Program Associate- Climate Justice

Center for Economic and Social Rights

Are you passionate about transforming how the economy works? Do you have experience addressing the climate crisis from a human rights lens? We seek a Program Associate with a proven commitment to human rights, economic, and climate justice to play a critical role in achieving our programmatic goals. The Program Associate will lead CESR’s work advancing linkages between climate justice, human rights, and economic policies through a reparations framework. 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 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

Reporting to CESR’s Director of Program, the Program Associate devises and implements effective strategies for research, advocacy, skill-building, and movement-bridging to fulfill the objectives of CESR’s organizational strategy.  Specific responsibilities include:

Advocacy and relationship-building

• Develop and implement advocacy strategies that expose the harmful human and environmental impacts of economic policies. Collaborate with partners to hold governments, multinational corporations, and international financial institutions accountable for these impacts.
• Expand CESR’s network of allies and partners by fostering strategic, trusting, and mutually empowering relationships. Focus on engaging actors within the climate and environmental justice communities, as well as local activists and community groups.
• Organize skill-sharing and learning activities with partners and allies across countries to integrate human rights into economic and environmental policy discussions.
• Create high-quality, compelling outputs that connect climate and environmental justice with human rights and economic policies. Prioritize clear, gender-responsive, and accessible materials to bridge gaps between movements effectively.

Project management and strategy implementation

• Manage and contribute to selected projects to achieve these objectives. Ensure external collaborations are strategic and uphold transparency, trust, and mutual learning. Work with CESR staff to develop advocacy strategies and enhance organizational expertise. Contribute to monitoring, learning, and evaluation efforts to guide progress effectively.

Research and policy

• Contribute to rigorous qualitative and quantitative research through a political economy and human rights lens. Focus on identifying trends in key policy areas, particularly climate finance, and investment in climate adaptation and mitigation, and document their impacts on human rights and structural inequalities within and between countries.
• Present evidence-based, human rights-aligned policy proposals that support and enhance the initiatives of partners and allies, particularly in the Global South. Align these proposals with the demands of the communities most affected by economic and environmental injustices.

Who you are

To be successful in this position, you will have:

• Commitment to the values of CESR, to equity and justice in the workplace and the world.
• At least 3 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in environmental or climate justice, preferably with a focus on the Global South. Experience should include how these issues intersect with human rights and economic justice.

• Experience working alongside local and community activists or within civil society and social movement coalitions. Excellent skills in building and maintaining respectful, trusting, horizontal, and dynamic collaborations.
• Familiarity with advocacy on human rights, economic or environmental issues with governments and multilateral institutions such as the UN (e.g., UNFCCC, UNEP and COP, regional processes, UNCTAD, UNFfD), OECD, IMF, World Bank or other multilateral development banks.
• Strong project management skills, ability to work independently, close attention to detail, and ability to juggle several projects.
• Familiarity with human rights standards and frameworks, and an understanding of how they relate to the economy and the environment.
• Solid research experience, ideally in more than one discipline, and some familiarity with quantitative research methods.
• Ability to translate research findings into compelling arguments and advocacy strategies.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English, with the ability to distill complex information, including quantitative data and statistical information, into clear, concise, impactful formats. 
• Experience contributing to fundraising efforts (desirable). While this position is primarily focused on assisting and supporting program initiatives, all team members play a role in supporting organizational fundraising efforts, such as identifying funding opportunities, contributing to grant applications, or assisting with donor communications.

Qualifications

• Graduate qualification in economics, environmental policy, law, political science, development, human rights or similar field (or a solid track record of work which shows equivalent expertise).
• Fluency in English is required; working knowledge of other languages (particularly Spanish, French or Arabic) is a strong advantage. 


What else you need to know

We’re looking for someone to start soon, ideally beginning in December 2024. 

The location is flexible, provided some working hours overlap with the rest of the team can be ensured. 

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.

This is a part-time position with an initial one-year contract that can be renewed based on funding and other factors. The full-time salary range for this position is USD 30,000 to 50,000, based on experience, location, and the need for equity and comparability within the team. The actual salary will be prorated according to the agreed working hours specified in the contract.

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.