Fellowship, SUMERNET Programme

A. Background

SUMERNET is a regional research network focused on the six countries of the Mekong region. Its overall focus is to undertake research that influences and informs policy on sustainable development in the region thereby bridging the science to policy continuum. The ongoing phase, SUMERNET 4 All (S4A), will have a strategic focus on “reducing water insecurities for all in the Mekong Region”. The network takes a participatory approach in identifying and finding ways to meet the strategic focus of S4A and utilize the rich research and policy engagement experiences of our partners. Through this approach the network aspires to transform the lives of communities affected by water insecurity in the Mekong Region. More details about S4A available here: https://www.sei.org/projects-and-tools/projects/sumernet-4-all- engaging-with-water-insecurity-in-the-mekong-region/#sumernet-4-all

One of S4A’s outcomes is to enhance the knowledge, attitude, and skills of knowledge producers so that they can deliver credible, gender inclusive, human rights-based, conflict-sensitive, and poverty-reduction focused research on key water insecurity challenges in the Mekong Region. The knowledge producers can improve their research practice and contribute to enhancing the discourse on water insecurities in the region. In S4A, among others, the programme focuses its interventions to improve capacity of young and early career professionals in the fields relevant to SUMERNET 4 areas of work: research, policy engagement, communications and project management (including monitoring & evaluation). During this fellowship period, SUMERNET would like to focus on project management area, which includes grant administration, project cycle management, project finance and monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL).

Besides providing grants for individual research projects, S4A is also supporting “fellowships” for young and early-career Mekong citizens of researcher and practitioner backgrounds or graduate students for hands-on learning under the four work components of SUMERNET 4 All.

“SUMERNET 4 All” (S4A), the ongoing phase of SUMERNET (2019-2023), focusing on water insecurity in the Mekong Region is providing a 12-month fellowship hosted at the SUMERNET Secretariat in Bangkok, Thailand.

The fellowships are intended for young and early-career (not older than 35 years) Mekong Region citizens with researcher and/or practitioner backgrounds from the countries of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

B. Objectives

1. To strengthen knowledge, capacity and skill of young Mekong citizen researchers, development practitioners, those interested in communications and media work, and graduate students.

2. To help deliver credible, gender inclusive, human rights-based, conflict-sensitive, and poverty- reducing research, practice and communications related to water insecurity in the Mekong Region.

3. To strengthen the partnership and networking opportunities between their institutions of origin with the SUMERNET Steering Committee, SUMERNET Secretariat and other SUMERNET member institutes. Young professionals or graduate students from the member institutes of SUMERNET will be given higher priority for this grant.

4. To enhance a sense of ownership of the early career researchers, development practitioners, communication or media people, or graduate students towards SUMERNET as a regional research network.

C. Allowance

The SUMERNET 4 All Fellow will receive a monthly allowance of approximately US$ 750 (SEK 7,500) to cover basic living costs and accommodation while residing in Bangkok, Thailand plus standard/economic level Alternative State Quarantine (ASQ) costs, basic health/travel insurance, and relevant direct costs (return flight and transit accommodations) plus internet/communication costs. For the duration of their fellowship, SEI will arrange a Thailand visa and work permit fees to enable the fellow to legally live and work in Thailand.

D. Duration

The duration of this grant is 12 months. There is a possibility to extend the fellowship for another term of 6-12 months dependent on the evaluation of the candidate’s work and with the agreement of all parties concerned (SUMERNET fellow, SUMERNET Steering Committee, SUMERNET Secretariat, and also if relevant, the candidate’s home institution).

E. Specific Tasks

1. Contribute to SUMERNET relevant work, specifically related to programme-wide activities (organized in Components) within SUMERNET 4 All. The applicants can choose one main component (see below) that they would like to be involved with, with indication of one or more component(s) that they would like to support. To be noted that for this current call, SUMERNET would like to focus on Component 4 which will offer 1 fellow position under the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and 1 fellow position under Project Management (grant administration, project cycle management, and project finance).

Please refer below for the role of the fellow each component:

a) Multi-stakeholder engagement (Component 1), learn from and support this Component 1 in supervision, monitoring and capacity building activities of joint action projects, small grants and other policy and stakeholder engagement activities. Your role under this component is potentially to support SUMERNET Secretariat in advising grantee partners planning and implementing their policy engagement activities, analyzing policy impacts at research project and at SUMERNET 4 All programme levels, and in planning policy forum for SUMERNET which is organized annually. In the current round, SUMERNET is not accepting application for this component.

b) Research (Component 2), learn from and support this Component 2 in supervision, monitoring and capacity building activities of research projects and integrated regional assessments and other research activities. Your role will be to carve out a project that adds value to your career and to S4A while helping grantee researchers deliver their work. Examples of fellowship projects could include how to share research outputs that make policy change, identifying and sharing insights for local community action addressing water insecurity or even how to enhance research impact across the Mekong. In the current round, SUMERNET is not accepting application for this component.

c) Communications (Component 3), learn from and support this Component 3 in supervision, monitoring and capacity building activities of research partners in website or multimedia outputs, publications, media outreach (especially local language media) and other communications activities relevant to the S4A communications strategy. Should you choose to focus on communications under S4A Fellowship, your role will be to support development of SUMERNET communications products, help update the SUMERNET website with interesting content such as blogs and short films and support related events involving capacity building and media outreach for communications. In the current round, SUMERNET is not accepting application for this component.

d) Project management (Component 4), learn from and support coordination and monitoring, evaluation and learning activities of S4A. Your role will be to support the daily operations of the management of S4A which includes grant administration, project financial management, planning and budgeting, and support MEL activities such as MEL data collection, analysis and reporting, in the purpose of measuring the achievement of S4A programme outcomes.

1. Learn about the subjects and themes of interest from relevant staff and researchers at the SUMERNET Secretariat, Steering Committee and Advisors through mentorship and supervision. The fellow will be required to identify subjects and themes of interests for mentorship and supervision during the period of the fellowship.

2. Actively support the development of SUMERNET Youth Network (SYN) and engage with young professional members in relevant SYN and SUMERNET activities.

3. Other tasks that are considered relevant and effective in building the capacity of the fellow, including temporary placement in the SUMERNET grantee projects if there is significant interest from both fellow and grantee research partners.

F. Requirements

Required

1. Candidate is a citizen of one of the Mekong Region countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar,

   Thailand, and Vietnam) and is not older than 35 years at the start of the fellowship.

2. Holds at least a bachelor’s degree and/or is in the process of obtaining Master’s or PhD degree in

   the subjects relevant to the S4A programme of work.

3. At least 2 years work experience in a field related to the S4A programme of work.

4. Available to commit to a 12-month full-time period of stay in Thailand based with the SUMERNET Secretariat in Bangkok, Thailand.

5. Proficiency in English language along with their native language in the Mekong Region.

Preferable

1. Candidates who submit proof of previous work showing that they have relevant qualifications and skills or are recommended by individual who is a member of SUMERNET or institution who is affiliated to SUMERNET as current or previous partners will be given priority in the selection process.

2. Candidates with relevant work experience and skills relevant to Component 4 (Project Management) will be given priority in the selection process.

G. Application and Selection Process

1. Application submission deadline: 8 May 2022

   Applicants need to submit their application through an online form available at this link: https://sei.submittable.com/submit/200851/sumernet-call-for-fellowship-applications-2022. The following documents will be required to be uploaded:

   • Motivation letter (entry in the submission form)

   • Recent Curriculum Vitae (CV)

   • At least one references from current or former work/academic supervisor

   • Relevant samples of work (report, paper, other media, etc., optional)

   • At least one letter of recommendation from current home institution or previous institution (optional)

2. 2. Application review (9 – 20 May 2022)

   The submitted applications will be screened and reviewed based on the criteria set in this call. The members of the panel review are the relevant Component Coordinator and project management staff of SUMERNET.

3. Panel interview (tentatively 23 – 26 May 2022)

   Only shortlisted applicants will be called for the interview with the SUMERNET selection panel. The interview stage will result recommendation of selected applicant(s) for approval by the SUMERNET Steering Committee (SSC).

4. Endorsement by SSC and announcement (27 – 31 May 2022)

   The recommendation from SUMERNET panel will be considered by the SSC. The endorsement of the SSC will be the final decision for the selection of SUMERNET 4 All Fellow(s). This final decision will be announced in by 31 May 2022.

5. Start date of fellowship

   Subject to the restrictions related to COVID-19 Pandemic, the application process of visa and work permit for staying in Thailand, the S4A fellows will start their duty at SUMERNET Secretariat as soon as possible in 2022, ideally in the first week of July 2022. The fellowship starting date will be determined taking into consideration the aforementioned conditions and will last for a period of 12 months from the starting date.