The volunteers commit to one year of volunteering in the field in the PBI Mexico teams, located in Chihuahua or Oaxaca. They live and work in a home office together with the other volunteers, and participate in all PBI work areas (support, advocacy, visibility and capacity building in security and protection) and the administrative and internal communication tasks associated with an NGO.

SELECTION AND TRAINING PROCESS*:

If you are interested in being part of the PBI-Mexico Project:

1. Fill in and send the application form and three reference forms to the email formacion@pbi-mexico.org. A pre-selection will be made based on the applications received.

2. People selected based on the application will be interviewed by skype and / or telephone and a second selection will be made based on the interview.

3. People selected on the basis of the interview will be invited to participate in a training week that normally takes place near Lisbon, Portugal. Before coming to the training, the candidates will have to complete a series of readings, fill out the self-training notebooks and prepare a group work. Only those who successfully complete these exercises will be able to attend the training week.

4. During the training week, a final selection will be made of those who will be invited to form part of the field teams, based on the criteria already mentioned and the current needs of the project. It is important to note that the training week is part of a selection process, and is NOT a guarantee of being invited to be part of the field team.

5. Incorporation of new PBI Mexico volunteers takes place every 2-3 months throughout the year, and we need people with availability to enter between 1-12 months after the training week itself. Therefore, the interested parties must have flexibility regarding the date of entry to the team.

Get Involved with PBI México

CRITERIA AND SELECTION PROCESS

Basic Requirements:

• Have a high and fluent level of Spanish (equivalent to C1 / C2 or similar). Unfortunately we cannot make exceptions to the language requirement.

• Have previous experience of qualified work in social movements or human rights NGOs, development cooperation and / or social work, especially in Latin America.

• Be available for a year of volunteer work in a PBI Mexico team in Oaxaca or Chihuahua.

• Understanding of and commitment to the mandate and principles of PBI Mexico.

• Availability and ability to do thematic work of all the areas of work (incidence, support, communication and security) as well as administrative tasks.

Selection Criteria:

Besides the basic requirements, PBI Mexico uses the following criteria when making the selection:

• High degree of commitment and motivation for the work of PBI México;

• Availability and ability to comply with safety regulations and work within a conflict context;

• Discourse management and ability to speak with different actors (government and civil society);

• Ability to live and work in a team with an open attitude to other perspectives and experiences, willingness to form a team and support each other;

• Experience in conflict resolution and / or ability to face conflicts in a positive and mature way;

• Previous knowledge of Mexico / Latin America, human rights / international law, repression, contexts of violence, social movements and / or previous work with NGOs;

• Consensus work experience (knowledge of the tools and processes used for consensus) or ability and interest in training;

• Discretion and handling of sensitive information;

• Conocimiento de herramientas de seguridad informática y/u capacidad de formarse;

• Cultural sensitivity;

• Good stress management and prioritization ability.

It is also considered important to have a balance of gender, age, nationality and previous capacities / experiences when making the final decision on the composition of the teams in the field.

PBI Mexico establishes that Mexican citizens cannot work in the PBI Project in Mexico. An exception is made in relation to persons of service or administrative assistance in Mexico. The purpose of this standard is to be able to have an objective distance between the volunteers or members of the PBI Mexico Project and the people and organizations we accompany in Mexico and also ensures that local pressures do not affect the independence of the project. This also assists in protecting the safety of volunteers and project staff in a country where there are serious human rights violations.

Age Requirement:

What PBI Mexico offers:

• Work experience in an international organization that supports and defends human rights defenders in Mexico;

• Teamwork and on the field experience:

• Specialized training in order to carry out international accompaniment;

• Group psychosocial support during the stay in the PBI Mexico team with a professional psychologist and the opportunity to have at distance individual support;

• All travel and living expenses are covered by the project, including a stipend of € 240 Euros per month for personal expenses. Furthermore, a repatriation of € 45.00 Euros per month worked is paid upon successful completion of the annual volunteer contract.

  Medical insurance during the stay in the field.

Training expenses and scholarships:

Transportation costs to get to the training week are borne by the applicant. In addition, a contribution of € 150 is requested for accommodation and food during the week. There is a limited amount of scholarships to support candidates who have difficulty in paying the contribution; these are given primarily to those who come from other continents. If you would like to be considered for a scholarship, please indicate so and briefly explain the reasons on the application form.

Any further questions, please contact the Training Committee at formacion@pbi-mexico.org.

*The selection process opens once a year. Follow our social media for more information about the opening dates of the call for volunteering.