Chief of Party- Greater Internet Freedom

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Internews is seeking a Chief of Party (COP) candidate for a three-year, $15,500,000 Global Internet Freedom initiative that launched in August 2020 and is funded through the USAID Democracy, Rights, and Governance Center. The Chief of Party will provide overall strategic guidance and leadership to the Greater Internet Freedom (GIF) program, which includes working directly with a consortium of NGOs from around the world to achieve key objectives in promoting digital rights and digital safety globally. The Chief of Party will be responsible for overall program management, working closely with USAID representatives, the GIF team, colleagues at Internews, and project partners in order to ensure the program’s effective implementation and long term impact.

We are seeking a problem solver, critical thinker, and a creative leader with exceptional executive-decision making skills, whose expertise in managing complex foreign assistance programs is matched by their dedication to defending and promoting internet freedom. The ideal candidate will be resourceful and solutions-focused and will thrive in a creative and ever-changing environment with a highly distributed, multi-lingual, and multi-cultural team. We dress casually, laugh easily, and like to cheer each other on, so we will also seek a Chief of Party who is good-humored and collegial. The Chief of Party will report to the Senior Director of Digital Rights and Digital Safety Programming Global Technology Programs.

LOGISTICS

This position will be based in and work out of our Washington, DC office, with international travel as needed.

OUR COMMITMENT TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF BELONGING

We are an organization of dynamic, mission-driven individuals who are passionate about our core values and about supporting positive change in the world. We pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and flexibility. We believe that diverse teams are strong teams and work to support an ethic of belonging, dignity, and justice for all people. Our current team includes a mix of genders, parents, and non-parents, and people of multiple races, nationalities, ages, sexual orientations and socio-economic backgrounds. We are EEO employer and encourage candidates of all races, genders, ages, orientations, ethnicities, and national origins to apply, and welcome those with alternative backgrounds and experiences.

DAY-TO-DAY TASKS will include:

Strategic Leadership

• Provide overall leadership and strategic direction of a multi-year, global, USAID-funded program, ensuring extremely close collaboration among stakeholders at local, regional, and global levels;
• Cultivate, strengthen, and maintain relationships with the various stakeholders of the GIF program and ensure that GIF implementation is responsive to the needs of partners and beneficiaries;

Programmatic Management

• Supervise the overall day-to-day management and administration of program operations, ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of program operations as well as the effective establishment of roles and responsibilities among consortium members and project staff;
• Ensure that program implementation is achieving objectives, goals, and targets, working with relevant stakeholders to identify and negotiate programmatic adjustments when necessary to keep the project on track, and overseeing programming monitoring and evaluation in order to measure programmatic impact and learning;
• Ensure the project is in compliance with all grant and cooperative agreement rules, requirements and regulations, as well as with Internews’ own internal policies and procedures;
• Serve as the primary budget authority over the project, responsible for ensuring all costs charged to the project are allowable, reasonable and correctly allocated, and accept fiduciary responsibility for all funds advanced for the purpose of the project;
• Serve as designated project ‘key personnel,’ and primary funder point of contact;

Communications and Representation

• Maintain a thorough knowledge of internet freedom issues globally and a strong understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing human rights defenders and CSOs;
• Represent the program and Internews before different stakeholders, including industry sector actors, government entities, peer organizations, partners, and donors;
• Develop and implement an internal and external communications strategy for the program;

Organizational Leadership

• Understanding of and demonstrated commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values;
• Work with Internews teams around the world to identify opportunities for programmatic impact and the achievement of program objectives;
• Be an enthusiastic member of a fun, talented, thoughtful team that’s committed to changing the world for the better;
• In all duties, an understanding of and demonstrated commitment to upholding Internews’ Core Values.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

The Chief of Party supervises programmatic staff, including a team of 5-6 that includes two key personnel who are subject matter experts. The Chief of Party carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; addressing complaints and resolving problems. The COP must build a strong team culture that supports a range of contributors, participants, and staff to inform the strategic priorities and needs of the program. The COP must also excel at simplifying complex procedure and process and establishing clear roles and responsibilities for project staff.

QUALIFICATIONS WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

Required

• Previous work experience in managing donor-supported programming in social sciences, community development, media and communications, cybersecurity, business, international development, or related fields, including experience in internet freedom programming in an international context;
• 5-10 years’ years of experience in a senior management role overseeing complex, large-scale development programs in the democracy and governance sector;
• Proven ability to build and manage effective, resilient teams as well as a positive team culture;
• Proven ability to craft and then execute operational and managerial strategies that power the achievement of major foreign assistance goals;
• Demonstrated understanding of the existing diverse contexts and cultural nuances of different regions of the world, including high-risk contexts, civil society communities, and marginalized groups;
• Excellent oral and written communication skills; with professional fluency in English;
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed;
• Ability to resolve conflicts in a peaceful and respectful manner;
• Optimism, a sense of humor, and excitement at joining a supportive, skilled, multi-cultural team; that is distributed across the globe.

Preferred

• Experience in managing multi-year, global USAID programs;
• Previous experience as a proactive Chief of Party with a strong reputation for developing excellent collaborative working relationships with local counterparts, colleagues, and donors;
• Experience in information security, digital security, digital rights, internet governance, emerging technologies, and/or human rights in the digital age, with a focus outside the U.S.;
• Experience living and working outside of the United States;
• Demonstrated expertise in integrating gender effectively into programs;
• Proficiency in at least one language other than English;
• Master’s degree in social sciences, community development, media and communications, cybersecurity, business, international development, or other related field.

Note: Candidates who do not have these preferred qualification, but are interested and willing to learn, are encouraged to apply.

This position is being offered and hired by Internews Network. Benefits will be consistent with Internews Network’s offerings and will be reviewed during the hiring process. Additional information can be found on our About Working for Internews page.

Internews Network is an equal opportunity employer. Every qualified applicant will be considered for employment. Internews does not discriminate based on race, gender, gender identity or orientation, genetic information, age, national origin, marital status, disability status, political ideology, military or protected veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by applicable law.