The Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA) fellowship

The Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA) fellowship brings together scholars, students, civil society organizations, journalists, educators, artists, policy makers, and others who work on historical dialogue issues for a semester of comprehensive learning and networking at Columbia University in New York City.

The fellowship program begins in late August and ends in mid-December. It is an in-residence program, and you must be able to live in New York for the full length of the program in order to participate.

The AHDA fellowship allows participants to come to spend the fall semester of the academic year at Columbia University in New York City. This comprehensive program provides fellows with the opportunity to hone practical skills in fundraising, advocacy and leadership; to develop a deeper understanding of and engagement with the past; and to foster mutually beneficial relationships with their peers and with international and non-profit organizations based in New York and Washington, D.C.

Seminars

Over the course of the semester when the fellows are in residence at Columbia, they attend a series of 2-hour sessions with scholars and other experts in historical dialogue, exploring major theoretical issues and on-the-ground case studies. These seminars include discussions on the role of history, the goals of historical dialogue, and historical dialogue in different thematic and geographical contexts. Fellows develop clear concepts of historical dialogue and accountability on the basis of practical experiences and scholarly insights explored in these sessions. Continuing and active participation in the seminars, including weekly reading assignments and several short writing assignments is a requirement of the program.

Workshops

Seminars are supplemented by capacity building trainings in skills important to the work of historical dialogue, and important to implementing a successful project. These workshops include sessions on fundraising, advocacy tools, new media, and project development. The goal of these workshops is to build capacity in a wide range of skills required for historical dialogue, from facilitation to fundraising.

Selection Criteria:

• The Program is designed for lawyers, journalists, teachers, social workers, community organizers, artists, scholars and other human rights activists working on issues related to dealing with the past such as: transitional justice, historical dialogue, memory studies, historical justice, oral history, history education.
• Participants are selected on the basis of their previous work experience in work that deals with the past, their commitment to the human rights field, and demonstrated ability to pursue graduate-level studies. Full-time students will not be considered.
• Applicants who are mid-career and hold full or part-time jobs pursuing their advocacy efforts are preferred.

Funding

After the ISHR selection committee conducts its selection process, it makes every effort to secure funding for shortlisted Fellows to attend the program. In certain cases where ISHR cannot secure funding, shortlisted Fellows may be asked to secure the funds needed for them to be admitted to the program.

Application Procedure:

The completed application must be submitted online by the deadline. Applicants should take into consideration technical issues and begin the process in advance of the deadline. Late applications will not be considered.

Due to the number of applications we receive, we are not able to answer application questions personally. A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page is available with answers to commonly asked questions. Please email further questions to [email protected]. Answers to technical questions will be added as updates to the FAQ page. ISHR strongly recommends completing your application well in advance of this the application deadline.

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