Fellowship program
Background and context
The Charter for the World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement (JDC), as approved in December 2019, states that the JDC will pursue its mission by “… sharing relevant Data and information in a systematic manner to better inform decision making for persons of concern …”[1] and shall facilitate the collaboration between UNHCR and the World Bank in “sharing knowledge, ideas and lessons learned”[2] . The “Knowledge Sharing” workstream including its two components: 1. JDC Outreach activities and 2. The Fellowship program and senior visiting stay program, directly addresses these objectives and therefore contributes to the accomplishment of the core mission of the JDC.
Activity Description
The Fellowship program and the senior visiting stay program will allow young and established researcher to visit the JDC, collaborate with its team members and develop their research agenda by making use of JDC network and facilities. In the case of the Fellowship program, research tasks will be complemented with training activities. The Fellowship program represents a pivotal element in the JDC effort to support capacity building for young scholars and professionals from displaced or host communities in middle- and low-income countries and facilitate their work on topics related to forced displacement. In order to push for an immediate start of the program, it has been decided that in 2020-2021, a pilot cohort will be selected in close collaboration with the World Bank (WB). Specifically, candidates will be drawn from the existing pool of candidates for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) – UNHCR – World Bank Young Fellowship Program. For this first cycle of the program, three candidates have been selected in June 2020 and joined the JDC until June 2021. The Senior Visiting Scholars program aims to provide experienced researchers from academic institutions, research centers, the World Bank, and UNHCR with the opportunity to spend time with the JDC and take advantage of its facilities to develop their research on topics related to forced displacement. At the same time, the senior researchers will provide inputs into the JDC’s activities and offer guidance to its Staff members in the development of their work in relation to the visiting researcher’s areas of expertise. Starting in 2021, the selection of visitors will be conducted through a review of applications in response to a call for proposals.
Overall objectives
The Knowledge Sharing activities of the JDC will offer a platform for the dissemination of results originating from the work of several units of the WB and UNHCR and supported by the JDC. Some of these activities will be developed in close collaboration with other Bank and UNHCR units, whose activities and workstreams will also be advertised through the JDC dissemination channels.
Contact
For further details on this activity, please contact:
- contact@jointdatacenter.org
- Domenico Tabasso, JDC Focal Point, tabasso@unhcr.org
[1] Charter, IV.1.a
[2] Charter, IV.2.c