The SWAP Foundation is pleased to offer a two month voluntary position for a political observer, February/March 2010, leading up to and including the 2011 Elections.
Samoa is known for its stable political environment and elections occur once every five years. the current Prime Minister Tuila’epa is Patron of the SWAP Foundation and recently opened The Airport Lounge.
This position is requires strong people skills – it will be an advantage to speak Samoan and understand the Samoan culture – and is entirely an observational role. Our successful applicant will be a SWAP Ambassador for the duration of the election campaign and week following the elections. Information produced will be reports, updates, stories, blog posts and background information published on the Samoan tourism information portal website www.thesamoastory.com, and the SWAP blog(s) www.SWAPsamoa.com.
The position is a voluntary one that offers direct access to many key people in government, and of course the various Member of Parliament candidates. The SWAP Foundation provides food and accommodation while on-island. Transport to Samoa is your care.
Amongst other more mundane things such as swatting flies and mosquitos and drinking litres of chilled water, you will be accompanying candidates on the campaign trail, interviewing, photographing and writing for the web. Developing projects, subjects, questions and objectives will be a team effort under the guidance of the SWAP Foundation. It will be challenging and sometimes exhausting work but will always be enjoyable and sure to be a very memorable experience for any aspiring politician, journalist or commentator.
The writing genre will be a mixture of your personal experiences and opinion mixed with core facts depending on the intended usage of the material. We avoid sensationalism such as undertaken by news media organisations. We avoid and complement the formal style of an encyclopaedia such as Wikipedia or the official Parliamentary website. We are more of an information gathering and resource provider rather than a news organisation but we can provide news outlets with stories from time to time. As observers we are required to be a-political – i.e. politically neutral. (Well, as best as we can anyway!)
Applications can be made online. If you are interested in the politics of Samoa and would love to share your experiences with the world via the web – now is your chance! We look forward to talking with you.