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Professional Field Experiences for Master's Students

With World Bank Sign

“The most impactful lesson of my experience at the World Bank was understanding deeply how peacebuilding and environmental sustainability intersect. There can be no development without peace and no peace without development, and both need to be focused toward long-term sustainability. Particularly in Colombia, where the drivers of conflict are so interwoven with questions of land tenure and natural resources, both imperatives must be pursued simultaneously and complementarily, always through the lens of protecting the communities most severely impacted by these dynamics.”

Maria Camila Posse Gaez, Master of Global Affairs, International Peace Studies Class of 2019
Field Experience Site: World Bank, Bogota, Colombia

During the second year of the MGA program, most IPS students work for nearly six months alongside a leading organization working on peace and justice in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East or the United States. While in the field, students integrate theory with practice in communities dealing with issues of peace and conflict, inequities in economic development, environmental violence, human rights, and justice.

Field placements take place between July 1 and December 15 each year. Interns work an average of 30-35 hours per week with their organization so that they have sufficient time to develop their own research. Work times and weekly schedule will be determined by mutual agreement to meet the needs of both the organization and the student.

Placement Process

If organizations are willing to serve as a placement location, the Kroc Institute will list the organization as one of the options for student internship placements.  If a student is interested in the organization, an application (resume) will be sent to the partner organization during the fall semester of the student’s first year in the program.

The organization will notify the Kroc Institute if they are willing to accept the proposed intern for next steps (i.e. interview, receiving a writing sample). The organization will make the final determination about whether they are willing to accept the intern for the proposed time period.

The Kroc Institute covers all of the students’ costs during these placements, including travel, housing, insurance, and a stipend for living expenses

Read reflections from International Peace Studies students in the field on the Keough Insider blog.

Recent placements have included:

  • American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), Beirut, Lebanon
  • Bangsamoro Transition Authority, Mindanao, Philippines
  • Catholic Relief Services,  Mindanao, Philippines & Baltimore, Maryland
  • Chicago Torture Justice Center, Chicago, Illinois
  • Creative Associates International, San Salvador, El Salvador
  • Diálogos y Capacidades para la Paz Territorial, Fundacion Redprodepaz, Colombia
  • International Civil Society Action Network, Washington, D.C.
  • International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Geneva, Switzerland
  • International Rescue Committee, Silver Spring, Maryland
  • Life and Peace Institute, Nairobi, Kenya
  • RAFT, formerly known as Conflict Sensitivity and Peacebuilding Effectiveness in Myanmar (CDA), Yangon, Myanmar
  • Sembrando Paz, Sincelejo, Colombia
  • World Bank, Washington, D.C., and Bogotá, Colombia