECONet (Partners who support with resources, Enterprises who provide solutions, Citizen volunteers who help on the ground, and individuals who sustain the impact. ‘O’ is for ownership, the glue that holds the team together), a UNICEF Mumbai-facilitated network of volunteers, corporates, government bodies and civil society organizations who collect and distribute non-perishable food, hygiene materials, water, sanitary napkins and basic medical support to migrant workers on mini mobile trucks operating in six places of Mumbai: Thane, Dahisar, Pune, Vasai and Virar. This initiative has brought together over 50 groups like the Mumbai Police, Hungry Wheels, IDOBRO, Rise Infinity Foundation, Project Mumbai, Citizens Alert Forum, YUVA, Rotary Club Of Mumbai, CACR, SOPPECOM, CYDA, Pune, Kshamata, Habitat For Humanity, TPM, Red Is The New Green, YMCA Mumbai, CASA Mumbai, Arghyam, The Resilient Foundation, The Life Foundation, Geo Roti Ghar, Kahan Khajan, FICCI Ladies Association, Mumbai SAMAGRA, and individual philanthropists. Each initiative pledged not only human resources, but also financial aid, creative solutions, organizational solutions and sometimes even their gowdowns. UNICEF India/2020/Dhiraj Singh
UNICEF/UNI339401
*Applications for the first phase of fellowships have now closed*

Applicants will be informed of the result of their applications by email by 19 March. Applications for a second phase of fellowships will open at the end of May. The activities of the next phase will run from the beginning of September until the end of November.

The Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) is delighted to launch its inaugural Fellowship Programme to begin in May 2021. Funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Wellcome Trust, SSHAP is looking for future leaders in social science to be able to apply their knowledge in humanitarian emergencies in locally relevant ways.  

At its core, SSHAP’s vision is to encourage emergency responses which are effective, adaptive, contextually informed and based on social and interdisciplinary science and evidence. The fellows will play a vital role in realising SSHAP’s vision. Throughout the duration of the fellowship, the programme will pair social scientists with practitioners in the same region to facilitate and encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange. 

The fellows will also have the benefit of working closely with leading thinkers and practitioners from within the SSHAP partnership between the Institute of Development Studies, Anthrologica and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  

The fellowship will include:  

  • 1:1 mentoring with a SSHAP expert 
  • Tailored professional training programme (which may include context analysis, communications skills, stakeholder mapping, vulnerability assessments) 
  • Opportunities to learn from peers and share experiences  
  • Platform to shape discourse and dialogue 
  • Support in developing an operational briefing to be published and promoted via SSHAP channels 

Eligibility 

We welcome submissions from skilled and committed social scientists and practitioners in the field to take up this opportunity and contribute to our growing network.  

To be eligible for the fellowship you must:  

  • Be a national of and currently living in a lower- or middle-income country. 
  • Be either 1) a social scientist with research experience or 2) a public health or humanitarian response practitioner in a position to influence design and/or rollout of humanitarian activities. 

Who you are: 

  • Social scientist: you are a social scientist with a deep understanding of your country’s social and political context. You are well networked; you are in touch and have collaborated with other social scientists in your geographical region. You have the knowledge to map the social science capacity of your region, as you know who the key players are. With the skills developed in this fellowship you will be able to make your social science research useful for humanitarian action. 
  • Humanitarian practitioner: you are an experienced humanitarian practitioner (working for a local or international NGO, UN Agency, or other humanitarian agency) and you are responsible (or have been) for planning humanitarian activities or carrying out surveys and other forms of research to influence activities. You are well networked: you are part of regional humanitarian networks and you know who the key players in your geographical region are. With the skills developed in this fellowship you will learn how to best use social science to design activities and research more effectively.  

We will also ask all applicants to provide 1 referee.  

Dates and duration 

  • 3 May – 30 July 2021 (approximately one day per week over 3 months) 
  • Final workshop to be held in December 2021 

We will also be advertising for a second phase to begin in September 2021. 

*Please note that all stages of this Fellowship – including the final workshop – will be held online*

Honorarium 

Each fellow will receive an honorarium of £2000. 

Key information: 

  • Applicants will be informed of the result of their applications by email by the middle of March.  
  • SSHAP is committed to embedding and supporting equality, diversity and inclusion in our work and in all our activities. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, beliefs, identities, orientations and abilities. 
  • Please contact Annie Lowden: [email protected] if you have any queries or questions. 

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