Martha Merritt
Associate Director

The Kroc Institute seeks to “build a better internship” for the newly expanded two-year M.A. program in part because our relationship with host organizations is about more than student placement. As the institute moves toward a working model for the integration of theory and practice in peacebuilding, our graduate program offers a premier opportunity for the synthesis of grassroots work and academic analysis.

Factors in selecting international internship locations included a University of Notre Dame presence that we could reinforce and build upon, Kroc Institute faculty and alumni strength, the relevance of human rights and conflict resolution issues, and the use of English language. For 2005, our internships will be in Jerusalem/Bethlehem; Kampala, Uganda; Nairobi, Kenya; and Cape Town, South Africa. In addition, using a model based on a network rather than a geographic center, we developed opportunities in Southeast Asia in partnership with Catholic Relief Services and with the support of the Kroc Professor for International Peacebuilding, John Paul Lederach.

We sought partners for peace at our international sites and were willing to hit the road to find them. I made seven trips to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Director of Graduate Studies Cynthia Mahmood and John Paul Lederach traveled to Nairobi to build partnerships there. Other faculty joined me in their areas of expertise, including Kroc research program coordinator Rashied Omar in Cape Town and Kroc faculty fellow Alan Dowty and his wife, Gail, in Jerusalem. Before travel we gathered recommendations from regional and thematic experts who are familiar with our needs. Our alumni network also yielded excellent contacts and, in some cases, potential host organizations founded or staffed by our graduates.

After looking over facilities and meeting the people who make an organization tick, a range of questions served to illustrate whether an organization might be an effective host. Are there staff members with clear responsibilities for interns? What are some examples of intern projects in the past? Catholic Relief Services in Davao City, the Philippines, for example, presented an excellent and actively used conflict analysis written by an intern. This conflict map is one of the best guides I have seen to the weave of religious, economic, territorial and political tensions on the island of Mindanao and is now a resource for our master’s students who will go to the region. The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town is another example of a partner organization with a robust research agenda, grassroots experience, and strong record of mentoring.

We are also developing partnerships in the United States. Some of our students are already “abroad” when they come to Notre Dame and may wish to experience the challenges for building peace in this country. As our graduate program expands and the Kroc Institute’s capacity grows, we hope to deepen our presence in selected domestic and international sites. Whatever the location, the graduate experience focuses on academic preparation and skill-building for students before the internship, purposeful reflection during the six-month work experience, and intensive faculty and peer facilitation with master’s projects in the final semester.

Our aspirations are represented well by “Tantur,” the Arabic word for hilltop, and the name of the ecumenical institute that will house our students in Jerusalem. From Tantur’s rooftop one can see the contours of struggle in the Middle East: contrasting neighborhoods in Old City Jerusalem, settlements, Bethlehem on the far side of a checkpoint, superhighways and dirt roads, even the wall under construction. We hope that our students will move between grassroots work and the overall view with alacrity.

Kroc core faculty and faculty fellows are also welcome to engage with any of these sites in their research and teaching. In March 2004 the Kroc Institute hosted a conference in Uganda on religion and conflict in Africa, and we will continue to link sites with the Kroc Institute through workshops and conferences. This is all part of building relationships that, not incidentally, benefit our students as they integrate theory and practice in peacebuilding.

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