Senior Associate, Policy & Partnerships

Career With BRAC International

BRAC is an award-winning international non-governmental development organization, with the vision of a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination, where everyone has the opportunity to realize their potential. BRAC is a leader in developing and implementing cost-effective, evidence-based programs to assist poor and disadvantaged communities in low-income countries, including in conflict-prone and post-disaster settings. It is an organization of and for the people of the Global South, pioneering new development and social enterprise approaches to equip communities to achieve prosperity. As well as being the world's biggest NGO by the number of staff and people directly reached, BRAC has regularly been ranked the number one NGO in the world by the Geneva-based NGO Advisor, an independent organization committed to highlighting innovation, impact, and governance in the non-profit sector. BRAC retained the top spot in 2020 among the top 500 NGOs for the fifth consecutive year.

BRAC was founded in Bangladesh in 1972 by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. It started its first program outside of Bangladesh in Afghanistan in 2002 and has since reached more than 6.5 million people in 11 countries in Africa and Asia. BRAC has a holistic approach to development that uses a wide array of programs that include microfinance, education, health, agriculture, gender, and human rights. BRAC invests in communities’ own human and material resources, catalyzing lasting change and creating an ecosystem in which the poor have the chance to seize control of their own lives.

About the Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

BRAC International’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (“UPGI”) was founded to build off the success of BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation program in Bangladesh. BRAC UPGI aims to position the Graduation approach as a key driver to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide. It does this by:

● Advocating for uptake of the Graduation approach by policymakers, national governments, multilateral institutions, and non-governmental organizations; and

● Effective adaptation and implementation of the Graduation approach in countries around the world, supported through technical assistance and capacity strengthening for external stakeholders.

In 2002, BRAC pioneered the Ultra-Poor Graduation (“Graduation”) approach in Bangladesh - a holistic intervention to help people lift themselves from extreme poverty - after recognizing that existing poverty alleviation programs were not reaching the poorest people. Through the provision of livelihood assets, cash transfers, and continued mentoring and training, the Graduation approach addresses participants’ multidimensional needs within the local context and ‘graduates’ people from extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods.

Graduation is an evidence-based, scalable intervention proven to break the poverty trap for the long term. So far, BRAC’s flagship Graduation program has impacted over 2 million Bangladeshi households—totaling over 9 million people. To help eradicate extreme poverty, BRAC UPGI is working to scale globally by integrating Graduation into existing government programs to reach 21 million more people by 2026.

But BRAC UPGI cannot do it alone. This is beyond the means and capacity of a single organization- no matter how ambitious or innovative. Sustainability and scale demands change at the systems level with active government engagement. BRAC UPGI is committed to creating effective solutions that leverage the available resources and existing programming to achieve the long-term benefits demonstrated by Graduation. The organization is partnering with governments, as well as multilateral institutions, NGOs, and civil society, in countries where BRAC UPGI thinks it can have maximum impact and drive greater uptake for Graduation.

About the Position

The BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) seeks to hire a Senior Associate, Policy & Partnerships to support UPGI’s efforts to scale the Graduation approach through government systems. The Senior Associate will primarily play a coordination role by supporting senior colleagues with external engagements, orchestrating internal group meetings, and by building and maintaining pipelines of stakeholders which are stewarded across teams. The candidate should be extremely organized with a problem solving attitude and have an interest in poverty reduction, women’s empowerment, and a commitment to BRAC’s mission.

The position is expected to work collaboratively across the Global Policy & Partnerships team, as well as across the UPGI team and with external partners.

The role can be based anywhere existing teams are based (DC, NYC, London, Nairobi, Delhi, or Dhaka). Irrespective of location, work hours will need to include 11AM-3PM GMT for maximum overlap with global teams, although flexibility will be required to accommodate the global nature of UPGI’s team.

Responsibilities

• Provide the logistic and coordination support needed for organizing internal and external meetings and events, including managing follow-ups by drafting content and nudging appropriate people to complete tasks
• Support social media postings and relevant event messaging
• Support senior team member travel, including but not limited to complex international travel bookings, coordination of meeting/travel timing, and expense reporting
• Support the connection and collaboration between the global teams and country teams and other BRAC entities as relevant
• Conduct research to inform strategic engagement opportunities and stakeholder engagement, including drafting background briefings
• Oversee and manage the Policy & Partnerships team’s use of Salesforce to ensure timely input and the team’s utilization of data and reports
• Support reporting of impact and progress to donors and other key stakeholders as needed
• Support the administrative functions of the Policy & Partnerships team, including organizing meetings, taking meeting notes, and documenting and tracking strategic goals and stakeholder engagement
• Administrative duties and other duties as assigned.
• Review and summarize findings from recent research on global poverty trends and related issues

Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation to achieve the program’s goals of safeguarding implementation.
• Follow the safeguarding reporting procedure in case any reportable incident takes place, and encourage others to do so
• Practice, promote and endorse the issues of safeguarding policy among team members and ensure the implementation of safeguarding standards in every course of action.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, with a preference given to candidates with degrees in international development, public policy or other relevant field
• Diplomatic, with strong interpersonal skills, and a high degree of cultural sensitivity;
• Some travel will be required, often at short notice.
• 3-5 years experience working in international development and/or policy preferred, with a strong preference for candidates with a demonstrated understanding
• Excellent writing and speaking skills in English is required. Additional languages are a plus.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a remote, multicultural, multi time zone team;
• Significant experience traveling and working internationally, primarily in the Global South, regardless of planned work location
• Understanding of international development and the global policy landscape, including relevant agendas & actors, such as the World Bank, United Nations, & other bilateral and multilateral organizations
• Strong communication abilities, including written skills for supporting outreach with key external audiences and partners
• Possess a flexible attitude and an entrepreneurial approach to problem-solving. Our work is ever-changing, and so are our administrative needs.
• Highly organized with ability to take initiative and manage multiple priorities

How to Apply

This is an outstanding opportunity to support a highly effective, collaborative, and innovative non-profit. BRAC International offers a competitive salary and benefits package. If you feel you are the right match for the position mentioned above, please follow the application instructions accordingly:

External candidates: Please submit your resume, detailed cover letter, and reference contact information to this following link

https://bracusa.hire.trakstar.com/jobs/fk0xef2/

Internal candidates: Please submit your resume, including all job assignments in detail, and cover letter with BRAC PIN to [email protected]

Only complete applications will be accepted, and short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Application deadline: August 31, 2023

BRAC is committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share the same commitment. We believe every stakeholder and every member of the communities we work with has the right to be protected from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation - regardless of age, race, religion, and gender, status as an individual with a disability or ethnic origin. Therefore, our recruitment process includes extensive reference and background checks, self-disclosure of prior issues regarding sexual or other misconduct and criminal records and our values are a part of our Performance Management System.

BRAC is an equal opportunities employer.