Jobs at Ford Foundation Nairaobi Kenya: Program Officers

9:07 AM Ford Foundation , Kenya Jobs 2 Comments

The Ford Foundation Nairobi Kenya is currently recruiting for the underlisted positions

Position 1: Program Officer- Women's Rights and Sexuality and Reproductive Health &Rights

Position 2: Program Officer- Expanding Community Rights and Voice over Natural Resources

Position 1: Program Officer- Women's Rights and Sexuality and Reproductive Health &Rights
Application Deadline 30 Oct 2009
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Summary Description
The Program Officer will be responsible for implementing, monitoring, and coordinating grant making activities to advance the goals of two lines of work in East Africa: Protecting the Rights of Women and Girls and Addressing Social and Cultural Barriers to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. The overall aim of the Protecting the Rights of Women and Girls portfolio is to support efforts to fully implement laws and international commitments that address gender inequality and discrimination; build effective women’s networks and human rights organization that address structural causes of inequalities and gender discrimination; and strengthen the leadership capacity of marginalized women and girls to engage in transformative politics and to be effective advocates—articulating the problems that affect their lives and crafting solutions to help solve them. The Sexuality and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) portfolio will support work that helps young women to realize their sexual and reproductive rights and health by addressing underlying social, cultural and economic factors which limit young women’s abilities to protect and promote their sexual health and well being, including HIV/AIDS.

Under the supervision of the Representative in Kenya and the Directors of the Human Rights, and Sexuality and Reproductive Health and Rights programs in New York, the Program Officer will develop grant making approaches to Protect the Rights of Women and Girls that include: developing resources to support strategic advocacy on women’s priority concerns through development of national and regional women’s rights funds; supporting effective advocacy on a range of women’s rights issues; building capacity of key national and regional multi-focus women’s rights groups; supporting national and regional men for gender equality movements; supporting training for national and regional women’s rights networks to develop resource pools and identify the next generation of women’s rights activists; and developing and expanding national, regional mandates and the use of UN instruments to address and enforce women’s rights issues. Additionally, under the line of work focused on Sexuality and Reproductive Health, the Program Officer will develop grant making approaches that include: conducting research to analyze women’s priority concerns and emergent trends in socio-economic factors that make young vulnerable to poor SRHR/HIV/AIDS outcomes and identifying what contributes toward their resilience; support experiments that address the intersections of HIV/SRHR and economic and gender inequities, including livelihood programs that address gender biases, early marriage and sexuality issues; advancing the role of communities, leaders and young women themselves, in particular young women living with HIV/AIDS, in addressing these issues; mobilizing existing evidence to shift the perspective of key donors, policy makers, social and political leaders in favor of interventions that address socio-economic factors, social norms and cultural values that support young women’s empowerment and SRHR; and developing effective civil society advocacy programs that impact government SRHR programs and budget allocations.

Specifically, the Program Officer will review the current status of the field and the status of the grants in the Foundation’s existing portfolio; formulate plans to implement grant making in the new program strategies; solicit, review, and respond to grant proposals; prepare recommendations for foundation funding. S/he will be expected to provide intellectual leadership in the field of women’s rights and sexuality and reproductive health and to work closely with other Foundation Program Officers whose work relates to the portfolios’ central missions. S/he also is expected to collaborate broadly with scholars, practitioners, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other donors. The Program Officer will contribute both to the office’s strategic direction for East Africa, and to the foundation’s overall goals related to women’s rights and sexuality and reproductive health worldwide.
Learn more about our work in Eastern Africa

Qualifications
Significant professional experience (ideally over 10 years) in the field of human rights advocacy and with gender equality movements in the global south, particularly East Africa. Demonstrated experience conducting action research on women’s rights, sexuality and reproductive health/rights and HIV/AIDS and linking new knowledge to inform advocacy and policy in support of women’s empowerment. Direct work experience with rights-based youth organizing, advocacy and empowerment. A broad understanding of human rights, specifically women’s human rights issues and the intersection between SRHR and HIV/AIDs. Demonstrated capacity to analyze, research, conceptualize, design and lead innovative program strategies. An advanced degree in sociology, anthropology, gender studies, law or other relevant discipline is required. Demonstrated field experience and expertise in East Africa and/or other regions in the global south. Grant-making experience is an advantage. A strong desire to achieve impact; a proven track record of achieving change; strong communications capabilities, including a clear ability to convene, build strong partnerships with NGOs, CBOs and other funding agencies, and drive a group to action; and the proven capacity to work in teams.
Salary is based on experience and on the Foundation’s commitment to internal equity. A generous benefits package is provided.
Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at the Ford Foundation, where employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.
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Position 2: Program Officer- Expanding Community Rights and Voice over Natural Resources

Application Deadline: 05 Nov 2009
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Summary Description
The Program Officer will be responsible for implementing, monitoring, and coordinating grant making activities in the Expanding Community Rights and Voice over Natural Resources portfolio, which seeks to support the development of natural resource policies and programs that give poor communities more control over these resources and a stronger voice in decision making on questions facing land reform in East Africa. The work will focus on the most vulnerable groups, including ethnic minorities, women and youth whose access to natural resources is most threatened and will geographically focus and be informed by experiences at the community and national levels in three countries—Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Grant making in this portfolio will be largely organized to advance the goals of a Foundation line of work entitled: Expanding Community Rights over Natural Resources in Eastern Africa. The long term goal of this line of work is to assist poor rural communities in the region to secure rights and access to natural assets and to create conducive conditions under which their livelihoods can be enhanced through the utilization of these natural assets in order to reduce poverty and injustice in the region.

Under the supervision of the Representative in Kenya and the Director of the Natural Assets unit (based in Nicaragua), the Program Officer will develop grant making and other program activities to implement five strategies to achieve program goals: 1) research and development: supporting research and development efforts designed to generate policy research on key issues of land tenure security for the rural poor, vulnerable and marginalized groups--to inform policy interventions and provide recommendations for reform; 2) pilot experiments that: build the capacity of marginalized communities to understand their legal and constitutional rights to land and natural resources, claim those rights through social and legal action, and secure their right to own, use and control ancestral land, territories and natural resources; test and implement innovative aspects of the land policy to demonstrate benefits and provide concrete examples of the impacts of a revised policy, and; test and develop sustainable land use and management practice for reclaimed land and natural resources; 3) training: develop and implement training programs to improve the skills and knowledge of communities, professionals from support organizations, media professionals, policy-makers and other relevant groups on issues around land and natural resource rights; 4) institutional strengthening: strengthen the capacity and improve the skills and knowledge of local East African institutions, civil society and communities to conduct research and participate in policy formulation, advocacy, monitoring and evaluation of the land policy reform process; and 5) communication: engage with public interest media as an important platform for building new constituencies, framing strategic communication and shifting public discourse on the question of land and natural resource.

Specifically, the program officer will review the current status of the field, the recently developed program strategies related to Natural Assets, and the status of the grants in the Foundation’s existing portfolio; formulate plans to implement grant making in the new program strategies; solicit, review, and respond to grant proposals; prepare recommendations for foundation funding; and work with other foundation staff to develop learning strategies related to natural resource policies and policy processes. The Program Officer will be expected to provide intellectual leadership in the field of pro-poor natural resource policies and to work closely with other Program Officers throughout the Foundation whose work relates to the central mission of the portfolio. The Program Officer also is expected to collaborate broadly with scholars and practitioners, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other donors on issues of common program concern. The Program Officer will contribute both to the office’s strategic direction for East Africa, and to the foundation’s overall goals related to natural resources worldwide.
Learn more about our work in Eastern Africa

Qualifications
Significant professional experience (ideally over 10 years) working on gender issues, with a particular focus on women’s land rights, gender and land tenure, and natural resource management in East Africa and/or other regions in the global south. Demonstrated experience conducting action research on land rights of marginalized groups, including women and ethnic minorities, and linking research with advocacy and policy. Direct experience building the capacity of vulnerable groups to understand their legal and constitutional rights to land and natural resources and to claim those rights. A broad understanding of human rights, specifically women’s human rights issues as well as field experience and expertise in East Africa and/or other regions in the global south. Demonstrated capacity to analyze, research, conceptualize, design and lead innovative program strategies. Advanced oral and written communication skills. Graduate degree in social sciences: sociology, anthropology, gender studies, agricultural economics, human geography or other relevant discipline is required. Grant-making experience is an advantage. A strong desire to achieve impact; a proven track record of achieving change; strong communications capabilities, including a clear ability to convene, build strong partnerships with NGOs, CBOs and other funding agencies, and drive a group to action; and the proven capacity to work in teams.
Salary is based on experience and on the Foundation’s commitment to internal equity. A generous benefits package is provided.
Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at the Ford Foundation, where employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law.
Apply for this Position