Program Advisor – Girls First Fund (Uganda) 247 views0 applications

Program Advisor – Girls First Fund

Consultancy Overview

Title: Program Advisor

Organization: Geneva Global, Inc.

Term: 6 months

Location of consultancy: Uganda

Status: Part-time, consultant (approximately 20 hours/week)

Introduction

Geneva Global seeks a part-time consultant to act as a Program Advisor in the management of the Girls First Fund’s grantmaking services and related activities in Uganda. Geneva Global is a social enterprise that provides a full range of advice and services to help individuals, foundations, corporations, and nonprofits in their social change initiatives. Geneva Global is providing services to the Girls’ First Fund, a pooled philanthropic fund that seeks to expand resources to community-based organizations, particularly women- and girl-centered and -led organizations that are working to comprehensively prevent and respond to child marriage.

The Girls First Fund puts girls, families, and their communities first and champions community-led efforts to end child marriage. The Fund’s primary vision is, “to realize a world in which every girl has access to the information, services, resources, skills, and support necessary to decide when, if, and whom to marry in order to live a healthy and equal life and to achieve her full potential.” In 2019, the Girls First Fund identified and funded an inaugural cohort of 34 organizations in Uganda.

The Program Advisor will work closely with other Geneva Global team members, Girls First Fund stakeholders, and an existing in-country Program Advisor to ensure that the values and guiding principles of the Fund inform its country activities and practices. Through the Girls First Fund, the Program Advisor will partner with a portfolio of community-based organizations and locally-focused national organizations, supporting them to implement and manage their own context-specific approaches, solutions, and innovations to address child marriage. The Fund is committed to being community-driven, transparent, and collaborative, utilizing grantmaking practices that are gender transformative and adhere to the highest standards of child safeguarding and protection. Therefore, it is necessary that the Program Advisor’s work and behavior be guided by such principles.

The Program Advisor consultant will be an independent contractor to Geneva Global and not an employee of the company. The consultant is not eligible for any employee-related benefits, plans, or programs of Geneva Global. This is a 6-month, national consulting post – with potential for extension based on programmatic needs.

Overview of Consultancy

Key Deliverables

Fund implementation

• Inform the Girls First Fund’s understanding of the changing context, country-specific trends, and challenges related to child marriage and grantmaking.
• Ensure that the values and guiding principles of the Girls First Fund are adhered to through the Fund’s grantmaking activities.
• Identify and build relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders including, but not limited to: CBOs, NGOs, INGOs, other donor agencies, government officials, and existing networks to establish support for the Girls First Fund, and develop linkages that foster complimentary, versus duplicative, activities.
• Attend relevant local and national events, as needed.
• Support in-country expansion process by providing feedback on in-country strategy, mentorship related to the grant renewal process, as well as future RFP and application processes.

Grantee identification and portfolio management

• Act as the main point of contact for 13-15 grantee partners.
• Monitor and support 13-15 grantee partners by reviewing reports, providing mentoring support and feedback, and conducting site visits.
• Support in-country dissemination of future Girls First Fund funding opportunities, as needed.
• Accompany a selected number of applicants through future application or grant renewal processes by providing technical assistance and support.
• Review a selected number of application materials and support the shortlisting, vetting, and selection of new grantees by providing contextual and technical input.
• Lead the in-country due diligence process for a selected number of applicants, including conducting field visits, as needed.

Learning

• Conduct field visits to 13-15 grantees to understand project progress and learnings and to gather feedback on the Girls First Fund’s draft Theory of Change, learning agenda, and country strategy.
• Actively solicit input from grantees and other stakeholders to help shape the fund’s future, as needed.
• Write site visits reports based on visits to 13-15 grantee partners.
• Facilitate the dissemination of lessons learned and best practices between grantees in-country.
• Support the planning and logistics of site visits and workshops and convenings organized for grantee partners.
• Disseminate learning, capacity building, and professional development opportunities to grantees.

Technical assistance and capacity building

• Provide informal capacity building support to 13-15 grantees in areas such as organizational development, financial management, and best practices in addressing child marriage, when requested.
• Provide assistance to 13-15 grantees to ensure completion of reporting materials.
• Work alongside the existing Program Advisor to develop and write a portfolio-level capacity building plan.
• Assist with the development of scopes of work for in-country capacity building providers.

Other

• Contribute to and coordinate special projects in-country, as requested.
• Work in partnership by collaborating regularly with an existing, in-country Program Advisor.
• Communicate regularly with the Girls First Fund team in the U.S..
• Participate in Girls First Fund/Geneva Global meetings, as needed.
• Complete additional assignments, as requested.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5-7 years of experience in project management/coordination and community development in Uganda.
• A passion for the Fund’s work, including a commitment to community-led development, gender equality, and grassroots movement building.
• Master’s degree in social sciences or other relevant subject.
• Knowledge and experience working on initiatives to address child marriage required; experience in addressing other key areas such as gender inequality, gender-based violence, right to education and sexual and reproductive health is an asset.
• Experience working on human rights issues – particularly women, youth and minority rights – through a human rights and gender transformative approach is preferred.
• Experience supporting a learning community of grantees to encourage networking, capacity building, and collaboration is preferred.
• Grantmaking experience on behalf of international organizations to local community-based organizations through a grantee-centric approach.
• Experience monitoring and evaluating grants and programs, including data collection, data management, and financial monitoring.
• Experience working with girls, families, and communities in a highly sensitive environment.
• Willingness to travel up to 75% of part-time hours, including to remote areas of the country.
• Candidates should be legally authorized to work in Uganda.

Skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English is required.
• Proficient written and verbal communication in at least one additional local language is desirable.
• Proficiency with Microsoft office tools (especially Word and Excel) and experience with grant management databases is preferred.
• Strong group facilitation, presentation, and organizing skills.
• Detail oriented with the ability to manage and track data and deadlines across multiple grantees.
• Strong problem-solving, analytical, and organizational skills.
• Ability to work independently, collaboratively, and manage multiple deadlines as part of a remote team.
• Ability to contribute to and lead in the development and set-up of programs, systems, and processes.
• Proven experience working effectively in a cross-cultural team.
• Flexible and willing to perform other tasks as assigned, in a fast-paced work environment.
• Self-starter and proactive.