Programme Manager

Centre for Global Equality

Cambridge, UK

Permanent, full-time

£35,000 – £45,000 per year

Role description

The Centre for Global Equality (CGE) is looking for a self-motivated, highly organised individual with excellent people skills to join our growing team and help deliver our portfolio of innovative and impactful sustainable development projects and programmes.

CGE’s new Programme Manager will support the delivery of projects in food security, climate change, energy, water, health and livelihoods.

Our ideal candidate would hold a PhD in a relevant field and understand research and the academic environment. She or he would also understand the international development sector and ways of working, and have worked in countries with developing and emerging economies. An interest in co-creation through Human Centred Design or participatory development methodologies is key, as is a commitment to mentorship, capacity building and supporting the growth of others.

Terms

• Role: Programme Manager
• Rate: £35,000 – £45,000 p.a. full-time equivalent, dependent on qualifications and experience, with benefits
• Basis: Permanent, full-time
• Location: Cambridge, UK, with a flexible approach to working from home
• Eligibility: Must be eligible to work in the UK

About CGE

The Centre for Global Equality (CGE) is a UK-based civil society organisation that evolves innovative approaches to solving global challenges relating to food, water, energy, health, work and the environment. We have developed an approach we call Inclusive Innovation, which is inclusive in both purpose and approach. We mobilise frontier science and technology to enhance the wellbeing and economic development of the poorer half of the world’s population, without harming the environment or the interests of future generations. All potential solutions are co-created with the people they are intended to benefit.

We have developed a range of tools, projects and programmes to facilitate Inclusive Innovation, which we deliver in collaboration with partners in academia, civil society, government and business. Through our global civil society network, we identify challenges faced by low-resource communities in developing and emerging economies. We then match these challenges with the interests of academic researchers, and support the resulting research projects. We also facilitate non-academic solver events and programmes for individuals and groups interested in collaborating to address such challenges. As frontier technology pioneers we run regular programmes to explore potential applications of emerging science and technology to contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Innovative solutions evolved through these processes are incubated in our Cultivator. CGE works directly in the UK, Ethiopia, Kenya, India and Lao PDR. Our Cultivator projects and ventures also work in Cambodia, Cameroon, Colombia, Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Uganda.

CGE’s UK activities are run from an Inclusive Innovation Hub in Cambridge, where the Cultivator is housed. To facilitate our collaborations with the University of Cambridge, we are partnering with the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB) to deliver an Inclusive Innovation programme. We also collaborate with University College London, Loughborough University, NIAB and the British Antarctic Survey.

The role

The Programme Manager will be responsible for supporting the delivery of a portfolio of innovative, and impactful sustainable development projects and programmes. Over the next year the focus will be on food security, health and climate compatible growth.

Key responsibilities

The Programme Manager will support the evolution of Inclusive Innovation initiatives by

• Working with practitioner organisations in the CGE network to identify challenges faced by low-resource communities in developing and emerging economies
• Identifying UK and international students, researchers and innovators in the CGE network with capacities that could be used to address such challenges
• Convening and facilitating ideation and solver events and programmes
• Designing, convening and facilitating international co-creation events and programmes with inclusive innovation partner organisations in Africa and Asia
• Mentoring groups in the CGE Cultivator
• Monitoring, reflecting on and learning from the results of specific initiatives
• Producing narrative and financial reports as required
• Helping to raise funds to support ongoing inclusive innovation initiatives.

The Programme Manager will also support the delivery of consortium research programmes by

• Contributing to the conceptualisation and drafting of research proposals
• Establishing and supporting productive, mutually beneficial partnerships with academics and practitioners in low-and middle-income countries
• Enabling co-creation between researchers, innovators and end-users in low- and middle-income countries throughout the research process
• Facilitating outreach and impact activities
• Supporting programme management where required
• Monitoring, reflecting on and learning from the results of research programmes
• Producing narrative and financial reports as required

Key skills, knowledge and experience

The Programme Manager will have

• A Doctoral degree in a relevant field and at least two years’ experience in the sustainable development sector, or a Masters degree in a relevant field with more than five years’ experience in the sustainable development sector
• Experience enabling co-creation using such approaches as Human Centred Design or Participatory Development methodologies
• At least two years’ project management experience in international development including designing, delivering and reporting on projects according to log frame and/or Theory of Change results frameworks
• An understanding of the academic research process, and academic culture and ways of working would be an advantage
• Experience supervising students and/or mentoring volunteer groups would be an advantage
• Experience building productive collaborations between people from different disciplines, sectors and countries would be an advantage.

Person specification

The Programme Manager will:

• Hold a relevant doctoral qualification with two years’ practitioner experience in the international development sector, or hold a relevant Masters qualification with five years’ practitioner experience
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills in English
• Have strong interpersonal skills and a friendly personality
• Be interested in capacity building and supporting the growth of other people’s projects
• Be self-motivated with the ability to work alone and as part of a team
• Thrive in a fast-paced environment with the ability to prioritise workloads and to work fast and accurately to deadlines when needed
• Be willing to travel internationally, particularly to low- and middle-income countries

Terms and Conditions

• This post is subject to the Terms and Conditions of Employment of the Centre for Global Equality
• The Centre for Global Equality is an Equal Opportunities Employer
• The right to work in the UK is required