Role: Fellows Support Coordinator, Africa
Location: Accra, Ghana with regular travel in others countries of Africa
Start Date: early-June, 2015
Seeking a gifted coach, facilitator, and community builder to invest in our
great community of fellows in Africa.
Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB) invests in leaders and innovations to
create a world free from poverty and inequitable development: a world of dignity
and equal opportunity where everyone is able to realize their full potential. We
are a movement with thousands of passionate members in Canada and across
Africa. We currently support 14 ventures across Canada and sub-Saharan Africa
and 36 EWB chapters. Our community is made up of nearly 150 staff and Fellows,
2,000 volunteer leaders, and 40,000 supporters.
We invest in people who will lead and support systemic change – we do whatever
it takes, working tirelessly to transform how people think and how things are
done. We practice what we call System Change Leadership: the ethics, the
competencies and the choice to ACT constantly, consistently, relentlessly to
address the biases that make up our present societies, and to LEARN constantly,
consistently, relentlessly about our own biases, and our own evolving place in
systems of oppression. EWB’s exceptional leaders are able to act in the face of
ambiguity and drive change together.
We do this by:
● Supporting community members through our chapter system to practice
System Change Leadership so they can create change that is aligned with
EWB’s portfolios, become a stellar talent pipeline for EWB and the sector,
and make a meaningful contribution to social change.
● Offering global fellowships to equip individuals with the skills, knowledge
and experiences needed to increase the impact of the Ventures EWB
incubates. EWB’s Fellowships also contribute to the long term goal of
shaping the future leaders of the international development sector.
This community is EWB's core strength. It marries decentralization with
collective impact. It leads with culture rather than rules. It combines bold action
with deep questioning and learning. Its leaders challenge each other to
transform and deepen their leadership and systems-change skills while creating
an environment akin to family.
In Africa, our community is nascent, with a few networks starting up mainly in
Ghana. These networks have sparked from the relationships and pilots EWB has
built over the past 15 years in the countries where we have worked. This
community comprises:
● About 30 long-term Fellows and 20 short-term Fellows from Canada in
Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, and Uganda,
● 66 past fellows of the Kumvana Program from Ghana, Burkina Faso,
Malawi, Zambia and South Africa;
● Leaders of 12 ventures in 5 countries across Sub-Saharan Africa;
Roughly 100 EWB Fellows participate in short and long-term Fellowship
programs in East, West and Southern Africa every year. Your opportunity is to
take this formidable community of Fellows to the next level of impact, ensuring
EWB Fellows are making significant contributions to the impact of the EWB
Ventures they work with, while anchoring them in a life-long trajectory of
leadership, pursuing systems-level social change.
Part of this opportunity is about developing a vision that answers some big
questions:
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How can we design learning experiences that will enhance the impact and
personal development of EWB Fellows?
How can we increase the sense of belonging of EWB Fellows to our
community in Africa as well as our global community?
How can we ensure the health, safety and wellness of EWB Fellows?
All of EWB’s Fellowships share three core purposes:
1. Investing in systemic innovations by creating work placements that can
enhance the impact of the early-stage Ventures EWB incubates;
2. Investing in the development of leaders to strengthen their individual
abilities to affect change systems-change both in the short- and longterm.
Your core responsibility will be to ensure that all EWB Fellows meet EWB's
standard of excellence throughout their placement, including both
performance and impact on ventures and personal development of the Fellows.
As such, your role will be to:
● Start with directly investing in people – playing a crucial role in EWB
Fellows’ development as leaders to enhance their contributions to the
Ventures they work with This includes:
○ Getting your hands dirty by designing, planning and delivering
learning experiences that help to build the leadership and impact
of EWB Fellows in Africa
○ Developing content, tools and resources to enable EWB Fellows to
grow as leaders that create system change
○ Providing logistical support to Fellows (visas, accommodations,
etc.)
○ Providing support in measuring the effectiveness of our Fellowship
programs
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Supporting the health, safety and wellness of EWB Fellows, including:
○ Continuously implementing and improving policies and
procedures relating to Fellows’ Health Safety & Wellness (HSW)
○ Helping to set a culture of proactivity with regards to Fellow health
○ Managing crisis incidents involving EWB personnel in Africa with
support from the EWB office in Toronto
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Foster a sense of community between EWB Fellows, EWB Ventures and
EWB’s global community. This will include:
○ Facilitating high quality retreats between Fellows
○ Ensuring a high quality communication between Fellows as well as
between Fellows and the rest of the organization. In particular, you
will coordinate the communication of information to Fellows in
Africa.
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Track performance of fellowships with the support of the Fellowships
Program Manager based in Toronto.
Your core motivation is enabling others to stretch beyond what they believe is
possible in order to enhance the impact they can have on the world. First and
foremost, you are passionate about people. You love supporting and enabling
leaders to be successful. You have experience coaching leaders, and facilitating
learning experiences. You are entrepreneurial, self-motivated and ambitious
about the type of change you seek to create in the world.
You have a deep understanding of the type of skills and tools needed to affect
system-level change. In addition, you have a keen desire, and the right skills to
facilitate transformational experiences for EWB Fellows while also minimizing
and managing the risks involved in our Fellowship programs. You have a natural
instinct for supporting people through tough situations - you know the right
things to say, and the right actions to take.
You have demonstrated your commitment to social change through previous
work or volunteer experiences, and your ability to excel in these experiences.
You have a bias to action: you don’t want to stop at strategy, you want to get your
hands dirty and start executing on it right away.
Ideally, you will also have the following qualifications:
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A minimum of 3-5 years work experience
A keen interest in and understanding of social entrepreneurship and
leadership
Strength in logistics and communication
Willingness to travel within and between EWB’s countries of operation
Facilitation experience with intercultural groups
Native from, or prior experience living in a developing country
Training in risk assessment, risk mitigation and emergencies
management (robbery, sexual assaults, gender issues, kidnapping, etc.)
an asset
First Aid Training and Mental Health First Aid Training an asset
Experience working in a non-profit or social enterprise in Canada and/or
Africa an asset
Bi-lingual in French and English an asset
Ghana with regular travel in others countries in Africa
Salary will be comparable to similar entry-level roles within the not-for-profit
sector in this country. Each employee has a professional development fund as
well as many opportunities for professional growth. All employees are provided
with health benefit package and 3 weeks of vacation each year.
Please email us at [email protected] with your cover letter and resume by
May 10, 2015. In your cover letter please address what draws you to EWB and
provide some of your thoughts on the questions highlighted in the “The
Opportunity” section of this job description.
We thank all applicants for their interests but only short-listed applicants will be
contacted.
EWB is an equal opportunity employer and we value the diversity of people
and communities. We are committed to an environment that is inclusive and
barrier free. If you require accommodation during the hiring process, please
inform us in advance to arrange reasonable and appropriate
accommodations.