About ICA

Institute of Chin Affairs is a non-profit organization established to work towards peace, democracy, and sustainable development in Chin State, and to strengthen unity among the Chin people with the support of community members, religious institutions and organisational partnerships. ICA is committed to accountability, inclusion and democracy, and stands in solidarity with the global Chin community.

Project Background

The Institute of Chin Affairs (ICA) is delighted to announce the launch of the ‘Supporting Displaced Scholars in Mizoram’ Research Fellowship program, with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)[1], hosted by Mizoram University (MZU).  The program aims to give a number of refugees currently living in Mizoram access to an education program to fill the gap left by the impact of displacement. Additional activities include a leadership program for displaced refugee politicians and civil society leaders from Myanmar, and a Burmese language course open to university students and community members.

The Fellowship program will consist of four learning modules spread across 12 months  (with the possibility of extension). The learning modules will contain a series of lectures and workshops on social science knowledge and research skills, taught by different academic lecturers from Mizoram University and international education institutions in either Burmese or English.

As part of the project, ICA is looking to recruit a Learning Facilitator to support the student Fellows in their learning for the duration of the project.

Responsibilities include:

• Manage key communication between the lecturers who are teaching the courses, the Deputy Director and the students.
• Participation in all workshops with the Fellows and provide translation and communication support, to ensure that the Fellows are able to fully understand the content of the course modules.
• Communication with the academic lecturer to understand the content of the lectures before they are presented to the students.
• Working with the academic lecturer to plan follow up workshops for each lecture, to help the students apply the knowledge from the lectures practically.

The qualifications required for this role are:

• Undergraduate degree in social science, humanities or other related fields.
• Strong command of English, Burmese are a must. Ethnic languages are desirable.
• Relevant experience in education or research. Research experience in fields of social science is desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently but also to collaborate well as a member of a team.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to communicate clearly with students and colleagues.
• Familiarity with audio/video conferencing tools (eg, zoom), MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, cloud collaboration tools, eg google drive.
• The Learning Facilitator must already reside in, or be willing to relocate to Aizawl for the duration of the project.

We offer:

• A one-year contract with the possibility of extension.
• A challenging role as part of a dynamic, international team.
• Participation in a pioneering academic project which will support refugee students in Mizoram.

Interested candidates can send their resume with cover letter to fellowship@chinaffairs.org by September 10, 2022. Applicants who wish to apply for this position are requested to include ‘Learning Facilitator’ in the subject heading of the email.

[1] In anticipation of an upcoming grant, subject to approval from IDRC partners and stakeholders