Project Manager, Civil Society Advocacy and Campaigning

Summary:

IWPR's Mexico City office is seeking a highly motivated, energetic and creative project manager to take overall responsibility for the delivery and success of activities on a new project that seeks to enable civil society groups in Latin America and the Caribbean develop and implement communications plans which better transmit their messages to target audiences.

Project Description:

Democracy, Leadership and Communication: Building the Capacity of Civil Society to Communicate, Advocate and Organize is a project dedicated to supporting independent civil society organizations (CSOs) in repressive environments in the Latin America and Caribbean emerge as an increasingly empowered, responsive and unified force within society. The project will complement and multiply the impact of existing CSO programming through a range of support that builds institutional communications and advocacy capabilities, as well as developing the networking and profile-raising skills of organization's leaders. The project will facilitate collaboration between groups and enhance the ability of CSOs to represent their constituencies and further their cause nationally and internationally.

The overall objective of Democracy, Leadership and Communication is to bring about meaningful change by building the capacity of CSOs to be more responsive to the needs of their communities and to be better prepared to represent their concerns at national and international level. The project's specific objectives are to: a) build the capacity of CSOs to raise awareness, advocate, and communicate; b) ensure CSOs are more responsive to the needs of their constituents and are better able to represent their aspirations; and, c) cultivate increased collaboration between CSOs nationally and internationally.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Design and delivery of participative strategic communications planning workshops that will lead to more effective advocacy and awareness campaigns focused at target audiences;
• Distance and in-person mentoring of beneficiary groups to ensure learning is put into practice;
• Design and implementation of a monitoring and evaluation plan to measure outputs, outcomes and impact in collaboration with regional project director and monitoring and evaluation specialists;
• Work with senior staff to maintain and improve the quality of all training and outputs;
• Ensure that the Democracy, Leadership and Communication project is well managed and is delivering effective and relevant interventions within the country;
• Ensure that grant commitments are adhered to and delivered according to work plan, budget and project timeline while maintaining overall quality of the work;
• Ensure timely and accurate program reporting from local beneficiary organizations and overall project reporting to the donor;
• Ensure the proper training and oversight of local beneficiary organizations on sub-grant management to ensure they comply with laws and specific project components;
• Hire and manage international and local staff and consultants according to IWPR policy and employment regulations including equal opportunities policies;
• Ensure appropriate working conditions and consider at all times the safety and security of staff and consultants;
• Working with program finance officer, support the management of project finances and ensure that appropriate financial safeguards are in place;
• Collaborate with IWPR programme and development staff on grant writing and development of Latin America office programming;
• Undertake other duties that may be reasonably requested by the Program Director.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Requirements:

Work experience:

• Previous experience working in a development or human rights organization;
• Significant experience in facilitating participative strategic planning workshops with small/ community-based organizations;
• Significant experience of developing, implementing, managing and evaluating projects;
• Experience managing staff and consultants;
• Experience working in restrictive political environments highly desirable;
• Experience working with the media desirable;

Education:

• Undergraduate degree or an equivalent combination of work experience and training;
• Master's degree in international development or management and administration, with international focus preferred;

Skills:

• Extensive management and coordination skills;
• Extensive knowledge of program monitoring and evaluation techniques and best practices;
• Significant skill in drafting comprehensive reports, by organizing, analyzing, presenting data, reaching conclusions and developing recommendations;
• Strong skills in communications and English writing in professional English skills;
• Computer skills including Microsoft Word and Excel;
• Bilingual in English and Spanish.

Capabilities:

• A self-starter who can operate independently but is also able to work as part of a team;
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail;.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment while juggling and coordinating multiple projects and deadlines;.
• Cultural sensitivity and flexibility for working with people from various different backgrounds;.
• Motivated and results-oriented;.
• Positive, proactive attitude;
• Work with colleagues remotely across timezones.

Conditions:

• Ability to work additional hours as project implementation requires;
• Willingness to adapt to security measures needed to work in the region;
• The post will be be on a 19 month consultancy basis;
• First 60 days will constitute a trial period; continued work will be subject to successful completion of the trial period;
• This position is pending final funding approval.

How to apply:

Please submit your CV, a letter of motivation highlighting the skills and experiences that are most relevant to this position, and include your salary expectations to: america-latina@iwpr.net