Her Voice Fund Manager – Womankind Worldwide

Womankind Worldwide is a global women’s rights organisation working in partnership with women’s rights organisations and movements to transform the lives of women and girls. We believe in the power of women to change their own lives. Together with women’s rights organisations and movements, we work towards… • An end to all forms of violence against women and girls • Women’s economic rights and control over resources • Women’s equal influence in decision making and ability to exercise political power. Womankind strengthens and supports women’s rights organisations and movements by providing the tools and resources they need to change the lives of women, in the home, the workplace and the communities they live in. We build successful projects, amplify women’s voices and share what’s working. We also take collective action with women’s movements at international level.

Salary: £ 54,087 per annum

Location: This position is located in the UK. Black and Women of Colour who qualify and have a right to work in UK are particularly encouraged to apply

Position: Full time & 2 years Fixed contract

Deadline for applications: Friday 1st December 2023

Womankind Worldwide is seeking a passionate feminist and women’s rights advocate to serve in the position of Her Voice Fund Manager. The successful candidate will have relevant experience and skills to lead and manage a growing Flexible Fund to support partners and informal groups in their policy and advocacy work at all levels. They will manage and implement the Fund using feminist values and practices of partnership and funding. You will be creative, flexible, and employ feminist, anti-racist and decolonial ways of working with colleagues, partners, and grantees.

If you are a passionate feminist, with strong roots and connectivity within the global Feminist movements and Philanthropy and Donor communities and have the ability to lead and manage a flexible fund grounded in Feminist values and principles with strong programme management skills and understand the connectivity of programmes and policy and advocacy especially in relation to donor advocacy, then we would love to hear from you.

Position Overview:

As the Her Voice Fund Manager, you will play a pivotal role in driving the success of the Her Voice Fund, an initiative by Womankind Worldwide. Your primary responsibility will be to lead and manage grant-making process, program management and support Donor Advocacy aimed at increasing quality funding to women’s rights organisations, activists, and feminist movements especially those in the Global South. Additionally, you will lead the learning and research efforts to enhance the fund’s impact and inform effective advocacy strategies and contribute to organisation-wide strategy and learning around grant-making.

Key internal relationships:

The post is based in the Policy and Communications sub team which sits under the Policy, Programmes & Learning (PPL) team, comprising a Policy & Communications sub team and a Programmes & Learning sub team. This position reports to the Director of Policy & Communications and will work closely with other members of the PPL team, Fundraising & Marketing team and across the organisation, including, Finance & Resources and the Senior Management Team.

The post holder may manage interns, volunteers and consultants on an ad hoc basis.

The role has five key areas of responsibility:

Grant Making:

Design and manage the grant-making process, ensuring adherence to feminist best practices of flexible funding to support policy and advocacy work.

Review and evaluate grant applications, assessing their alignment with the fund’s objectives and priorities and Womankind’s overall grantmaking strategy and approach.

Conduct due diligence alongside Womankind’s Finance and Resources team on informal groups applicants shortlisted to be recipients of the funds to ensure they are aligned with our criteria for funding informal groups.

Collaborate with the Policy team to select eligible applicants for funding.

Draft Partnership Agreements for selected Funds recipients and collaborate with Finance and Resources Team on timely transfer of Funds.

Work closely with partners and informal groups receiving funding to understand and support them in line with the support they need from Womankind.

Donor Advocacy:

Drawing from HVF grantees and wider feminist movements, develop compelling narratives and evidence-based research that demonstrate the importance of quality funding for WROs and Feminist Movements and the role of quality funding in strengthening the Feminist voices and transformative agenda.

Work closely with the Policy and Advocacy and Fundraising & Marketing teams in engagement with donors and effective donor advocacy.

Work closely with the Fundraising & Marketing team to cultivate relationships with existing and potential donors to secure sustainable funding for Her Voice Fund.

Foster collaboration with like-minded Organisations and wider Feminist Movements including Women’s Funds to build/strengthen a common agenda for donor advocacy which incorporates learnings from Her Voice Fund grantees.

Develop learning papers, policy briefings and lead relevant convenings related to communicating the results of Her Voice Fund and for advocating for quality funding for WROs and feminist movements centering the leadership of feminist movements.

Program Management:

• Oversee the overall program management, ensuring efficient implementation and allocation of resources.
• Coordinate with partner organisations and informal groups to ensure that they get the support they need from Womankind.
• Support partners and informal groups in their reporting ensuring that the reporting is used as a learning exercise both for Womankind and partners and Informal groups.
• Using partners reports and any information provided by partners , assess and compile learnings from the implemented projects – this should be done at least once a year.

Learning:

• Working closely with Womankind’s Impact and Learning Advisor, lead the learning efforts of the Her Voice Fund to improve flexible funding practices to partners and informal groups.
• Work closely with Impact and Learning Advisor as well as Managers for other Womankind’s Flexible Funds (Movement Strengthening Fund and Strategic Grants) to ensure standardisation of flexible funds and our learning from these across the Organisation.
• Through convenings and various engagements with grantees and like-minded Organisations, identify trends, best practices, lessons learned to inform analysis and knowledge products such as learning papers for continuous improvement.
• Share insights, knowledge and learnings from the Fund with various key stakeholders especially Donors to influence their Funding approaches and practices.
• Contribute to the development of Womankind’s overall grant making strategy and approach.

Research:

Conduct Feminist participatory research on critical issues related to quality funding for Women’s Rights Organisations and Feminist Movements centering the voices of partners and informal groups we work with

Utilize research findings to inform evidence-based advocacy strategies and policy recommendations in form of policy briefs and statements.

Collaborate with partner organisations, informal groups and like-minded Feminist Organisations and Feminist researchers to conduct joint studies and assessments.

Stay updated with the latest developments in quality funding for WROs and Feminist Movements to inform Organisation’s learning and practices.

Requirements:

• A strong commitment to advancing women’s rights and promoting feminist agendas.
• Proven experience in grant-making, programme management, or similar roles in the development sector.
• Experience designing effective and efficient grant-making systems and processes that do not compromise principles of flexible funding.
• Familiarity with the policy landscape and advocacy spaces related to women’s rights in the Global South.
• Excellent participatory feminist research and analytical skills, with the ability to center the voices of those affected by the research questions.
• Demonstrated ability to engage with donors, advocate for quality funding, and build sustainable partnerships.
• Experience in managing complex projects involving multiple stakeholders.
• Knowledge of and focus on intersectional feminist approaches
• Excellent communication, writing, and presentation skills.
• Experience working closely and collaboratively in remote teams
• Proficiency in collaboration and fostering strong partnerships and relationships with diverse stakeholders.

Benefits and Conditions:

Hours 35 hours

Salary 54,087 per annum

Contract 2 yrs Fixed term

Probationary period 6 months

Holidays 25 days per annum plus statutory holidays, plus 3 days office closure over the Christmas and new year period.

Pension Womankind has a contributory pension scheme in place. Employer contribution of 6% and minimum employee contribution of 2%

Other benefits

We offer a wide range of flexible working options, enhanced family leave, sickness leave and free eye tests