Free to be Me – Community of Action facilitator

Period: 2021 - 2025, starting with a one-year contract

Scope: country, focus on national level, but with regional and international linkages

Location: Lebanon

Hours: full-time

JOB CONTEXT

Free to be Me puts community people and their organizations in the driving seat. Local community organizations are best placed to indicate their needs, opportunities and risks. Enabling them to effectively lobby and advocate for their own rights, is our best chance to achieve long-lasting impact. This is what makes our program unique: we bring the principles of local ownership, gender equality, diversity, and inclusion into practice.

Our consortium brings together a wealth of experience with enhancing community leadership, and many rightsholders are already organized in a diversity of ways. They are aware of their human and economic rights and ready to join forces with their peers and allies, to improve these rights. Free to be Me goes beyond local ownership of the program: we support community activists in strengthening and taking this ownership, working from their own safe space, the Community of Action (CoA). Our regranting system is participatory, rightsholders are represented in our governance system and we will be as accountable to them as they are to us.

The Free to be Me alliance consists of six diverse and experienced organizations that are strongly committed to improving the lives of people worldwide. For many community organizations, Hivos was the first funder thanks to our support since the 1990s. Rooted in regional hubs, Hivos regrants and connects to creatives, techies and data specialists. Positive Vibes improves the well-being, resilience and ‘coming to voice’ of activists, communities and organizations, while ILGA World is the global network of community organizations, with 1654 members in 162 countries, and an influential voice at the international level. Technical partner Sogicampaigns has a wealth of experience in supporting community activists to positively influence public opinion, the Global lnterfaith Network knows how to engage religious leaders in dialogues with community people of faith, and Workplace Pride brings in its valuable networks and understanding of how to involve (multinational) companies in workplace inclusion.

The Free to be Me alliance will work in fourteen countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and East, Southern and West-Africa.

The program

We will bring community people and organizations from all parts of the community together in inspiring Communities of Action (CoAs), and empower them to strengthen or build a movement. Within our overarching Theory of Change, communities will decide about objectives, strategies and activities to engage key actors and convince duty bearers to improve their human and economic rights.

Resilient and self-confident activists are at the core of the strongest and most successful community organizations. Where necessary, we will support community individuals and groups to increase their (personal) well-being and become well-prepared advocates, cooperating in inclusive community civil society organizations. Based on this sound foundation for movement-building, and supported by expert working groups, Free to be Me will assist CoA participants to increase public support for community people and issues, lobby for legal and policy changes and remove key obstacles to social justice and economic development.

Free to be Me will be the first program of its kind to pave the way for targeted lobby and advocacy to get SOGIESC issues mainstreamed in economic development programs. The CoAs will focus on improving the economic inclusion of community people in their respective countries, while our trailblazer approach will map, connect and inspire key actors, help them develop a strategic global action plan and initiate pilot research to find out what strategies work best.

The five-year program started April 1st, 2021 and is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the Strategic Partnership Fund, which is part of the Strengthening Civil Society subsidy framework.

Main goal of the job

The Community of Action (CoA) facilitator is the linking pin between the different organizations and groups that participate in the CoAs. She/he/they is able to bring organizations and groups together, stimulate collaboration, motivate groups to share experiences, to build community joint advocacy plans and to undertake coordinated and collaborative advocacy action to improve the lives and context of community rightsholders. She/he/they bring good and positive energies, can create a safe environment, and is responsible for upholding Free to be Me values and principles and translating them into practice.

The CoA facilitator is a leading person in facilitating the development and implementation of a localized Theory of Change (ToC), as well as in organizing and facilitating inspiring and useful CoA-meetings that focus on the fulfillment of the ToC. She/he/they will facilitate and support the development and implementation of organizational level and joint project proposals and reports, in line with Free to Be Me guidelines. In doing so, she/he/they will closely work together with relevant consortium-staff, particularly with the project officer of Hivos.

The CoA facilitator is preferably from the community. She/he/they will be connected with the other CoA facilitators to exchange experiences and learn together. Throughout this process she/he/they will be coached, supported and mentored by the consortium partners.

RESPONSIBILITIES

RESULT AREAS

RESULT DESCRIPTION

Establishment of Communities of Action

• Brings together organizations in a Community of Action (CoA). Seeks input, support and active collaboration and participation of consortium members.
• Creates a safe and inspiring space for organizations to share their plans, ideas, expertise and fears in the CoA.
• Facilitates CoA-organizations to jointly localize the Free to be Me Theory of   Change (ToC).
• Facilitates and supports local organizations in the development of their organizational or joint advocacy and capacity strengthening plans, which contribute to the fulfillment of the ToC.
• Contributes to the design of the overarching Free to be Me planning and processes, and particularly to the design of innovative elements of the program.
• Participates in a network with other CoA facilitators for exchange, mutual learning and sharing.

Development and implementation of work plans

• Organizes and stimulates CoA-meetings, both ‘closed’ meetings where  only organizations financially supported by the program participate, as well as ‘open’ meetings where other organizations (that bring specific expertise, knowledge, innovation, inspiration) are invited.
• Supports the realization of joint and organizational level community advocacy activities.
• Supports the realization and facilitation of capacity strengthening and linking & learning activities.
• Ensures a smooth exchange of information as well as collaboration between CoA- members as well as with CoA-members, consortium members and other actors, such as for example the Dutch embassy.

Monitoring & control

• Takes active part in the planning, monitoring and evaluation of CoA 

activities.

• Keeps an eye on progress towards established goals in CoAs, and in the    organizational level or joint project plans, and flags with Hivos’ management team when problems arise.
• Relates progress to the overarching Free to be Me plans.

Coordination and collaboration

• Throughout the process of project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, the CoA facilitator plays a proactive role in stimulating coordination between the organizations that participate in the CoA, as well as with relevant organizations that are not part of the Community of Action, the host organization, and consortium members.
• Actively contributes to and supports activities at the national and regional level, such as research, advocacy campaigns, learning events, etc.

Sharing, learning, and quality improvement

• Identifies, analyses and highlights success and good practices, as well as potential risks and problems.
• Proposes solutions for identified problems and follows-up on those.
• Contributes to identifying and sharing positive stories.
• Collaborates with the CoAs, the consortium members, and Hivos’ capacity strengthening officer, in the design and realization of exchange and learning events.
• Contributes to reflection and learning on both the national and regional level, as well as on the wider programmatic level.

REQUIREMENTS

This position is for nationals or residents of the concerned country.

The CoA-facilitator:

• Has expertise in and a passion for working on community inclusion and rights, for example through advocacy.
• Has a progressive and positive view on community rights and inclusion, sees inclusion of community people from an intersectional perspective and understands how exion works for a range of groups marginalized in their country context.
• Believes in Free to be Me values and is accountable to them.
• Is keen on ensuring ownership by local community led, organizations, and in finding innovative and creative solutions to realize goals.
• Is keen on ensuring that all parts of the community benefit from the Free to be Me program.
• Gets energy when she/he/they can bring people and organizations together around a shared goal.
• Has the confidence to manage and facilitate groups and loves to do so.
• Is able to establish productive and innovative collaborations, including between organizations, groups and persons that maybe do not always work together.
• Is a good communicator, with strong inter-personal skills and empathy.
• Is self-aware and possess a comfort with their own identity.
• Is committed, able to build trust in others, keep confidences, and takes responsibility for personal performance.
• Flexible attitude, creative, innovative, sense of humor.
• Ability to work and think at an abstract level.
• Minimum of three to five years of relevant working experience on communtiy issues, and/or in program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Experience with or an appetite for working in international teams.
• Lived experience as a part of the community is an asset.
• Full professional proficiency in English and language(s) relevant in the respective country context.