• Learning or improving skills in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BHS) language

• Attending preliminary orientation and formation activities with PCI BiH senior staff and peacebuilding partners

• Assisting with programs, trainings, events, meeting logistics, guest lists, and invitations

• Learning BiH’s context and history by visiting museums, sites of suffering, and locally-implemented peacebuilding programs

• Volunteering with a local BiH peacebuilding organization to support its work, communications, programming and more

• Identifying key outcomes and success stories from programs and developing avenues to share that information with stakeholders and program alumni (e.g. writing articles, video storytelling, developing social media strategy, etc.)

• Developing new programs in partnership with PCI BiH peacebuilding partners

• Preparing materials to be distributed at events, such as flyers and outreach material

• Assisting with the day-to-day administrative needs

• Engaging in research, writing, and site visits related to your own interests and PCI BiH team projects

• Fundraising and partner development (see below)

• (Preferred) Undergraduate degree with a concentration in peacebuilding, conflict transformation, international studies, peace-oriented theology, interreligious dialogue, or similar.

• Interest in peacebuilding, conflict transformation, interreligious dialogue, international affairs, peace-oriented theology, and/or BiH and the Balkans

• Experience working as a self-starter in a highly independent environment and with small, diverse teams

• Basic computer and internet proficiency, especially with Google Suite and social media platforms

• Organized, detail-oriented, and strong time-management skills

• Effective verbal, writing, and communication skills

Commitment to:

• 10 hours per week to learn language or improve language skills

• 10 hours per week to learn BiH history, current context, and peacebuilding skills

• 10-15 hours per week to support and assist a local peacebuilding organization (after preliminary 4 months of orientation and formation)

PCI is a crowdfunded organization, which allows staff to sustain grassroots peacebuilding programs in their local contexts and engage in long-term strategic work for which it is often difficult to obtain grant funding. Interns will gain valuable resume-building skills in fundraising and will greatly benefit from having a team of supporters around them who are invested in their work, from their internship with PCI and onwards.

Interns will receive fundraising training and a template budget for living in BiH. Prior to departing for BiH, they will build their support team and raise funds for their monthly salary. Upon arrival in BiH, interns will receive orientation and on-the-job training from PCI BiH senior staff while learning the PCI ethos, supporting local BiH peacebuilding organizations, and gaining valuable hands-on peacebuilding skills. Whether interns are new to peacebuilding or have lived internationally doing work of other kinds, joining PCI BiH’s internship program will help them dive into the field of peacebuilding.

Interns have the possibility to extend their positions for a second year in BiH based on a mutual discernment process with PCI BiH senior staff and partners at the end of their first year. During that second year, interns and PCI BiH senior staff will discern whether the intern would like to become a full-time PCI staff member (either in BiH, the USA, or another context) and begin the process of communicating with financial contributors to secure ongoing financial pledges to support their future work with PCI.

Twenty-six years after the Dayton Agreement ended Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War II, Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to be plagued by divisive, identity-based politics and is socially divided according to wartime identities and narratives. Horrors were inflicted on all groups, although not in equal measure, and included ethnic cleansing, concentration camps, displacement of half the population, and genocide, all of which have left the country battling with competing narratives of victimization and unaddressed trauma. Religious groups in BiH have contributed to an atmosphere of exclusion, distrust, and violence, but some have also been pivotal in catalyzing and sustaining progressive peacebuilding efforts. Religious identities have played a role in ethnic identity formation, including the sacralization of nationality which legitimizes intolerance toward other groups. However, BiH also has a long history of inter-religious respect and collaboration across differences. For that reason, BiH is home to a unique generation of peacebuilders who grew up with a deep affection for their religious neighbors but who have also been dealing with alternative facts, dueling narratives, inflammatory rhetoric, and the political weaponization of religious and ethnic identities for the past 25 years. Their wisdom and experiences in peacebuilding across ethnic and religious boundaries can inspire and shape peacebuilding approaches elsewhere in the world.

• Peace Catalyst team members in Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH) lead intergroup peacebuilding workshops, trauma sensitivity and healing courses, and practical peacebuilding skill development programs for Bosnian participants. These initiatives create spaces where people from divided communities can engage in meaningful dialogue, process past wounds, and develop skills for navigating conflict constructively. By addressing both personal and communal healing, these programs contribute to long-term social cohesion and the possibility of reconciliation. For more information, go to our Peace Catalyst in BiH page.