Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Monthly Salary: USD $9,333

Fixed term remote position { July – December}

Who We Are

Co-Impact is a global philanthropic collaborative that supports locally rooted coalitions in the Global South to transform underlying systems and achieve impact at scale, with a core focus on advancing intersectional gender equality and women’s leadership. We bring together funders from around the world to invest in initiatives that are working to improve education, health, and economic opportunity for millions of women, men, and children, addressing underlying conditions that perpetuate social inequities so that systems better serve everyone. Building on our experience to date, as well as that of civil society, government, market actors, and philanthropic partners, we are now developing a second fund focused on advancing gender-equitable systems change at scale and women’s leadership globally. For more information, please visit www.co-impact.org and take a look at our Handbook.

Co-Impact partners with Professional Employment Organizations (PEOs) to employ its staff.

Where You Fit

Together with your team, you will support program partners to develop effective strategies for systems change to advance gender equitable outcomes, women’s leadership, and gender equality at scale, while strengthening organizational capabilities to achieve lasting results; and contributing to improved learning and practice among partners, at Co-Impact, in global development and philanthropy.

Reporting to the Director of Programs (Africa), you will support the program team across multiple areas, particularly the sourcing, vetting, and recommending of grants, supporting program partners (grantees) and project management during the design phase of their work. You will have a mix of grant management, research, team coordination, project-management, and administrative responsibilities. You may be asked to support account leads across different grants and may be the team point person for critical cross-cutting issues.

You will need to demonstrate excellent organizational ability, strong analytical skills and strategic instincts, robust problem-solving skills, excellent interpersonal and communication skills, a high level of personal initiative, and a kind and collaborative spirit and supportive approach, including the ability to work well in a distributed, diverse, deep-thinking, and fast-paced environment. This role will provide a valuable opportunity to gain insight and experience at one of the leading edges of philanthropy and social change, and to learn, stretch and grow, with the potential to take on added responsibility over time.

You bring a commitment to feminist values, gender equality, inclusion, and justice, and to enduring systems change at scale, as well as an abiding curiosity and humility and desire to learn. You are motivated by looking for root causes, seeking justice and solving social problems at the systems level and at scale.

The Role

As part of Co-Impact team, serves as a key team member executing various functions that are at the core of grant making and PP support.

Provide support to Regional Director (RD), Africa and Associate Director (AD), Africa across the grant-making cycle from a process, programmatic and analytical lens.
Writes recommendation memos, undertakes due diligence calls, reviews documents shared by Program Partners (PPs), tracks the support that PPs need in a systematic manner, support to partners in design phase, site visits and partner check-ins.
Manages preparations related to design workshops by working closely with the PA and the AD.
Support grant making processes, work planning, and thought partnership including in the set up and maintenance of the required systems and processes for RFPs and/or open calls for applications.
Based on the assessment of RD, play the account lead role for select PPs.
Support the account lead on Learning Monitoring and Evaluation (LME) including much of the prep of documentation, dashboards, etc for PP support on LME.
Review and synthesize program partner reports and succinctly highlight progress/setbacks, key lessons, and propose informed recommendations for action.
Prepare program related project plans, budgets memos, reports, and presentations.
Lead in gathering stories on achievements and lessons from each partner and across the portfolio, in collaboration with LME and Communications Pods.
Contribute to cross-cutting thematic areas.
Create and maintain regional team for sourcing, budgeting, review, planning and reporting systems.
Provide oversight to the Program and Administrative Assistant (PA) to ensure that the required documentation is obtained and collated from partners, the grant processing information is uploaded in Salesforce in liaison with the Operations Team.
Work with the PA to manage reminders for document review and key meetings, recording/taking notes during program meetings etc.
Support recruitment of relevant consultants in line with Co-Impact policy guidelines and payment processing in liaison with Program/Admin Assistant and Operations.
Promote cross-learning among program partners.
Help foster culture in line with Co-Impact values, and serving as trusted colleague that demonstrates Co-Impact values including outcomes-focused for meaningful, lasting, and inclusive impact; Be program partner- and community-centered; Bring a beginner’s mind; Draw from unity in diversity and build trusting partnerships.
Perform other reasonable responsibilities, duties or special projects as requested by the RD or AD

Qualifications and Experience

At least 10+ years of relevant professional experience working to advancing gender equality (with an intersectional lens) and improving government (and at times market) systems in education, health, economic opportunity, and/or women’s leadership.
Significant experience working directly with senior-level staff.
Track record of increasing responsibility.
At least first university degree or equivalent.
Fluency in English required, knowledge of other languages of your region a plus.
Experience in grantmaking, lived experience and knowledge of your region, and linkages to feminist/women’s rights networks strongly preferred.

Required Skills

Strategic Acumen: Ability to spot high-potential opportunities and facilitate the design of strategic approaches backed by evidence informed analysis.
Sound analysis and judgment: Ability to listen well, integrating gender analysis, evidence, and strong logical analysis, while seeing perspectives from different sides, resulting in strong recommendations and judgements based on values and principles balancing data, experience, and risk.
Working with People: Experience contributing to and managing collaborative teams to work productively, effectively, and inclusively towards shared goals.
Supporting colleagues and senior leaders: History of thriving in a role where your success is highly dependent on your team’s success, where your first responsibility is to provide outstanding leverage and support to your colleagues, including successfully and smoothly “managing upwards” by helping to guide and set-up things for your manager to be efficient and effective.
Managing Action with Purpose and Values: Ability to work with colleagues and get things done in accordance with core purpose and values.
Process Management and Results Orientation: Strong project management skills, deadline management, sense of responsibility and accountability, the ability to manage multiple responsibilities, adjust and adapt along the way.
Interpersonal Savvy: Great at making and fostering relationships inside and outside the organization, keen intercultural appreciation, inclusive style, comfortable around senior leaders, can represent Co-Impact well.
Financial understanding: Basic familiarity with the core elements of an organization’s financial model, financial statements, strategic financial analysis/ projections, and budgeting.
Learning Orientation: Humble and intellectually curious; seek and work with evidence, demonstrated openness to new ideas and a diversity of perspectives; unafraid to admit and learn from failure.
Strong Moral Compass: Impeccable personal ethics and integrity, kind and caring.
Proficiency with core business tools: Strong proficiency in Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Communications: Exceptional ability to write and communicate ideas concisely and with clarity. Excellent oral communication skills, including the ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment.
Global Flexibility: Given global nature of organization working across time zones, a willingness to be flexible with working hours, work remotely and periodically undertake international travel.
Perspective: Sense of humor and ability not to take oneself too seriously

Benefits

Co-Impact’s compensation philosophy is guided by the following three principles:

Equity and Fairness: Our approach to compensation and benefits are designed to ensure that our global team is treated equitably regardless of location and without regard to gender, race, or nationality.
Transparency: We want Co-Impact’s employees to understand our salary structure and to feel confident that they are paid equitably, and potential job applicants to have an understanding of how the role for which they are applying will be compensated.
Accountability: As stewards of the philanthropic resources entrusted to us so that we can support our program partners, we are accountable to our donors and our board, to our staff, and to the general public.

In accordance with that philosophy, we include the salary for each position in our job postings; to ensure equity within the organization and for all candidates, we will not negotiate salary or benefits. The salary for this role is US $9,333 per month plus a generous benefits package, including a significant allowance for paid time off.

Application Details

Please apply online here by submitting a resume together with a one-page cover letter by Friday, 31st May 2023. In your cover letter, please confirm that you are authorized to live and work in Kenya. Because we are a small team, we regret that we can only respond to applicants selected for an interview. We also regret that we are unable to participate in informational calls prior to interviews. Thank you for your understanding.

Program Manager, Africa {Fixed Term}