CF Source: Foundation

Background

The Commonwealth Foundation is a development organisation with an international remit and reach, uniquely situated at the interface between government and civil society.

The Foundation supports civil voices, so that it can engage in policy processes more effectively. This means supporting organisations, networks, and collectives to develop, articulate and progress an agenda and then to identify and utilize the spaces available in governance structures.

The area of work

The Foundation facilitates the design and implementation of initiatives that promote constructive engagement between civil voices and governance institutions (global, regional and national, in the Commonwealth and beyond). For the strategy period of 2017-2021, one of the main programmes of the Foundation is Participatory Governance and Gender The Commonwealth Foundation will focus on strengthening civic voice, promoting constructive engagement in policy processes, enhancing capacities to address gender disparities, and foster learning. The Participatory Governance & Gender (PGG) team will consist of a Manager, two Senior Programme Officers (SPOs) and one Intern. The roles of the two SPOs are detailed below.  Both will have a Participatory Governance focus and Gender focus; however, one will lead more on the Gender side.

The role

This position will support the design, execution of capacity development initiatives to foster constructive engagement and will play a key role in creating spaces and brokering initiatives to strengthen civic voices participation in a manner that ensures the achievement of objectives set out in the Foundation’s strategic Plan and adhering to its principles and approaches.

The person

The successful candidate will have a sound experience on advocacy supporting civic voices access to platforms and constructive engagement processes. The successful candidate will have worked in developing country(ies) and developed an understanding of the sensitivities of cross cultural work and have a good knowledge of international development issues. You will have excellent project management skills and a sound understanding of monitoring and evaluation methodologies using results based management.  You will possess a good understanding of civil society organisations and the field of participatory governance with experience of working with networks and proven record of working with networks in cross cultural settings. You will have excellent organisational skills, with attention to detail and be a self-starter who is able to prioritise your own workload and multi-task as required.

Closing Date:  

Monday 28 August 2017, midnight UK time

Interviews:  

Week of 4 September 2017

Salary & Key Benefits:

• In the region of £35,000 to £37,000 PA
• 15% of gross salary in a tax free gratuity payment. This can be used for personal pension scheme.  The monies are available for withdrawal every 3 years
• Holiday allowance of 30 days (plus 8 bank holidays and 4 privilege days)

Process

Applications must be accompanied by a Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letter. Find a full job description below. Note that legislation changes for paid work mean that applicants must have right to work and live in the UK.

N.B. As the Senior Programme Officer, Participatory Governance and Senior Programme Officer, Gender and Participatory Governance positions share some similar specifications, applicants who wish to do so are permitted to apply to both roles using the same Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letter. Please indicate if this is your intention by selecting both check boxes in the application form.

The Commonwealth Foundation is a development organisation with an international remit and reach, uniquely situated at the interface between government and civil society.

We develop the capacity of civil society to act together and learn from each other to engage with the institutions that shape people’s lives. We strive for more effective, responsive and accountable governance with civil society participation, which contributes to improved development outcomes.

The role

We are looking for an Intern to work in one of our key programme areas. The internship will be London based and support the activities of this area.

The person

The individual should have excellent research skills, administrative skills and ideally have a knowledge of the development arena.

Closing Date:  

Friday 28 July 2017

Allowance & Duration:

• £50 per day
• 1 year duration
• As an internship this does not constitute employment with the Foundation. There are no payments for holiday or sickness.

Legislation

Under UK employment law you must have the right to live in the UK either by having a nationality from a qualifying member country of the European Union or by possessing an appropriate visa. The Foundation is unable to sponsor any visa applications, so this must be in place at time of applying.
More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/eu-eea and https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration . Commonwealth citizens who do not possess an appropriate visa, in line with UK legislation, do not have an automatic right to work in the UK.

Process

Applications must be accompanied by a Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letter. Find a full job description below. Note that legislation changes for paid work mean that applicants must have right to work and live in the UK.

The overall purpose of the evaluation is to evaluate the work of the Commonwealth Foundation during the 2012-16 Strategy period (subsequently extended to 2017).

In addition, the evaluation has three complementary purposes:

• Learning: Provide lessons to feed into the consultations on the new Commonwealth Foundation strategy to be launched in July 2017. The ToR make specific reference to lessons regarding the Foundation’s future Logic Model  or Theory of Change; the shape and modalities of its programmes; and the Foundation’s own organisation and ways of working, including its planning, monitoring, assessment and knowledge sharing processes.
• Accountability: Provide the basis for the Foundation to be accountable to its Board of Governance and Executive Committee for the achievements of its programmes and projects, and of the quality of organisational support associated with those.
• Communications: Identify for a wider audience some of the key issues and findings of the evaluation in relation to the Foundation’s outcomes of creative expression, capacity development and constructive engagement with governance.

The primary objective of the Foundation’s work is to promote the participation of civil society in effective, responsive and accountable governance. In pursuit of this objective the Foundation supports four Outcome Area programmes – Creative Expression, Capacity Development, Constructive Engagement and Knowledge Management – and a Grants Programme which is aligned to those Outcome Areas. The evaluation reviews the performance of the Outcome Area and Grants programmes during the strategy period, and the support offered by the Foundation to these programmes.

Photo: Flickr CC Jer Thorp Nytime Threads

The Commonwealth Foundation is a development organisation with an international remit and reach, uniquely situated at the interface between government and civil society.

We develop the capacity of civil society to act together and learn from each other to engage with the institutions that shape people’s lives. We strive for more effective, responsive and accountable governance with civil society participation, which contributes to improved development outcomes.

The Commonwealth Foundation’s grant making strengthens civic voices at regional, national and sub national level across the Commonwealth. Grants awarded cover a wide variety of participatory governance contexts, with projects ranging from women’s inclusion in political processes and leadership, environmental protection, human rights including health and child rights, inclusive processes for improved service delivery and participation of people with disability and young people in policy advocacy.

For the strategy period 2017-2021, the Grants Programme will continue to provide grants to civic voice collectives in eligible Commonwealth Foundation member countries. It will be delivered in close collaboration with the Participatory Governance and Gender, Commonwealth Writers, and Knowledge, Communications and Learning programmes for enhanced impact.

The role

This role will provide an integral part in a small team that assists in the management and delivery of the Foundation’s Grants Programme and contributes to overall programme effectiveness and efficient programme delivery. The role will manage its own portfolio of grants and be part of the grants review and selection process. The role will work closely with grantees to ensure the partnership between the Foundation and grantees is maintained.

The person

The successful candidate will have worked in a grants management role and have managed the relationship with grantees throughout the grants programme cycle from application to project completion. You will have an excellent understanding of results based management and demonstrated experience in monitoring and assessing project using a range of tools and methodologies, including logframes, and be able to advise grantees on their use.. You will have a good knowledge of international development issues, and ideally have worked directly with civil society organisations. You will have excellent administration skills with experience of using Microsoft Office and databases. You will have excellent organisational skills, with attention to detail and be a self-starter who is able to prioritise your own workload and multi task as required. Experience in working in the area of participatory governance or related field is an asset.

Closing Date:  

Friday 8 September, midday UK time

Interview:  

1st Interviews – Monday 18 September
2nd Interviews – Wednesday 27 September

Salary & Key Benefits

• In the region of £30,000pa
• 15% of gross salary in a tax free gratuity payment. This can be used for personal pension scheme. As an example in the first year gratuity would be an additional £4,500. The monies are available for withdrawal every 3 years.
• Holiday allowance of 30 days (plus 8 bank holidays and 4 privilege days)

Process

Applications must be accompanied by a Curriculum Vitae and Cover Letter. Find a full job description below. Note that legislation changes for paid work mean that applicants must have right to work and live in the UK.