The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) seeks applicants for a full-time Europe-based Technical Program Manager to lead an upcoming international donor-funded Internet freedom advocacy program in several countries in the Europe and Eurasia region. The two-year program will develop a comprehensive curriculum to support Internet freedom and freedom of expression policy change, with subsequent training, program design workshops and subgrants to regional civil society organizations (CSOs) to support related initiatives.
Successful applicants for this position will have a strong foundation in Internet freedom and freedom of expression advocacy issues; a legal or social science degree; work experience in the region; seven or more years of experience in human rights and freedom of expression issues; and will have experience in managing international development programs, especially those programs requiring coordination with a variety of partners and in multiple countries.
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The Technical Program Manager will be the lead implementer responsible for compliance with project timeline and outputs. The Technical Program Manager will work under the supervision of the Program Director, and will conduct all partner engagement, oversee the design of the Internet advocacy curriculum, assist in organizing and delivering trainings, and will lead partner selection and subgrantee awarding choices. He/she will organize all project activities and manage day-to-day communications with local partners and stakeholders across the countries. The Technical Program Manager will also monitor activities and lead frequent evaluation check-ins with ABA ROLI staff in Washington, DC and the donor.
Responsibilities
The duties of this post include, but are not limited to, the following:
Establishing and managing ABA ROLI program, including ensuring program goals are met, resources are utilized in accordance with budgets, and that reporting and monitoring and evaluation tasks are completed;
Ensuring compliance with donor requirements and ABA policies;
Initiating, nurturing and expanding working relationships with government counterparts, CSOs, academic institutions, and experts involved in the Internet freedom and freedom of expression fields as necessary for the success of program activities;
Serving as point of contact/face of the program with donor representatives in the region;
Developing and monitoring budgets in cooperation with Finance and Program staff;
Working closely with a remote field finance manager, overseeing procurement, vendor contracts and payments, ensuring all aspects of program expenses are within ABA and donor regulations;
With cooperation of field finance manager, managing and tracking program budgets, produce monthly budget pipelines, expense reports, and cash requests for U.S. office;
Providing financial oversight and administrative support for program start-up and close-out;
Providing regular oral and written updates to ABA ROLI D.C. program staff and the donor on progress toward goals, challenges and mitigation strategies for those challenges;
Identifying potential implementation challenges and developing and implementing resolutions for those challenges in coordination with teammates and supervisor; and
Researching and understanding the operational and political environments in the program countries, and keeping ABA ROLI team informed.
Qualifications
At least seven years of progressively responsible experience in international development and program management;
Legal or social science degree;
Solid and thorough understanding of Internet freedom and freedom of expression issues in the Europe and Eurasia region;
Experience working with international donor-funded projects;
Excellent interpersonal skills with demonstrated ability to cultivate relationships with government entities, CSOs, academic institutions and other relevant stakeholders;
Strong written and oral communication skills and the ability to communicate effectively in both Russian and English;
High degree of organization, professionalism, integrity, trustworthiness and flexibility; and
Ideally, experience working in a non-profit/association/CSO setting;
This position will be based in the Europe and Eurasia region.
How to apply:
Please send a resume and cover letter with “Technical Program Manager” in the subject line to ee-recruitment@americanbar.org