Location: Phnom Penh, with travel as required.
Report to: Women’s Empowerment Program Lead
Deadline: June 30, 2015
WaterSHED is an NGO based in Cambodia. We engage local businesses and government to develop sustainable approaches that empower households to be active and informed consumers of water, sanitation and hygiene products and services. WaterSHED developed the Hands-Off model of small business engagement, enabling the sale of more than 100,000 latrines to rural consumers. We also developed a cutting-edge leadership program for local government officials, designed and launched the world’s first handwashing device for Base-of-Pyramid consumers, and started two leading social enterprises in household water treatment. We are ambitious about our objectives and believe in the power of leadership. Our breakthrough programs have been featured in the Huffington Post and The Economist, and replicated in more than a dozen countries.
To support our vision in which everyone is enabled to adopt appropriate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) related behaviours, WaterSHED is recruiting a Women’s Empowerment Program Assistant. The successful candidate will help us grow our impact and change the landscape of WASH in development.
Women’s Empowerment
WaterSHED’s Women’s Empowerment program aims to create greater opportunities for women to succeed in the rural markets for water, sanitation and hygiene in Cambodia.
While market-based approaches in WASH can offer exciting opportunities for entrepreneurial women to earn a good income, increase their self-confidence, and grow their expertise in sanitation and hygiene, WaterSHED has become aware that women are not seizing this opportunity at the same rates as men.
Intentional Mentorship: Our research suggests that women face challenges working in rural businesses, but that there are also exciting potential benefits. We seek to grow the capacity of women engaged in WASH markets by establishing mentorship groups. Mentorship groups will meet monthly in each province for peer coaching sessions, with all groups coming together regularly for conferences that bring mentees into contact with professional mentors to support, guide and inspire participants
WaterSHED’s Women’s Empowerment program aims to be participatory and empowering at all levels, encouraging participants to take the lead in planning events, leading meetings and peer coaching. The content of mentoring sessions is based on participants’ identified needs and opportunities, and aims to take an assets-based approach that focuses not on gaps in skills, but on existing assets that can be leverage for personal and community change.
Job Description:
The Program Assistant supports the Program Lead to coordinate the mentorship program. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Managing the logistics of the mentorship program, including quarterly conferences
- Recruiting expert mentors to engage with the participants
- Working closely with mentors and preparing/training them for their role with program participants
- Designing the content and structure of mentorship meetings
- Recruiting and supporting participants in the program
- Traveling to program pilot areas to help facilitate mentoring circles
- Facilitating training sessions for mentors, participants, and other trainers
- Maintaining consistent contact with program participants and mentors
- Designing strategy for integrating new participants to the program
- Building and maintaining relationships with other organizations working in women’s empowerment in Cambodia
- Continually growing expertise on gender in Cambodia
- Finding ways to integrate this work with other WaterSHED programs, especially the Civic Champions leadership program
- Translating between Khmer and English as necessary
Key Qualifications:
- Experience in designing programs from the beginning, including background research, testing of ideas and implementation
- Experience designing and undertaking field research in Cambodia
- Willingness to travel to rural areas to facilitate activities
- Ability to listen, and to think creatively to meet needs of program participants
- Experience planning and facilitating group sessions and/or training events
- Strong cross-cultural communication skills
- Familiarity with gender issues, especially in Cambodia
- Awareness of mentorship models and methods, and curricula/activities
- Strong relationship building and networking ability with people of different backgrounds (e.g. successful business people to rural villagers)
- Ability to prioritize and follow up with multiple activities
Who are you?
Working with us will give you the chance to use your creativity and deploy your ideas every day. We have a dynamic, highly collaborative culture that sets high standards for our work. If you learn quickly, are down to earth, have a sense of humor and want to help those around you grow, you will be welcome at WaterSHED. See our values at www.watershedasia.org/about-us
We are looking for people who appreciate the objectives and values of WaterSHED, have excellent communication skills, are entrepreneurial and creative, take initiative, and are enthusiastic. Good problem-solving, critical-thinking skills, honesty and trustworthiness are essential.
To Apply: To apply for this position, please send your application including:
1) A cover letter,
2) Your C.V. or resume
to cambodia@watershedasia.org with the subject “Women’s Empowerment Program Assistant”.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for an interview. For further information about the organization, visit: http://www.watershedasia.org Follow us @WaterSHEDAsia and @HappyTap_TM