Country: Brazil
Closing date: 17 Dec 2019
Summary
The Freedom Fund is seeking an experienced program advisor to develop an intervention strategy with the goal of reducing the prevalence of the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Brazil. The successful candidate will also help to identify and liaise with Brazilian organisations that could form a potential coalition to implement the strategy and engage with prospective philanthropists interested in supporting the project. This is an initial six-month role, with the possibility of extension if the project goes ahead.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- have the right to work in Brazil;
- be available to work full time in Brazil from 1 February 2020 for six months;
- be fluent in Portuguese and have strong communication skills in English;
- have knowledge and experience of working on anti-human trafficking and modern slavery-related initiatives; experience in other key areas such as workers’ rights, economic empowerment, mental health, migration, environmental rights, would be an asset;
- have significant experience engaging with philanthropists.
About the Freedom Fund
The Freedom Fund identifies and invests in the most effective frontline efforts to eradicate modern slavery in the countries and sectors where it is most prevalent. Partnering with investors, governments, anti-slavery organisations and those at risk of exploitation, we tackle the systems that allow slavery to persist and thrive. Working together, we protect vulnerable populations, liberate and reintegrate those enslaved and prosecute those responsible.
The Freedom Fund carries out most of its work through multi-year “hotspot” programs, in which we fund and support clusters of civil society organisations to carry out a range of interventions on their own and in coalition with each other. We focus primarily on community-based organisations as we see these as the most effective agents of change, with capacity to deeply understand and challenge the status quo. We also support national and international NGOs and other types of organisation where appropriate.
Our programs typically include a combination of interventions aimed at strengthening government systems, reducing community-based vulnerability, challenging social norms, and engaging with the economic and business drivers of slavery.
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Brazil
It is impossible to know the exact number of children and young people in Brazil who are forced into situations of commercial sexual exploitation, but estimates put the number as high as 500,000. After Thailand, Brazil is thought to have the largest number of children exploited to service the sexual demands of locals and tourists.
However, despite the scale of the problem, the commercial exploitation of children (CSEC) remains almost invisible to Brazilians across the country. There is little official data recorded by law enforcement or government agencies. The lack of reliable data makes it extremely challenging to develop effective public policies. Further, the invisibility of CSEC is compounded by widespread community attitudes that either trivialise the problem or regard it as “normal” practice.
Minors who fall victim to CSEC almost exclusively come from the poorest and marginalised communities in Brazil but the pathways that lead to CSEC are varied. In cases of extreme household poverty, children are sometimes encouraged by their families to provide sexual services for food or other goods. Minors may also be lured by men – often connected with their local school – into exchanging sexual “dates” for gifts, such as shoes, clothes or mobile phones. Other adolescents leave their community and move to the city in search of a better life. Some will end up exploited in street-based sex work or trafficked by CSEC networks and saddled with a debt they can never repay.
CSEC, in its many various forms, can be found in all major cities in Brazil, and there is anecdotal evidence indicating that there is also a high prevalence of CSEC in many regional and rural centres across the country.
In 2018, the Freedom Fund commissioned a scoping study to better understand the root causes and pathways into CSEC in Brazil and assess whether a hotspot program could help build new and sustainable partnerships to tackle this problem. The research concluded that there is an urgent need for this work and a strong justification for the Freedom Fund to consider establishing a program. This role will help us to develop a more detailed intervention strategy and engage with potential funders in Brazil.
Scope of the role
The program advisor will have two main responsibilities:
Building on the findings of our 2018 scoping study, develop and refine our strategy for launching a multi-year hotspot program in Brazil. The program advisor will be expected to recommend:
- the most suitable location – likely a single urban centre – for the intervention (taking into account options considered as part of the 2018 study)
- an overall theory of change
- an outline budget
- relevant stakeholders and potential partners
- risks and mitigation strategies
The final document should be informed by interviews with relevant experts and implementers in the proposed location; review of relevant documents; meetings with communities affected by this issue or survivors of CSEC and guided by regular check-in calls with a Freedom Fund team member in London. (A full template for the final document will be shared by the Freedom Fund.)
Secondly, the Program advisor will engage with potential donors to the program: In close coordination with the Freedom Fund’s fundraising team, the program advisor will brief interested philanthropists on the Freedom Fund’s plans in Brazil and participate in events that bring together the Brazilian philanthropic community.
The successful candidate will also assist the Freedom Fund to register its operations in Brazil should this be deemed necessary.
Contract Period
Term of role: This is a six-month consultancy role that requires the equivalent of full-time hours.
How to apply:
Please send applications by email in PDF format to jobs@freedomfund.org, including ‘Brazil Program Advisor’ in the subject line before 9.00am BSTon 17 December 2019.
Applications should include:
- A cover letter in English outlining relevant skills and experience.
- An up-to-date CV in English.
- A sample of a strategy you have developed in the past (if applicable). Alternatively, a previous piece of work which illustrates your research and writing skills. This can be in Portuguese or English.
- Your proposed monthly fee in US$.
All documents must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word or PDF form.
Please note that only candidates selected for further consideration will be contacted. No phone calls please. No agencies please.
Informal queries relating to the consultancy should be submitted to Dan Vexler to the following address: dvexler@freedomfund.org