Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies
JOB- Program Officer for Central Asia and Turkey, The Christensen Fund
Posted by: The Christensen Fund <resumes@christensenfund.org>
Job Announcement
Program Officer for Central Asia and Turkey
September 2007
The Position
The Program Officer for Central Asia and Turkey is an existing
position that will become vacant at The Christensen Fund on December
31st 2007. The opportunity is to lead further development of a
significant portfolio of grantees working in the mountain regions of
West Central Asia around bio-cultural diversity issues.
The Christensen Fund (TCF)
The Christensen Fund (www.christensenfund.org), founded in 1957 and
located in Palo Alto in the San Francisco Bay Area, is an independent
private foundation that has long supported international work in the
arts and conservation science fields and now works with the following
mission:
The Christensen Fund believes in the power of biological and cultural
diversity to sustain and enrich a world faced with great change and
uncertainty. We focus on the "bio-cultural" - the rich but neglected
adaptive interweave of people and place, culture and ecology. The
Fund's mission is to buttress the efforts of people and institutions
who believe in a biodiverse world infused with artistic expression and
work to secure ways of life and landscapes that are beautiful,
bountiful and resilient.
We pursue this mission through place-based work in regions chosen for
their potential to withstand and recover from the global erosion of
diversity. We focus on backing the efforts of locally-recognized
community custodians of this heritage, and their alliances with
scholars, artists, advocates and others. We also fund international
efforts to build global understanding of these issues. These are
challenging goals, so we seek out imaginative, thoughtful and
occasionally odd partners to learn with. The Fund works primarily
through grant making, as well as through capacity and network
building, knowledge generation, collaboration and mission-related
investments.
TCF's overall grant making in 2008 is projected at US$14.5m and is
anticipated to rise to US$25m per year over the next several years.
The Central Asia and Turkey Program Officer is one of a growing team
of currently 28 staff, including four other Program Officers
responsible for other specific geographical regions of the world
(African Rift Valley; Melanesia; the Greater American Southwest; and
Northern Australia), and two additional Program Officers developing
our global programs. The Fund also has senior consultants located in
the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. (For details of our background,
programs and staff please consult the website www.christensenfund.org.)
Dr. Rafique Keshavjee, who served from 2003-2007, was the first
Program Officer for The Christensen Fund in this position and during
his tenure the Fund has made $6.6m grants for work in the region and
another $450,000 for work on Central Asian issues in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
The Grantmaking Remit
The Christensen Fund took the decision to develop grant making in
montane parts of Central Asia and Turkey in 2002 in recognition of
their critical role in the history and therefore future of cultural
and biological diversity in Eurasia, and the lack of attention this
region has generally received from international funders and
institutions. Straddling the bio-geographic boundaries between
Europe, South Asia and the Middle East, these mountains have long been
central to the generation and dissemination of globally significant
ideas, species, languages, land use systems and ways of life. Indeed
this region is the origin of many of the world's fruits, crops and
livestock species, has a history of profound religious and cultural
pluralism and creativity, and has provided refugia and resilience
during past periods of climate change. The Fund also considers this
an important time to engage with the communities and leaders of
Central Asia to assist them secure pluralism and social and
environmental sustainability. In 2006 the Board of Trustees and
senior staff of The Christensen Fund made a highly successful visit to
Turkey, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to meet government, civic,
community, intellectual and cultural leaders and review progress with
grantmaking in the field.
The Christensen Fund (TCF) has developed a strong strategy for
assisting Central Asian and Turkish efforts to retain and revitalize
the region's unique cultural and biological heritage. Geographically
the program currently focuses on three places of particular montane
diversity: Badakhshan, the Kyrgyz Tien Shan, the Turkish Caucasus; but
grants are also made with a more regional focus and in other locations
of important heritage and/or opportunity. To date the perspective has
been to marry creatively external expertise and local wisdom to
strengthen the resilience of communities and landscapes in the face of
climate and other global and regional change and uncertainty. In a
very diverse grant portfolio (with seventy eight grants to date)
particular attention has been given to the roles of sacred places; to
re-connecting cultural expression, crafts and traditional knowledge;
to valuing biological and cultural heritage as assets for local
economies and livelihoods; and to revitalizing traditional agriculture
and herding through landscape-based approaches. The new Program
Officer is expected to build on current directions while developing
new thematic and geographic initiatives. S/he will likely seek to
strengthen the environmental and/or educational dimensions of the
portfolio, and to deepen support for community institutions,
especially farmer, herder and women's organizations.
Grantmaking at the Fund provides much opportunity for innovation and
long term thinking to find ways to back dedicated people, creative
thinkers, unusual institutions and social movements. With its focus
support for the local stewards and guardians of place, culture and
environment, TCF makes grants to community-based organizations, local
and international NGOs, universities, arts and cultural centers and
groups, local governments, museums, and other institutions around the
themes of Landscape, Livelihoods & Foodways; Culture and Land; and
Education, Leadership & Networking. It supports adaptive processes
that are anchored in local realities and visions of traditional
custodians that can secure a future for the unique richness of
lifeways, landscapes, foodways and biodiversity.
For this hire we seek a visionary with imagination and energy to
support practical results on the ground. S/he will be passionate
about diversity and environmental and indigenous issues, with a
particular talent for understanding how to connect new ideas,
traditional stewardship and funding institutions. S/he will be a
networker and team player, finding allies everywhere while listening
to local people.
The grant budget for this grantmaking program will start at around
US$2.0m in 2008 and is anticipated to grow over the next several years.
Responsibilities
Reporting to the Executive Director, the Program Officer will be a
responsible for:
* Building on past years of grantmaking and the lessons learned,
bring energy and vision to developing grant making strategies for the
region and articulating them to potential grantees and other stakeholders;
* Developing and recommending grant proposals for approval, and
overseeing application declinations and grantee reporting, working in
close collaboration with colleagues in Grants Administration staff;
* Collaborating with other staff at The Christensen Fund and other
partnering foundations and institutions to craft, finance and
implement grantmaking;
* Maintaining close knowledge of the ideas, issues and institutions
in their field of responsibility, and of the circumstances of
communities, landscapes and biodiversity across regions of concern in
Central Asia;
* Partnering (as appropriate) with grantees to advance their
institutional development and program achievement, and participating
in their events;
* Helping grantees and other relevant organizations network and learn
from each other locally, across the region and internationally;
* Working (including with outside reviewers) to evaluate the impact
of grantees and grant making strategies and recommending program
adjustments accordingly;
* Sharing her/his expertise and imagination with other TCF staff in
pursuit of the organization's overall programming and mission; and
* Presenting grant making strategies, grantmaking progress reviews,
proposed grants, impact evaluations and other briefings to the TCF
Board of Trustees.
We expect this position to be based in the San Francisco Bay Area
(Palo Alto), but reasonable accommodations may be made for residence
within the region. The job requires extensive travel across Central
Asia and Turkey, as well as internationally.
Traits and Skills
The staff of The Christensen Fund comprises a diverse and
lively-minded team who work with energy and humor to make a difference
in a deeply troubled world.
The following are required characteristics for this position:
* Deep knowledge of the landscapes and cultures of West Central Asia;
* Deep understanding of the connections between biological and
cultural diversity, and a delight in thinking in integrated ways;
* Familiarity with the history and complexities of Central Asia and
the experiences of communities with handling change, as well as with
the institutions, associations and research groups working to support
their efforts;
* An ability to travel around the region and to seek out, listen to,
understand and respect applicants, grantees and other stakeholders and
work in support of their passions and dreams;
* Superior written and oral communication skills in English, an
ability to work in Russian and/or other relevant Turkic and
Persian languages;
* Well-organized and self-sufficient, IT-savvy, and able to manage
time and work under pressure; and
* A demonstrated ability and inclination to work as part of a team.
Education and Background
Applicants should possess:
* A graduate degree (or equivalent experience) in an environmental or
social science field, along with knowledge of bio-cultural diversity,
stewardship, landscape, resilience, and the issues of tribal peoples.
* Demonstrated commitment to the visions and struggles of Central
Asians to secure their cultural integrity and environmental heritage.
The successful candidate is likely to have experience in:
* Participatory research and advocacy combined with practical
engagement in supporting local environmental and cultural initiatives;
* Prior work involving putting ideas and creativity to work in
support of maintaining diversity, revitalizing communities, ecologies
and local economies;
* Prior employment in a grantmaking foundation or non profit
organization, or experience partnering with such foundations.
Compensation and Terms of Employment
Terms would be a three year renewable contract, with relocation assistance.
The position is available immediately and it is hoped that the new
Program Officer can join in early 2008.
An excellent salary and benefits package commensurate with
qualifications and experience will be provided.
Program Officers at TCF are encouraged to maintain active intellectual
and creative engagement in the development of their fields of
specialty, in particular as these advance the mission and strategies
of the TCF and its grantee communities.
Applications
Please send a cover letter and CV to resumes@christensenfund.org or
mail it to Mayumi Fujio Morrow, 394 University Avenue, Palo Alto CA
94301, USA, marked Confidential.
Applications must be received by September 27th, 2007.
The Christensen Fund is an equal opportunities employer
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with
disabilities to perform the essential functions.
The Christensen Fund: backing the stewards of cultural and biological diversity
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