Center for Economic and Social Rights
Are you a feminist leader who wants to change the structure of the economic system to serve the needs of people and the planet? Do you believe that human rights are crucial to this change? We’re looking for a skilled expert, manager, and advocate to be our next Director of Program. This is a remote position, with a preference for candidates based in the Global South.
Who we are
CESR is an international NGO that harnesses the power of human rights to inspire fairer and more sustainable economies. Our vision is of a world in which a just distribution of resources and power enables current and future generations to live with dignity, in full enjoyment of their economic and social rights. With a strong team of human rights and economic justice advocates worldwide, we are currently embarked on a four-year strategy to transform the global economic system and catalyze collective action toward it. Our work is informed by the certainty that this transformation needs unprecedented collaboration between NGOs and social movements. This is an exciting opportunity for a researcher, advocate, or activist, preferably from the Global South, to join a well-respected, high-impact international organization working to advance a Rights-Based Economy that prioritizes people over profit.
What you’ll do
The Director of Program leads CESR’s programmatic strategy, ensuring that its research, advocacy, skill-building, and movement-bridging activities advance its overall goals and objectives. Reporting to the Executive Director, the Director of Program oversees the work of the Program Team and contributes to the organization’s collective management as part of the Leadership Team. They play a crucial thought leadership role both within CESR and within the wider human rights movement, significantly contributing to the development articulation, and mobilization of a Rights-Based Economy. Specific responsibilities include:
Strategic and organizational leadership:
- Provide strategic leadership for CESR’s substantive human rights work and on the design of its research, advocacy, skills-building, and movement-bridging strategies.
- Lead efforts to identify and assess how emerging trends and issues may impact CESR’s programmatic work.
- Represent CESR at a senior level to existing and potential partners, allies, funders, and other external stakeholders, including at conferences and other relevant events.
- Ensure organizational values are embedded in structures and processes to promote a culture of feedback, engagement, and inclusion.
- Identify strategic opportunities for fundraising and contribute to development plans, funding proposals, and grant reports.
Program management and implementation
- Oversee the delivery of the programmatic elements of the organizational strategy, ensuring that outputs, activities, and partnerships align with CESR’s mission, strategic goals, objectives, and priorities.
- Build and nurture relationships with key external partners, resources, and experts who can inform and support program objectives and activities.
- Oversee and contribute to the creation of high-quality research and advocacy materials— such as reports, policy briefs, factsheets, and blog posts— for CESR’s target audiences, in collaboration with other CESR staff and external partners.
- Design and implement advocacy strategies to maximize the impact of CESR’s work.
- Work with the Development and Learning Manager to track progress against program and organizational objectives. Ensure regular evaluations to assess how programmatic activities and outputs align with strategic objectives and grant commitments. Work with program staff to reflect on findings and make course corrections as necessary.
- Supervise CESR program staff and consultants, offering clear direction, guidance, feedback, and performance management. Mentor staff through a supportive and collaborative approach, prioritizing team wellbeing and fostering a positive work environment.
- Oversee the recruitment and selection of new program staff and consultants.
- Develop and oversee the budget for program activities, ensuring they remain within the approved financial parameters.
- Lead staff in long-term program planning.
Who you are
To be successful in this position, you will have:
Essential
- Commitment to the values of CESR, to equity and justice in the workplace and the world.
- At least 10 years of increasingly responsible professional experience working on economic issues from a human rights perspective.
- Excellent communication skills and a powerful track record of advocacy on human rights, and economic or environmental issues with governments or multilateral institutions such as the UN, OECD, IMF, World Bank, or other multilateral development banks.
- Solid research experience, ideally in multiple disciplines, including law, social science, and/or economics.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, including the ability to summarize research findings and complex information (including quantitative data and statistical information) in powerful, concise forms for various audiences.
- A strong understanding of human rights standards and frameworks and how they relate to the economy and the environment.
- Experience working with and building civil society and social movement coalitions, and excellent skills at building and maintaining respectful, trusting, horizontal, and dynamic partnerships.
- Several years of experience managing and building teams, bringing a care and equity lens, and mentoring junior staff in professional development.
- Strong project and management experience, close attention to detail, and ability to juggle several projects.
- Postgraduate qualification in economics, law, political science, development, human rights, or a similar field (or a solid track record of work that shows equivalent expertise).
Desirable
- A strong feminist perspective and track record of feminist analysis, including of the impact of colonial legacies on global financial architecture and/or climate justice.
- Expertise in economics, especially heterodox or feminist economics.
- Fundraising experience.
- Strong understanding and experience of campaigns to bring about change.
- Professional proficiency in other languages besides English (especially Spanish).
What else you need to know
We’re looking for someone to start as soon as possible.
CESR is registered as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in the state of New York, USA. Since 2020, our team members work remotely from a variety of countries around the world. The location for this position is flexible, with a preference for individuals based in the Global South. You must ensure some work hours overlap with the rest of the team. We can only consider applicants who are already legally able to work in the country where they are based. This is a full-time position, with a 1-year contract initially, which will be renewable based on funding and other factors.
The salary range for this position will depend on the candidate’s experience and location, considering the relative cost of living and the need to ensure equity and comparability within the team. The salary range for this position is between USD 50,000 and USD 80,000 full-time, depending on experience and location.
We believe that our current economic model disproportionately hurts the most disadvantaged people in our societies, including people of color, women, people with disabilities, LGBTQI+ people, and those from working-class backgrounds—particularly in the Global South. In line with our commitment to embodying equity and justice in our work and workplace, we aim to center these communities in our work and therefore strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other disadvantaged communities.
How to apply
Prospective candidates should complete this application form, in which they’ll be asked to upload their CV and a writing sample. The deadline for applications is November 1st, 2024, although early applications are strongly encouraged as interviews will be conducted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Due to the volume of expected applications we will not be able to respond to individual queries.
