Civil Society Organization (CSO) Capacity Strengthening Technical Advisor; Small grants program

OPEN POSITION: Civil Society Organization (CSO) Capacity Strengthening Technical Advisor; Small grants program

REPORTS TO: Executive Director and SRMNCAH Project Manager

LOCATION: Bangladesh, Cambodia, or Nepal

HIRING NEED: June 2022 – December 2024; Full-time position

BACKGROUND

CORE Group fosters collaborative action and learning to improve and expand community-focused public health practices. Established in 1997 in Washington D.C., CORE Group is an independent not-for- profit hybrid, membership organization, and home of the International Community Health Network, which brings together over 15,000 global health practitioners- CORE Group member organizations, scholars, advocates, and donors to support the global health of underserved women, children, adolescents, and communities around the world. Learn more here: www.coregroup.org.

CORE Group is developing and implementing a participatory 3-year small grants program to advance Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (SRMNCAH) programming, policy, and interventions in three priority countries, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Nepal, by providing financial, SRMNCAH technical, and organizational resources to local women-led, youth-led, people with disabilities-led organizations, and other community-based organizations. This approach will strengthen local and national organizations’ technical and organizational capacity to design and implement community-based solutions to SRMNCAH challenges, focusing on gender transformation, quality of care, and health equity.

The overall outcomes of the project are:

Overall Outcome #1:

Community-based solutions for SRMNCAH developed in this project strengthen the national health system to become sustainable in the longer term.

Overall Outcome #2:

Successful project’s interventions lead to SRMNACH improvements, especially for women and girls, in the communities of implementation in the three selected countries.

Overall Outcome #3:

An innovative, inclusive sustainable grant-making model is developed for SRMNCAH that other donors and financing organizations replicate.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Based in Bangladesh, Cambodia, or Nepal, the Civil Society Organization (CSO) Capacity Strengthening Technical Advisor will be responsible for leading the organizational assessment, capacity strengthening and development of CSOs that are awarded small grants under the 3-year SRMNCAH Small Grants project. The CSOs will be implementing SRMNCAH interventions, however, participatory CSO organizational strengthening is also a main objective of the project, as well as localization, equity, and decolonization in small grants programs.

The CSO Capacity Strengthening Technical Advisor will work closely with the Project Manager to coordinate all project CSO outreach for the small grants process and capacity strengthening activities. This includes participatory assessment of institutional development needs of local organizations, providing training to CSOs to strengthen their capacities in organizational systems, planning, budgets, gender policies, governance structures, strategic planning, safeguarding policies, communications, and policy and programs infrastructure, and more.

Additionally, the CSO Capacity Strengthening Technical Advisor will work with the Project Manager on creating the long- and short-term project strategy, developing the monitoring, evaluation and learning process, external relations, donor relations, and other aspects of the project, related to the CSOs organizational capacity strengthening.

Salary range: $95,000 – $100,000 annual salary plus employee benefits.

RESPONSIBILITIES

General responsibilities will include, but not be limited to the following:

Provide CSO Organizational Capacity Strengthening technical support for project sub-grantees

· The candidate must have experience providing technical organizational capacity strengthening for programs focused on CSO organizational strengthening;

· Identify institutional development needs of local CSOs sub-awardees, in a participatory assessment;

· Coordinate relevant training programs and providing training and organizational technical assistance to CSOs;

· Coordinating with the Project Manager for all aspects of project planning, monitoring, and evaluation, to achieve project result;

· Develop an overall capacity-building strategy that will sustainably strengthen the capacity of CSO sub-grantees;

· Establish collaborative partnerships with implementing sub-grantees, technical experts, and other stakeholders;

· In collaboration with the Project Manager, develop an internal and external learning agenda to capture all aspects of learning from the start of the project, in the organizational capacity strengthening areas;

· Provide technical support to staff and local partners in ensuring capacity strengthening activities are promoting best practices as appropriate to the needs of the organizations;

· Ensure appropriate mix and balance of training, TA, coaching, mentoring, and information sharing;

· Ensure gender transformative approach to the organizational capacity strengthening of the project through clear protocols, guidelines, SOPs, etc., in collaboration with the Project team;

· Develop and draft program work plans, reports and other documentation as needed, such as training and resource materials, presentations, etc., in collaboration with the Project team;

· Contribute to the robust participatory M&E framework, that ensures accountability, learning, and monitoring for the organizational strengthening aspects of project

· With the Technical Programs Coordinator, support communications and advocacy on the project including the collection and dissemination of success stories, related to CSO Organizational Strengthening.

· Contribute to the creation, collection, and documentation of knowledge about the project

through the analysis of the project strategies, approaches and ongoing experience for lessons learned, best practices, and use this knowledge for information sharing, planning future strategies, and possible project scale up, specifically for the CSO organizational strengthening of the project.

· Implement innovative approaches to ensure the effectiveness of training and organizational capacity development initiatives.

Partnership development & external relations

· Participate in and lead external meetings and conferences, as requested, to share the CSO Organizational Capacity Strengthening progress and learning for the project

· Collaborate in regional and global forums on CSO Organizational Strengthening, convene civil society organizations around CSO Organizational Strengthening issues related to the project, and ensure decolonization and equity approaches to all partnerships with global, regional and country-level partners.

· Develop and maintain relationships with the CORE Group Working Group Co-chairs, and relevant CORE Group members working on localization, CSO organizational capacity strengthening, and other relevant topics

· Maintain external communication with the donor and other stakeholders, in conjunction with the project team.

· Master’s degree in public health, international studies, international development, or similar educational training.

· Minimum of five (5) years of experience providing organizational capacity-building support through training, consultations and other mechanisms to CSOs with varying levels of organizational capacity.

· At least three (3) years of project management and/or supervisory experience.

· Experience providing capacity strengthening around policy advocacy, research and publication, coalition building, and media engagement.

· Proven project management skills including project development, monitoring and evaluation and report writing.

· Demonstrated experience in civil society, equity, governance, organizational capacity building, advocacy, or other related democracy and governance sectors.

· Demonstrated experience with gender transformative approaches, equity, localization and decolonization principles and approaches.

· Minimum three (3) years substantive training experience, including the design, facilitation and delivery of participatory trainings and training-of-trainer workshops for adult learners.

· Experience working in/with CSOs is necessary.

· Proven interpersonal and written/oral communication skills and the ability to lead/work with diverse and multidisciplinary teams; Experience leading and working with remote teams, delegating effectively, and managing multiple time zones.

· Experience working on small grants/sub-grant programs preferred.

· Experience working with an international non-governmental organization is desired.

· Experience in Microsoft Suite, Office365, video conferencing software (Zoom)

· Ability to multi-task, solve problems and manage multiple deadlines.

· Must have the ability to work with flexibility in a team setting.

· Oral and written fluency in English required; Knowledge of local languages is preferred.

CORE Group has an office in Washington DC. However, this position will be remote, from any of the three priority countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, or Nepal), but must be available for United States East Coast (ET) time zone meetings, as well as work in the selected countries. Individuals from the Global South are encouraged to apply, as well as women, people living with disabilities, indigenous persons, and members of the LGBTQI+ community.