1999-2000 Legal Fellowship

East-East Legal Coalition
Network of East-West Women
The Network of East-West Women, a vital communications network linking over 1,500 women's advocates in more than 30 countries in the CEE/FSU region, is launching a second round of fellowships for recent law faculty graduates interested in a career incorporating women's rights activism. This fellowship program has been developed in the context of current activities of NEWW's East-East Legal Coalition (EELC), a regional legal reform, advocacy and outreach network whose goal it is to articulate and enforce laws and policies that strengthen women's legislative status and sense of citizenship in their respective countries. The EELC Legal Fellowship program is supported by the Open Society Institute and other grant-makers.

The goal of this EELC fellowship is to help bridge the gap between theory and practice by providing selected recent law school graduates from the region with the opportunity to acquire additional skills to work on women's rights in their own countries.

The Fellowship: training and placement:

The fellowship consists of a three-four month (Winter/Spring 1999) intensive training experience with a western European or United States organization that mounts legal challenges and does policy analysis on behalf of women's rights. It is structured both to develop the professional skills and experience of the participating fellows and to help strengthen the EELC generally.

This training experience will be followed immediately by a one-year placement in 1999-2000 with an organization dedicated to women's rights in the fellow's home country.

Stipend:

The fellowship comes with a stipend that will cover the cost of travel to and from the fellowship site in western Europe or the United States and room and board expenses during the training period. One-year's support for work with a women's rights organization in the fellow's home country will be negotiated.

Application:

Applicants must submit the following materials (in English):

a resume;
evidence of fluency in English (such as school records or examination results);
two letters of recommendation (in English, or accompanied by English translations);
a personal statement which should include:
- particular interests within the field of women's rights. If the applicant has worked with any women's organization, that work should be described in some detail;
- a declaration that the applicant will be available to participate in the fellowship program beginning January 1999, and that the applicant is prepared to return home (no exceptions will be granted) to work within her country for one full year.

Personal statements may also include a brief commentary about applicants' future plans and/or expectations for this experience.

One copy of the complete application packet should be sent to the Network of East-West Women, EELC Fellowship Program, 1601 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 603, Washington, DC 20009.

Deadlines:

The deadline for applications is September 1, 1998.

Applicants are advised to inform Washington, DC (by e-mail) when they have posted their application packets.

The Washington e-mail address is [email protected]. For more information about the Network of East-WestWomen, see our web page at http://www.neww.org.

Selection Procedure:

Applications will be reviewed by an fellowational selection committee, which expects to have completed the selection process by the end of October 1998. At that time applicants will be informed of whether they have been chosen to participate in the 1999-2000 EELC Legal Fellowship Program.

Last updated: June 19, 1998

Center for Civil Society International
[email protected]