Program Officer

Freelancingforgood; Canada; Remote; CAD 87,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

The Equality Fund seeks a Program Officer to support women's rights and gender equity initiatives. The role involves managing grantmaking portfolios, collaborating with partners, and contributing to evaluation efforts. Candidates should have robust experience in grantmaking, knowledge of feminist movements, and strong communication skills in English and Arabic.

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years in programmatic grantmaking or related roles.
• Experience with feminist and international development issues.
• Strong digital proficiency and knowledge of relevant tools.

Responsibilities

• Manage grantmaking portfolios and related compliance.
• Support partnerships and collaboration for women's rights.
• Contribute to monitoring and evaluation processes.

Skills

Knowledge of intersectionality

Communication skills

Relationship building

Digital proficiency

Monitoring and evaluation

Education

Relevant experience in international development

Professional experience in grantmaking

Tools

GSuite

MS Office

Database/reporting tools

Job description

Equality Fund is looking for a Program Officer to join their team.

Overview:

• Full-time position
• Language: English and Arabic
• Location: Remote within Canada
• Salary: $87,000 – $90,000 CAD per year
• Applications closing: 29th June

Job Description

Under the leadership and supervision of the Director of Program Strategy on the Global Programs team, the Program Officer will play a key role in the analysis of trends related to women’s rights and feminist movements and advancing gender equity, particularly in the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, and grantmaking mechanisms that include systems, policies, and practices.

The successful candidate will bring knowledge of regional and thematic trends in women, girls, and trans rights – including feminist organising – with competencies in grantmaking design and implementation, feminist and participatory approaches, and partnership development and relationship building. The Program Officer liaises with and provides direct support to grantee partners, organises capacity-building opportunities, and represents EF work across the ecosystem. The Program Officer also contributes to our grantmaking meeting compliance requirements, including financial and narrative reporting to donors and other relevant stakeholders. This role requires a strong understanding of results based management and contributes to preparing key program deliverables such as work plans, budgets, and reports.

Responsibilities

Partnerships in Grantmaking

• Maintains good knowledge of trends in geographies where EF works and thematic specialisation. The Equality Fund supports and strengthens feminist organisations and movements through feminist grantmaking, accompaniment, amplification, knowledge building, and mutual learning. Areas and issues where Equality Fund is looking to strengthen expertise includes LGBTQI movements, youth movements, disability movements, and climate justice;
• Supports development of programming and collaborations within EF and with external partners and stakeholders to advance the work of women’s rights and feminist organisations and movements, sister funds, in ways that strengthen the feminist funding ecosystem;
• Oversees and manages all aspects of designated grantmaking portfolios, including grantmaking plans, writing and/or contributing to docket preparation, receiving and reviewing grant reports, and collaborating with the grants operations and finance teams;
• Provides ongoing support and accompaniment to grantee partners;
• Acts as the main liaison for grantee partners and maintains strong and flexible relationships in the field to inform EF’s work;
• Supports efforts to bring the voices of grantee partners to discussions of resourcing feminist movements, advancing women’s rights and gender equity, and movement building to diverse audiences—including philanthropy, policy makers and the international development sector;
• Represents EF with external partners and stakeholders, including in affinity groups, meetings, and conferences as required;

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• Contributes to EF’s feminist monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems in collaboration with the Learning and Impact team;
• Documents progress, lessons learned, and success stories, and reports to funders, working closely with the Learning and Impact team, and GP staff.
• Supports other program needs as required;

Other horizontal organisational activities

• Leads in the documentation and dissemination of program experiences and lessons learned; contributing to organisational communications needs;
• Participates in the onboarding of new staff members and mentors team members who may be working remotely in multiple locations across multiple time zones;
• Acts in accordance with our policies around nurturing a safe and respectful work environment; never engaging in harassment, coercion, sexual exploitation or abuse of any form, or anything else contrary to our code of conduct.

Role Requirements

Qualifications

• Minimum 5 years of programmatic grantmaking experience, preferably in a similar program officer role; other relevant professional experience in international development, programming for gender equity, program design, and implementation is an asset.
• Knowledge of and experience working on global feminist issues relating to women, girls, and trans rights in the global majority and current trends relating to gender equity, the rollback of rights, women’s rights, social justice, and international development
• Substantive knowledge of and experience with Middle East and North Africa feminist movements and networks is required; Central and Eastern Europe and Balkans knowledge is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate in-depth knowledge of intersectionality and awareness of complex power dynamics
• Demonstrated success in building positive, trust-based relationships
• Strong written, verbal, and presentation communication skills in English plus professional working competency in written and spoken Arabic is required.
• Ability to work and communicate with diverse audiences and stakeholders including activists, donors, and community members
• Strong digital proficiency, including GSuite, MS Office, and experience with database/reporting tools. CRM experience is an asset.
• Knowledge and experience in monitoring, evaluation, and learning, with knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative methods and the ability to analyze data, interpret, and communicate findings is an asset

Core competencies for Adaptive Leadership

• Adaptive competencies including self-awareness, systems thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and accountability are core to success in this role.
• Adaptable and Open to Change: comfortable when things shift and can adjust plans or priorities without getting stuck; curious and like finding ways to make things work better.
• Strong administrative and organisational skills; attention to detail; ability to maintain detailed and organised files
• Team Player: communicate clearly and respectfully, listen well, and comfort working with people who have different roles, backgrounds, and perspectives across time zones.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a dynamic, complex and diverse work environment, and adhere to tight deadlines
• Demonstrated capacity to work with integrity, confidentiality, and alignment with EF’s feminist principles.
• Trustworthy and Discreet: handle sensitive information with care, respect boundaries, and show up with integrity in the work.
• Commitment to the work and values of the Equality Fund, which include Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression, and Intersectionality; Feminist Leadership; Accountability; and Radical Love

Requirements:

• Must be legally eligible to work in Canada
• Able and willing to travel within Canada and to regions were EF has partners, for up to 3-4 weeks per year
• Willing and able to work remotely on mostly computer-based work
• Occasional evening and weekend work may be required.

How to apply?

To apply for this role, please fill in the application form.