Program Associate

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION:

The Ford Foundation’s International Program in Natural Resources and Climate Change (NRCC-I) seeks a collaborative, strategic, team-oriented Program Associate to join their team. The Program Associate supports a team of staff who are leading portfolios to ensure natural resource governance serves the public interest and reflects the aspirations of rural, low-income, and indigenous communities in the Global South. The NRCC-I team has recently completed a refresh of its strategy, retaining its focus on enhancing community rights in natural resources but with a particular focus on enhancing these rights in relation to two pathways of climate change mitigation: the governance of forested lands, and the decarbonization of energy systems.  

Reporting to the Director of NRCC International, the Program Associate will hold a variety of responsibilities related to the research, data analysis and coordination of programmatic activities while also serving as a strong conduit for shared learning within the team and across programmatic teams.  

The Program Associate will support the global NRCC-I team in diverse ways, with a special focus on fostering exchange, learning and coordination across a team of 9 Program Officers, a Director, and other partners in Regional Offices. They will lead data analysis on the team, including analyzing fund disbursements for the Forest Tenure Funders Group of signatories to the Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Pledge and the impact of their roles in forest guardianship. The Program Associate will also provide key support to major events, conventions and convenings, including COPs and Climate Weeks in particular. 

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Map grants for team understanding and cross-team learning.
• Analyze grant proposals for outcomes and strategic alignment.
• Support Program Officers with grant coding practices to ensure integrity and coherence with program strategy analysis.
• Conduct research, summarize findings, and assist in data analysis.
• Support communities of practice among NRCC grantees in learning and exchange activities, particularly around institutional strengthening.
• Manage team’s dashboards and specialized reports, especially for internal quarterly review meetings with the foundation’s leadership.
• Act as the team’s information manager, creating and managing substantive materials.
• Coordinate weekly learning space for the NRCC team.
• Partner with the Office of Strategy and Impact  to coordinate and implement the portfolio’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning plans to track progress towards strategy goals.
• Collaborate with Associates in Regional Offices with NRCC lines of work to further monitoring, evaluation and learning.
• Track decisions and follow-up items during meetings, producing meeting summaries.
• Coordinate and project-manage grantee convenings and cross-team initiatives, including background research.
• Plan and organize meetings with other Ford Foundation thematic areas for learning and collaboration.
• Develop relationships with internal and external stakeholders to facilitate foundation work.
• At the direction of the Director of NRCC International, attend relevant meetings and conferences to gather information and knowledge to advance the team’s work.
• Compile short periodic summaries of related newsworthy events, activities, internal and external publications by team, and other relevant information in support of strategy monitoring, team learning and communications efforts..
• Coordinate with the Office of Communications on internal communications and press and promotional requirements.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A minimum of 4 years of experience related to social justice, natural resources, climate change or international development, with at least 3 years of experience working in a program-related support capacity.
• Strong proficiency with qualitative data collection, review, analysis and reporting, as well as some proficiency in quantitative data management.
• Strong proficiency with the use of software platforms and high degree of comfort with multiple technology applications, including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Google Suite, and databases.
• Strong organizational and communications skills.
• Demonstrated ability to be a productive member of a community of people at work who respects differences while working toward shared goals.
• Comfortable with periods of ambiguity, and constructively participates in ongoing organizational development.
• College degree or equivalent combination of education and experience.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

The following are additional skills and experiences that could be helpful but are not required: 

• Fluency in a language other than English.
• International experience, particularly in the Global South.
• Experience in change management and organizational transition.

Source: https://fordfoundation.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/FordFoundationCareerPage/job/New-York-USA/Program-Associate_R1157