Sightsavers is an international organisation that changes lives for the long term. We work in more than 30 countries to eliminate avoidable blindness and support people with visual impairments to live independently.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Global Technical Lead, Disability-Inclusive Economic Empowerment

Locations: Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Bangladesh, UK
Reports to: Senior Global Technical Lead, Social Inclusion
Duration/Job Type: 12 months fixed term contract

Background

• Economic empowerment is one of the pillars of Sightsavers’ social inclusion strategy. Sightsavers has recently been awarded funding from DFID as lead agency for a multi-country consortium programme focused in this area.
• The post-holder will be the technical lead for this programme, supporting Sightsavers programme staff and working closely with technical staff from other consortium members.
• In addition, the post-holder will provide technical guidance to existing economic empowerment projects and support the development of new proposals.

Job Purpose (The Overall Purpose and Function of the Job)

• To provide technical leadership in disability inclusive economic empowerment at organisational and programmatic level.
• To ensure that Sightsavers’ global and thematic programme portfolio on economic empowerment is aligned with internal and external evidence and good practice.

Principal Accountabilities (Specific Activities and End Results):

• Guide the strategic direction for the global inclusive economic empowerment programme portfolio, in collaboration with the Senior GTL, Social Inclusion
• Ensure that Sightsavers’ programmes are informed by best available evidence and good practice, and effectively designed, implemented, and evaluated.
• Provide technical leadership and expertise in gender-responsive disability inclusive economic empowerment to guide the development and delivery of strategic programmes.
• Develop new strategic initiatives and fostering innovative approaches in inclusive employment in the formal and informal sector in collaboration to improve and enhance the quality of Sightsavers’ work to support people with disabilities achieve their right to economic independence.
• Facilitate the capacity strengthening of country, regional, partner and global teams in the design and implementation of inclusion programmes (globally) to meet organisational standards on quality.
• Contribute to the research, innovation, policy, advocacy and communications agendas through close collaboration with interdepartmental team and key external stakeholders to ensure content is based on best available evidence and where possible, direct programme experience.
• Be responsible for regional technical inputs on social inclusion (disability and gender) when required in other thematic areas and in particular, contribute to and support regional efforts to model Sightsavers commitment to organisational diversity through the Social Inclusion Working Group.
• Undertake representation of Sightsavers as an expert in social inclusion, including at the ILO Global Business Disability Network, regional and international professional and sector-specific meetings.
• The principal accountabilities listed above are not meant to be an exhaustive list of tasks. The jobholder will be expected to be flexible and carry out any other related duties that are within the employee's skills and abilities whenever reasonably instructed.

Requirements
Knowledge (Education & Related Experience):

• A postgraduate qualification in a relevant field (International Development, Social Work/Social Inclusion; Disability Studies, Poverty and Livelihoods International Economics and Public Policy, Social Protection etc.)
• Excellent knowledge of current issues and best practice in economic empowerment, livelihoods, social protection and financial inclusion
• Extensive programing experience of a range of economic empowerment approaches in developing countries, that address some or all of the following: livelihoods, training, market-based interventions, inclusive and responsible supply chain management, poverty reduction strategies and private sector engagement.
• Experience in developing and adapting programme guidance tools and other resource materials
• Experience in collating, synthesising and disseminating best practice guidance and programme learning
• Demonstrable experience of supporting capacity strengthening initiatives and Programmes with people with disabilities in low-resource settings
• Good knowledge of the key international networks and organisations working on social inclusion and disability
• Experience of representing an organisation and providing an influencing role at an international level

Skills (Special Training or Competence):

• Analytical thinking and ability to plan strategically from organisational perspective.
• Excellent leadership and networking skills.
• Ability to build strong working relationships across different departments and work collaboratively as a member of cross-functional teams.
• Proven ability to initiate, innovate and translate ideas into effective action plans.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills with ability to represent the organisation externally.
• Excellent oral and writing skills in English; Kiswahili is an advantage
• Strong ability to develop and adapt programming guidance tools and other resources.
• An understanding of, and commitment to, equality of opportunity for people with disabilities.
• Able to travel for up to 12-16 weeks a year (regional and international)

Core Behaviours:

• Communicating & Influencing
• Team Working
• Planning & Organising
• Change & Improvement
• Decision Making
• Delivery and Implementation

Key Relationships:

• Internal:
  • Senior Global Technical Lead, Social Inclusion
  • Programme Development and Innovations team
  • Regional and Country Directors
  • Director, PS2
  • Research team
  • Evaluation Advisers
  • Global Policy and Advocacy team
  • Global and Institutional Fundraising teams
  • Programme Systems and Monitoring team
• External:
  • Professional bodies and organisations
  • International partner organisations and other development agencies and
  • networks working in the area of inclusive employment, social inclusion and
  • disability rights development.
  • Research, policy and disability institutions and bodies
  • Donors and other influential programming policy directors

Salary 
Local Terms & Conditions apply.

Interview Date
Week commencing 30th April, 2018.

Application Closing Date
22nd April, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should please download and return the completed "Application Form" and "Equal Opportunities Form" as two separate documents to: jobs@sightsavers.org

Click Here to Download the Application Form (Ms Word)

Click Here to Download the Equal Opportunities Form (Ms Word)

Note: 

• We’re an equal opportunities employer, and we particularly encourage qualified people living with a disability to apply.
• We will be contacting shortlisted candidates for interview shortly after the closing dates. We regret that in view of the large number of applications we receive, we are unable to respond if you are unsuccessful. We hope you understand the need to concentrate resources towards our work.