Director Climate Justice Center (CARE)

Are you a strategic leader who cares about the state of our climate and the resilience of communities around the world? Do you want to guide a global team on amplifying voices and influencing towards climate justice? Then the CARE Climate Justice Center is looking for you!

About CARE

CARE is an international development organisation that is active in more than 100 countries worldwide. Originating from American food aid to Europe after the Second World War, we have been committed for 77 years to those who need it most.

CARE supports people in the most difficult places in the world in building a better life. We fight poverty by combating inequality. We do this by providing emergency aid, working on equal rights for women and making communities resilient to the effects of climate change and natural disasters by supporting them in building a sustainable livelihood. Our approach is characterised by customisation: in consultation with local partners and residents we determine what is needed and what works. After all, it is only together that we can achieve sustainable results.

About the CARE Climate Justice Center

The CARE Climate Justice Center (CJC) unites CARE’s work on climate justice and supports the achievement of the Climate Justice (CJ) impact goal, one of CARE’s six priority impact areas. The CJ Strategy was developed as part of CARE International’s 2030 Vision. The CJC acts as a virtual hub, coordinating and connecting all parts of CARE with an interest in and knowledge of key climate justice issues. The CJC also aims to support and strengthen the ability of CARE entities and partners to increase resilience and to tackle the causes and consequences of climate change. This is done by not only strengthening the capacities of communities in the most vulnerable positions, but also by growing CARE’s impact, influence and income to better serve the needs of these communities.

The CJC consists of around 10-15 CARE staff supported and hosted by different CARE members across the globe. The CJC is hosted by CARE Nederland (CNL) on behalf of CARE International and is accountable to the CJC Council of Directors, consisting of the investing CARE members. The CJC Director reports to the CNL CEO, Reintje van Haeringen, who is also the chair of the CJC Council of Directors. The CJC Director coordinates with the CARE VICE President for Programme Strategy & Innovation, who is responsible for overseeing CARE International programming.

What will you be doing?

The Climate Justice Center Director will lead the support to, coordination of and connecting with all parts of CARE to advance its Climate Justice impact goal, together with the Climate Justice Center team.

Key responsibilities include:

Strategic leadership of the CARE Climate Justice Impact Area – the CJC Director will drive strategic leadership and coordination of the CARE CJ impact area to support the CARE confederation in integrating a climate resilience and climate smart approach in its programming, policy and practices in order to advance towards the impact goal. More specifically, they will:

• Lead and coordinate the implementation and monitoring of CARE Climate Justice Strategy 2030 together with CARE Members, the other CARE impact area teams, the relevant CARE leadership teams and CARE working groups, while also maintaining relationships and communication between them in order to advance towards the CJ impact goal together;
• Coordinate the support to CARE members and partners to design and implement high quality CJ Programs through promotion of CARE’s Programme Quality drivers as well as production and dissemination of technical tools and guidelines relevant to the CJ impact area;
• Lead the development and coordinate the implementation of policies and procedure frameworks (including CARE’s own Climate and Environment policy) to reduce the impact of climate change and increase communities’ resilience;
• Ensure that experience and evidence from across CARE’s work is being gathered and analysed to synthesise learning across the CJ impact area;
• In line with the previous task, promote the use of CARE’s CJ indicators to support the annual PIIRS (Programme Information and Impact Reporting System) process to aggregate programmatic data from all CARE countries and projects;
• Take an active role in the CARE International (CI) Impact Area Strategy team, including bilateral relationship development with other impact areas.

Operational management of the Climate Justice Center – the CJC Director will provide daily management of the CJC team, ensuring effective support to the CARE confederation in integrating a climate resilience and climate smart approach. More specifically, they will:

• Lead and manage the CJC core team, consisting of between 10-15 CARE staff who are supported and hosted by different CARE members, and lead recruitment of CJC team members as required;
• Lead and support the CJC team in the implementation of the CJC annual workplan, based on the needs and interests of the investing CARE members and global CARE confederation;
• Keep financial oversight of the CJC, which includes developing, monitoring and reporting on the CJC annual budget in close collaboration with the CARE NL Finance Department;
• Advocate for and align with CARE member offices on their commitments and financial contributions to the CJC and the implementation of its workplan;
• Actively seek for and respond to resource mobilisation opportunities, both internal and external to CARE, in order to secure the financial sustainability of the CJC.

Representation, communication and relationship management – the CJC Director will be responsible for increasing the recognition of CARE’s thought leadership on climate justice and ensuring the representation of CARE’s climate justice experience among external stakeholders and partners. More specifically, they will:

• Lead and coordinate appropriate representation, engagement and profiling in climate justice and resilience, including in the global and strategic partnerships that CARE is already actively engaged in (e.g. CAN International, GCF, GEF, Fair Climate Fund);
• Invest in identifying and building new strategic partnerships with leading knowledge and research institutions, climate networks, and transnational alliances;
• Ensure CARE’s effective engagement, representation, and profiling in the UNFCCC, other global debates, and with key actors;
• Ensure that experience and evidence from programme quality and advocacy across CARE’s work is being gathered and showcased on CJC’s website and through internal and external communication pieces, raising CARE’s profile and credibility as an organisation of “practical experts” on climate change and resilience;
• Create recognition and buy-in for effective models and approaches in order to influence external stakeholders to sustainably scale proven models.

Key Relationships

The CARE Climate Justice Center is hosted by CARE Nederland (CNL) and is accountable to the CJC Council, in which the investing CARE members are represented. The CJC Director reports to the CNL CEO. They also report directly to the CJC Council. The CJC Director leads the CJC core team, which is supported and hosted by different CARE members.

To ensure commitment at all levels, it is essential for this post to develop and maintain close working relations with CARE leadership and staff who are responsible for programmes, advocacy, fundraising and communications in all the CARE members, Country Offices, and the CARE International Secretariat.

What do you bring to the table?

• Minimum qualification of a master’s degree in a relevant discipline;
• Minimum 10 years of working experience, including:
  • Substantial knowledge and experience in international development and humanitarian programming in the context of climate change and resilience, preferably through INGO experience; specific experience in climate change leadership is a plus;
  • Substantial experience in strategic resource mobilization, partnership development and working collaboratively with multiple stakeholders;
  • Substantial knowledge and experience of working in complex international networks, partnerships and alliances;
  • Strong established network in relevant fields related to climate change and resilience;
  • Awareness around innovative program design on climate change;
• Excellent collaboration, relationship building, and networking skills; experience in a complex confederation or alliance is a plus;
• Excellent representation, communication, negotiation and diplomacy skills;
• Ability to work remotely and in a dynamic virtual environment, and to manage and be part of a global team;
• Willingness to travel – the expected percentage of time spent traveling is 10%;
• Excellent command of English, both in speaking and writing; second languages an advantage.

CARE maintains a zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation, abuse, and child abuse and takes all concerns and complaints about sexual exploitation, abuse, and child abuse involving CARE staff and related personnel seriously.

What does CARE offer?

• One-year contract with possible extension. Start date of this position is August 1st, 2024.
• A competitive salary based on BBRA scale 12, classification depends on relevant working experience. In case of working outside the Netherlands, the CARE office of the chosen candidate will be contacted for scaling and grading by their policy. In this case, the salary indication does not apply.
• International informal work environment and open work culture, in which you work with colleagues from different backgrounds to achieve CARE’s Vision 2030 outcomes.