Director, Equity and Poverty Development

Program Overview

The Director, Equity, Poverty and Development guides integration of equity considerations in the work of WRI Mexico. The Director also leads WRI Mexico’s program development and global research and engagement on equity and poverty.

Thought leadership and management (40%)

• Develop, in collaboration with the WRI Global Center for Equitable Development, an Equity, Poverty Development Strategy for WRI Mexico and ensure it has a compelling vision, strong research foundation, and meaningful results that influence policy and practice.
• Monitoring and evaluating the impacts of WRI-Mexico’s projects on equity/poverty.
• Support HR to ensure equity within WRI Mexico.
• Promote close and effective collaboration with WRI programs, centers, and international offices to support the implementation of WRI’s work program on equity, poverty and development with coordination with the Equity Center.
• Author or co-author knowledge products and review and provide constructive feedback on knowledge products that include the analysis of poverty, equity and development variables produced by WRI Mexico.
• Work with WRI Mexico programs to incorporate equity, poverty and development topics into proposal and project design.
• Cultivate relationships with donors, staff and program leaders, that expand audiences for, and uptake of knowledge products that include poverty, equity and development analyses produced by WRI Mexico.
• Leverage partnerships and international engagement to support more effective advocacy for inclusive governance, equity, and development, and represent WRI Mexico in national, regional and global debates and platforms on equity and development.

Technical Support and Project Development (30%)

• Provide support to technical teams resulting in projects with defined targets for equity, poverty and development; attention to equity, poverty and development issues in technical reports that shape global environmental and economic practices; and enhanced research on equity and poverty.
• Review draft publications, blogs, press releases, and other research and communications materials developed to ensure they meet WRI’s standards for equity responsive programming.
• Identify data and methods needed to produce robust, unbiased research that addresses knowledge gaps and influence effective strategies for integration of equity, poverty and development considerations into proposals and project design, and the indicators and metrics to evaluate and measure impact.
• Provide mentoring and capacity building to staff on equity, poverty and development issues.

Fundraising (30%)

• Identify and cultivate new donors to establish a funding base for equity and poverty work in WRI Mexico and Colombia.
• Raise funds as needed to support project development and implementation in partnership with the Development team, other WRI programs, centers and IOs.

Qualifications

• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in equity and environmental or development issues
• Advanced degree in related discipline (International Development, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Public Policy, Law and Development, Social Policy, Racial /Gender Studies or related social science).
• Recognized expertise and track record of publication on equity or related issues in the context of international development or environmental policy and governance.
• Good general knowledge about environmental challenges and policy framework in Mexico.
• Proven experience in providing technical support in all phases of the project cycle.
• Strong expertise in quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• Experience in fundraising, including knowledge of donor aid agency equity, poverty or gender requirements and policies (with bilateral and multilateral development agencies).
• Demonstrated ability to translate research findings into policy and/or practice.
• Proven ability to work with a wide variety of partners and effectively manage external and institutional relationships.
• Demonstrated ability to successfully motivate and manage teams to reach their full potential and achieve on-the-ground results.
• Strong team player with ability to work across institutional departments/programs.
• Proven ability to provide vision and superb strategic thinking skills.
• Outstanding ability to communicate clearly, passionately, and compellingly to a wide range of audiences, especially high-level decision-makers from government, the private sector, and civil society.
• Strong research and writing skills, both for technical and general audiences.
• Strong network of relationships and partners (especially with those engaged in equity, poverty, and development.
• Experience of overseeing and managing budgets.
• Full command in English.