Country: India, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Closing date: 22 Dec 2017
About the Freedom Fund
The Freedom Fund (www.freedomfund.org) is a leader in the global fight against modern slavery. It:
• generates private funding by demonstrating how effective interventions can protect those at risk of being enslaved and free those in slavery.
• invests in those countries and sectors with the greatest incidence of bonded labour, trafficking and child labour.
• analyses which interventions work best, and shares that knowledge.
• brings together those committed to ending slavery and empowered by the knowledge of how best to do so.
The Freedom Fund has programs in northern India, southern India, Ethiopia, Thailand, south-eastern Nepal and central Nepal. It currently supports and funds over 100 organisations in these regions, the vast majority of which are frontline, community-based NGOs.
About the position
This is an exciting and demanding role for an outstanding individual with experience in setting up, managing and implementing development and human rights programs. The successful candidate will guide a portfolio of the Freedom Fund’s investments and relationships for its new hotspot against child labour in Jaipur, with potential for involvement in other areas of work as well. S/he will either join our small London-based team or will work remotely, based in NCR or Jaipur area. The Freedom Fund will have a team of 4 India-based hotspot program advisors in different roles for the program. S/he will work closely with the Freedom Fund’s partners on the ground to support design and delivery of quality programs, measure their impact, and support research and learning on behalf of the wider anti-slavery sector.
About the program
The aim of this new hotspot initiative is to demonstrate how committed actions by two Indian state governments (Rajasthan and Bihar) and a united strategy involving state governments, the handicraft business, enforcement systems, and communities can tackle an endemic child labour problem in the city of Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.
In Jaipur, there are an estimated 50,000 children trapped in hazardous workshops, producing bangles, embroidery, sarees and fashion jewellery, as well as in other forms of child labour across the city. Most of the trafficked children are from Bihar. In the workshops, many are forced to work for up to 15 hours a day in difficult conditions, leading to long-term damage to their physical and mental health.
The hotspot program has the following components:
• Launching and sustaining the program with government leadership in both Rajasthan and Bihar. Senior officials from both states have confirmed the need for inter-state collaboration against child trafficking to Jaipur.
• Engaging with relevant business sectors to facilitate their movement away from child labour. This will include developing a certified flow of child labour free goods.
• Multi-stakeholder engagement within Jaipur to create a child labour free zone. This will include expanding removal of children from exploitation, and improving protection and legal action, as well as community-based neighbourhood mobilisation. Highly-visible marketing of “child labour free Jaipur” will promote city wide consciousness.
• Inter-state collaboration for reintegration of rescued child labourers and funding the expansion of Bihar NGOs to work with government to support recovery of these children.
• Outreach to help replicate the model in other parts of the country. News about verified progress against child labour will be disseminated through media. Independent validation of results will highlight the strategies used, so that other governments and funders can undertake similar initiatives.
Key deliverables
• Help set up, contract for and guide Freedom Fund investments in relation to the Rajasthan hotspot.
• Ensure that investments, targets and implementation are clearly specified and in alignment with the hotspot strategy. Help to further develop that strategy.
• Maintain and update the annual Rajasthan program budget. Ensure that all funded partners are financially accountable and transparent.
• Monitor program and partner performance against objectives, collating quantitative and narrative reports.
• Help to commission/manage program evaluations by independent research institutions and ensure that lessons are appropriately shared and acted upon.
• Ensure that all program activities are consistent with Freedom Fund standards of quality and protection of human rights.
• Coordinate Rajasthan team meetings, individual workplans and internal communications.
• Oversee or contribute as needed to the Freedom Fund’s global and movement-building initiatives.
• Provide research, M&E and other support as directed.
Qualifications and experience
The Freedom Fund seeks an energetic, thoughtful and committed Program Officer, capable of operating with a high level of professionalism. The successful candidate will have experience working with poor and marginalised communities and a track record of implementing development programs with a strong monitoring and evaluation component.
Essential
• At least five years’ of directly relevant experience, with significant time in a developing country
• Direct experience of working with marginalised communities
• Grantmaking experience on behalf of international organisations to local civil society organisations
• Experience of coordinating workflows and planning multiple workstreams within an operational team.
• Experience employing rigorous monitoring and evaluation techniques and clear understanding of possibilities and limits of M&E in development
• Experience working with private and public donors
• Experience preparing and managing budgets, and ensuring financial accountability by grantees
• Bachelor’s degree
• High proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (especially Word and Excel)
• Entitled to work in the UK without work permit sponsorship from the Freedom Fund, OR entitled to work in India
Desirable
• Advanced degree
• Experience in the anti-slavery sector and in countries with a high incidence of slavery
• Experience of work in Indian context
• Knowledge of languages other than English, especially Hindi
Personal attributes
Essential
• Team player committed to the Freedom Fund’s values and passionate about human rights issues.
• Ability to build relationships with a wide range of individuals from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to work independently, displaying strong initiative in solving day-to-day problems with limited direction.
• Outstanding oral and written English communication skills and ability to present information in compelling ways.
• Detail oriented, with ability to manage, track and organise data, including numerical data.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally, sometimes to remote communities, as required.
Compensation
• Competitive salary based on experience and qualifications.
• If in UK: Season ticket loan and childcare voucher schemes available.
How to apply:
Applications should be submitted in English and include a CV, cover letter (maximum one page) and contact details of three referees.
Please send applications by email in PDF format to jobs@freedomfund.org, including ‘Rajasthan Program Officer’ in the subject line before 9am GMT on Friday, 22 December 2017.
Please note that only candidates selected for further consideration will be contacted. No phone calls please. No agencies please.
The Freedom Fund is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages candidates of all backgrounds to apply for this position. Applicants must be eligible to work in the United Kingdom or India.