Summary
Date Posted: Friday, November 19, 2021 , Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
Program Associate- Office of Eastern Africa

Ford Foundation is continuing to hire for all open roles with all interviewing and on-boarding done virtually due to COVID-19. Everyone new to the team, along with our current staff, will temporarily work from home until it is safe to return to our offices.
Instructions for Internal Applicants:
Attention Current Ford Foundation Employees: To submit an application for posted positions, please close this window and log into your Workday account and apply through the Career worklet.

Instructions for Applicants:
Please read the following carefully before beginning the online application process.
If you are just joining our Talent Pool, please disregard the instructions for applicants below.
To be considered for employment at Ford Foundation, please complete our online employment application. Your application and all required attachments must be submitted for each individual job post for which you are interested in applying. If there is an application deadline, please ensure that your application is submitted by the deadline. Once you submit your application you will not be able to edit your application.
The Ford Foundation, office of Eastern Africa seeks a dynamic, innovative Program Associate to support the program team as they drive and shape the foundation’s social justice work in the region. The Program Associate should have proven experience and knowledge in supporting collaborative work and an interest in human rights, supporting civil society and civic space- with an eye for youth participation, disability rights and gender equality - and will bring this perspective to grantmaking and the team as they implement the office strategy. The ideal candidate will be a detail-oriented, organized, problem solver who is able to collate, analyze and communicate data (quantitative and qualitative) and remains calm and gracious in high-pressure situations.

Background
Program Associates support a team of program staff who are working toward a shared team/regional strategy. Program Associates hold a variety of responsibilities related to the research, analysis and coordination of programmatic activities with a primary focus on the portfolio of grants made to support the teams’ strategy.
The Associate plays a critical role in supporting team learning and strategy by providing research and analysis, raising questions and tracking progress made towards outcomes, external context shifts, and the health of the field and organizations the program supports.
The Program Associate fosters engagement across a program team, has a high- level view of how the grantmaking of individual program officers on a team contributes to the team’s strategic outcomes, and encourages learning and evaluative thinking across the team. In addition to supporting the needs of their team, Program Associates also play a role in identifying cross-programmatic learning opportunities in collaboration with the Office of Strategy and Learning (OSL).

Principal Duties and Responsibilities
Grants Portfolio Strategy & Management
• Map all grants so that the team can understand the totality of investments, fostering learning across the team.
• Analyze and create periodic reports that summarize common themes across the portfolio of grants, for the purpose of shared team learning, strategy refinement and effective grantee support.
• Track grantmaking portfolio to support team's implementation of strategy.
• Act as the team’s reference person for grant coding and periodically review the portfolio coding to ensure integrity and consistency.
• Research, Analytics, Monitoring, Reporting and Knowledge Management
• Conduct research linked to strategy and grantmaking for the Director and program team members using a variety of external and internal resources (e.g., commercial online subscription databases, other web-based reference sources, Foundation information systems, and Foundation archives); consult external experts or other resources as per the research protocol.
• Support the Director and program team in analyzing data and identifying trends.
• Prepare quarterly presentations for leadership to illustrate the team's progress toward grantmaking goals.
• Summarize research findings in written documents, databases, presentations, or multimedia formats.
• Act as the team’s “information architect and manager,” partnering with the Information Management department. Create substantive materials for the team, collect and manage them according to Foundation protocols, and advise members of the team on how to access and use the information provided.
Grantee Relationship Management
• Support grantee and network convenings through agenda design and planning, prepping meeting materials, note-taking, synthesizing, and follow-up, general project management, and archiving key meeting materials.
• For convenings and site visits, develop and prepare background research and meeting materials.
• Project and Meeting Management
• Working with the Office of Strategy and Learning, create, implement and update learning tools for team learning and to share with other programmatic teams.
• Act as the main liaison with other programs/initiatives within the foundation such as BUILD, Disability Inclusion, PLUS funds, as defined by the team.
• Curate and share information and knowledge from the team.
Relationship Management
• Develop relationships with internal and external stakeholders to facilitate the Foundation’s work.
• At the direction of the manager, attend relevant meetings/conferences to gather information and knowledge to advance the foundation’s work.
Communication
• Serve as a team liaison to the Office of Communications on managing the profile of the program team on Ford's website; assist the team in identifying and sharing report backs to the field and external audiences on lessons learned.
• Develop presentations and reports on team's strategy, grantmaking, and on-going learning as needed for external and internal audiences.
General Administration
• Assist team members in responding to requests for information or other documentation from the various departments of the Foundation and from others outside of the Foundation.
• Serve as back-up to Program Assistants, Department Coordinator and Grants Managers, as needed.

Qualifications and Skills:
• 3-5 years experience working in program-related support capacity in human rights, development and/or social justice sectors
• Demonstrated proficiency with data collection, review, analysis, and reporting is essential
• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent required; Master’s Degree preferred or a combination of education and relevant experience.
• Fluency in English is essential. Working knowledge of a language spoken in the East African region desired
• Demonstrated proficiency with the use of software platforms and a high degree of comfort with multiple technology applications, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint and databases. Exceptional organizational and communications skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Demonstrated ability to work successfully in a multi-faceted, multitasking environments
• Demonstrated ability to be a productive member of a community of people at work, respecting differences while working toward shared goals, comfort with periods of ambiguity, constructive participation in ongoing organizational development.
• Diversity of experience working with a range of actors, which could include government, multi-lateral institutions, think tanks /universities, consultancy firms, civil society, NGOs, networks,and the private sector
• Implementation and/or research experience related to advancing social outcomes is a plus
• Knowledge of national and sub-national policies/initiatives, which would be useful to advance both our Regional Office priorities and the more global priorities of the foundation.
In addition, the Associate would have:
• Exceptional communications skills – strong active listening skills, constructive verbal and written skills, strong public presentation skills, high analytical ability
• Collaboration and team skills - working toward and influencing team collaboration, team building, and team effectiveness
Alignment to Culture and Values
• Commitment to the Foundation’s mission and core values of equity, openness, collaboration, trust, accountability and urgency
• Personal qualities of humility, capacity for self-reflection, and a sense of humor
• Discretion and ability to handle confidential issues
• Action-orientated and entrepreneurial self-starter who can work well independently and in teams

Benefits
• Medical and dental benefits for employee and immediate family on first day of work
• Retirement savings account with matching company contributions of up to 13%
• Three weeks’ paid vacation in first year of work; four weeks in subsequent years
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Office closed the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
• Professional development initiatives for growth
• Generous parental leave (maternal and paternal) during new child’s first year (born into family or adopted)

Education Requirement: No Requirements

Job Experience: No Requirements

Work Hours: 8 36 Bachelor Degree

Job application procedure
Click Here To Apply

All Jobs

QUICK ALERT SUBSCRIPTION