Myanmar: Program Manager, Myanmar and Thailand

About the Freedom Fund

The Freedom Fund (www.freedomfund.org) is a leader in the global fight against modern slavery. The Freedom Fund:

• 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 slavery.
• analyses which interventions work best and shares that knowledge.
• brings together a community of activists 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, Rajasthan, Ethiopia, Thailand, south-eastern Nepal, central Nepal and Myanmar. It currently supports and funds over 140 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 managing and implementing development and human rights programs. The successful candidate will oversee a portfolio of the Freedom Fund’s investments in Myanmar and Thailand. S/he will be based in Bangkok or Yangon and manage one Program Advisor in Bangkok and one in Yangon and report to two Senior Program Managers based in London. The position’s main responsibilities are to ensure Freedom Fund partners design and deliver quality programs, measure their impact, and support research and learning.

The consultant will be an independent contractor to the Freedom Fund and not an employee of the

organisation. The consultant is not eligible for any employee-related benefits.

The consultant will split their time equally between the Myanmar program and the Thailand program. The consultant will report to the Myanmar Senior Program Manager in relation to the Myanmar program, and the Thailand Senior Program Manager in relation to the Thailand program.

About the programs

Myanmar program

In 2020, the Freedom Fund will launch its newest hotspot program in Myanmar, where we will be working with local partner organisations to address the trafficking of Myanmar women to China for forced marriage and childbearing.

The Freedom Fund will coordinate the implementation of a strategy to assist women and girls by strengthening prevention and protection mechanisms and through partnerships with a number of local organisations and local authorities, including the police and border officers. The hotspot will support trafficking survivors to recover and reintegrate and assist them to repatriate to Myanmar on their return from slavery in China. Through the monitoring of this work and other research, we will learn more about the root causes and manifestations of this form of trafficking, as well as the networks and methods that perpetuate it. We will use this knowledge to advocate to the Myanmar government - and through it, the Chinese government - to improve interventions and promote better policies.

Thailand program

Since January 2015, the Freedom Fund has been operating a Thailand hotspot program aimed at preventing and responding to forced labour in the Thai seafood industry, including in the fishing, seafood processing and aquaculture industries. The seafood industry in Thailand is worth an estimated $6.5billion, and employs approximately 650,000 workers, many of which are migrant workers from Myanmar and Cambodia. The industry has made great strides to develop better regulation and improved business practices over the past five years, but more needs to be done to ensure these policies and processes are implemented and enforced on the ground. The Freedom Fund implements this project together with Humanity United, a U.S. based foundation.

In conjunction with Humanity United, the Freedom Fund has been supporting a portfolio of grants to NGOs and consultants to: undertake research and advocacy to government and business; support promising initaitives to accelerate reforms; and to build local CSO capacity and empower collective worker action. In order to achieve these aims, the Freedom Fund has worked with many international NGOs and consultants. Additionally, the Freedom Fund partners with six Thai-based CSOs to: empower migrant workers to collectively monitor and advocate for change; undertake evidence-based advocacy to government and business; and to provide direct services to migrant workers vulnerable to or affected by forced or bonded labour in the seafood sector.

Responsibilities

• Oversee Freedom Fund investments in Myanmar and Thailand, together with the Program Advisors in each hotspot.
• Provide coordination between in-country and HQ functions.
• Monitor partners’ implementation of their individual grants and the performance of the overall hotspot program.
• Compile periodic narrative and impact data reports for each hotspot.
• Provide support, coordination and mentorship of Freedom Fund grantees.
• Provide oversight of the hotpost budget and partners’ financial reporting with support from the Finance team.
• Ensure hotspot compliance with the Freedom Fund’s grant management systems.
• Commission and manage relevant research and technical assistance consultancies and ensure that lessons are appropriately shared and acted upon.
• Contribute as needed to the Freedom Fund’s global and movement-building initiatives.
• Work with other Freedom Fund teams as necessary, including research/M&E, safeguarding and finance.
• Occasional representation and outreach to existing and potential donors and the broader anti-slavery community.

Qualifications and experience

The Freedom Fund seeks an energetic, thoughtful and committed Program Manager, capable of operating with a high level of professionalism in a range of global settings. The successful candidate will have experience working with marginalised communities and a track record of implementing development programs with a strong monitoring and evaluation component. S/he will be highly organised and able to operate with minimal guidance.

Essential

• At least five years of directly relevant experience in international development program management, with significant time in a developing country.
• Experience of working with frontline organisations and serving marginalised communities.
• Experience employing rigorous monitoring and evaluation techniques and clear understanding of possibilities and limits of M&E in international development program management.
• Experience working with private and public donors.
• Experience preparing and managing budgets.
• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject.
• Entitled to work in Myanmar or Thailand.

Desirable

• Advanced degree in a relevant subject.
• Experience in the anti-slavery sector and/or in countries with a high incidence of slavery and/or in the field of labour migration or gender equality.
• Experience in grant-making.
• Thai and/or Burmese language skills.

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.
• Willingness and ability to travel, sometimes to remote communities, as required.

Applications should be submitted in English and include a CV, cover letter, incl. salary expectations (one page maximum), and contact details of three referees.

Please send applications by email in PDF format to jobs@freedomfund.org, including ‘Program Manager, Thailand and Myanmar’ in the subject line before 9am GMT on 2 January 2020.

Please note that only candidates selected for further consideration will be contacted.

No phone calls or agencies please.