About this role
Job Profile:
Counterpart International is seeking a Civil Society Specialist for its five-year, USAID-funded program in Bangladesh Promoting Advocacy and Rights (PAR). This is a full time position based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This position will report to the Senior Technical Advisor. The program will support the creation of a more inclusive, resilient, and evidence-driven Bangladeshi civil society. The project's goal is to provide civil society with the skills, technology, financial resources, and connections to global networks that will enable it to work in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh (GOB) to advance good governance.
Supports all civil society program activities including regional events, training, and network developing. Coordinates with partners and grantees and provides them with organizational development and advocacy technical assistance. Contributes to civil society monitoring & evaluation and learning efforts.
Primary Responsibilities
• Lead outreach and engagement of local implementing partners, supervise grant-making processes for partner organizations and oversee program implementation activities in target communities.
• Monitor activities of local partner organizations through regular meetings and periodic field visits
• Provide technical assistance for advocacy trainings, political candidate engagement, and good governance policy monitoring.
• Coordinate with public officials to advance the National Integrity Strategy, specifically to improve the GOB's engagement with civil society.
• Develop tools and provide training and technical assistance for CSO strengthening initiatives
• Assist in the development of small grant solicitations and organization of grant committees.
• Organize and facilitate dialoge platforms between government and civil society stakeholders.
• Oversee the building of strong participatory mechanisms for civil society to engage on issues affecting democracy and governance principles.
• Contribute to the development of annual work plans, performance monitoring systems and tools, and writing of progress, quarterly and final program reports.
• Coordinate closely with the Grants Manager and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Specialist
• Support Senior Technical Advisor on any programmatic decisions needing to be made.
• Perform other duties as assigned by the Senior Technical Advisor or his/her designee that is consistent with the overall focus of this position.
Qualifications:
• Advanced degree in organizational development, social / political science, law, or a related field
• Minimum of eight (8) years of civil society, educational, or development experience or an equivalent combination of applied research/advanced academic work in a relevant subject matter, with several years of field work in a technical capacity working with civil society organizations and government agencies.
• Prior experience conducting field-based work across multiple divisions in Bangladesh.
• Prior experience leading research and analysis, and developing evidence-based policy advocacy campaigns for democratic reforms.
• Good understanding of Bangladesh's political environment and current development goals and issues.
• Excellent understanding of CSO legal rights and the challenges and opportunities that CSOs face when operating in Bangladesh.
• Experience engaging civil society and government institutions to collaborate on common issues
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate and coordinate activities with multiple stakeholders including civil society, government, and private sector entities, including experience establishing cross-sectoral partnerships, and civil society networks
• Demonstrated experience working on gender and social inclusion issues on donor-funded projects.
• Demonstrated experience in the management of participatory methodologies for training and interaction with diverse social groups
• Strong training, presentation and communication skills
• Proven ability to advocate civil society issues
• Oral and written fluency in Bangla and English required; other minority language knowledge preferred