Africa Project Accelerate Manager

The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) established in 2004 is the largest anti-poverty movement worldwide.  It currently has coalitions in more than 100 countries, 34 of which are in Africa covering a wide range of interests such as faith based organisations, trade unions, environmental groups, human rights groups, women and youth groups, climate change activists and community groups. In the last 3 years it has mobilised more than 116 million supporters around its annual event ‘Stand Up Against Poverty’. GCAP engages with the G8, G20, G152 and other world leaders on a variety of issues including:

• Public accountability, just governance and the fulfillment of human rights
• Trade justice
• A major increase in the quantity and quality of aid and financing for development
• Climate change
• Debt cancellation

GCAP visibility and voice have made it an important influencing force at the national and international level. This is a crucial period in the struggle against poverty and inequality, but also a key moment for GCAP.  This year we are embarking on  a new initiative funded by Gates Foundation, ‘Project Accelerate’. This multi year initiative aims to build on and enhance GCAP’s work Africa, by supporting the capacity building of five GCAP national coalitions in eastern and southern Africa and also developing capacity at the global level in our G8 campaigning. To this end GCAP is seeking to recruit a full-time Project Manager to oversee the Africa capacity-building component of this crucial initiative.

 

Job Specification

Reporting directly to GCAP’s Global Campaign Director, GCAP Foundation Board and GCAP’s African Governing Council the Africa Project Accelerate Manager will ensure the implementation of the three core objectives of this project in five national African coalitions participating in the project:

1. A stronger constituency comprising an informed and engaged public that puts ending poverty as priority for their government.
2. A more engaged and active media covering poverty, inequality and the Millennium Development Goals so that the wider public is aware of facts and the realities.
3. An enhanced ability of the coalitions to influence the policy agenda at the national level and to feed into GCAP Africa and global level policy discussions.

Dimensions

• Liaising with GCAP Africa and global secretariats and supporting national coalitions to engage in effective communication with a range of civil society organisations, the media, government officials, parliamentarians and GCAP partners.
• Ensuring the effective implementation of an extensive policy and advocacy strategy.
• Extensive analysis and report writing on key poverty issues; developing policy and formulating advocacy strategies in support of national and regional campaigns.
  

Key responsibilities

• Assist Project Africa Steering Committee in selecting the 05 national coalitions to be included in the project based on the agreed criteria. This will mainly involve further investigation/inquiry if there is not sufficient information to make decisions, or require validation of what is already known.
• Lead and motivate national coalitions to have a clear work plan and to develop campaign and advocacy tools and materials for the capacity-building project by helping them to identify resource persons, access learning materials produced by other organisations, and share tools and methods developed in other countries involved in this project.
• Develop a database of learning materials and training methods and media tools that can be harnessed and mobilised by national coalitions, both for this process and for future training needs.
• Support national coalitions to organize their planning meetings and ensure regular support through monitoring and review meetings.
• Review and provide approval for funding disbursement with the relevant national coalitions’ project steering committee with guidance from GCAP Foundation Board.
• Compilation of annual activities and ad hoc activities reports submitted by national coalitions project Facilitators.
• Foster linkages and encourage synergy among the five countries, including planning annual review meetings link that to GCAP Africa and other parts of GCAP including constituency groups.
• Link GCAP Africa campaigners to global processes such as the G8, G20, UN to ensure African civil society voices are heard on the global stage,
• Feed into GCAP Africa capacity-building discussions and global as needed.
• Develop the mechanism/framework for evaluating the effectiveness of the project and support provided, and recommend strategies for scaling-up this capacity-building initiative to other GCAP Africa national coalitions.
  

Person Specification

• Proven track record as project manager in capacity building or advocacy in Africa.(E);
• Advanced knowledge of African civil society and continental campaigns (E);
• Experience in developing and implementing high impact civil society lobbying, campaigning and media advocacy strategies in Africa (E);
• Results oriented with excellent demand management, planning, budget development oversight and prioritisation skills (E);
• An in-depth knowledge of the key issues and trends in development such as poverty, with specific knowledge and understanding of key approaches and cross cutting issues such as partnerships, civil society development including  coalition and alliances development, participatory approaches, gender and human rights (E);
• Knowledge of and affinity with the aims and objectives of GCAP at global and Africa level with particular reference to eastern and southern Africa (E);
• Strong leadership and effective people management skills and an ability to lead, motivate and work in a team with people in different locations (E).
• Excellent interpersonal and communication including the use of ICTs in English (E). Knowledge of another international language is an advantage (D).
• Willingness and ability to travel in Africa and internationally as required (E);
• Demonstrate a strong ability to build and maintain productive relationships with different stakeholders (E);

Application process

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and a CV by June 30th, 2009 to Rajiv Joshi using the following email address: jobs[at]whiteband.org

African female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.