The newly-funded Alberta Climate Dialogue (ABCD) project is looking for a great person to serve as Project Lead. NCDD is involved in this project, as are a number of other leading organizations in our community. The position is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The project currently has five years of funding in place, and the Project Lead’s initial term will be for two years. Starting salary of $51,000-$64,000 depending on qualifications, plus a comprehensive benefits package and yearly cost of living and merit increases. Additional details below.

Job Opening: Project Lead for Alberta Climate Dialogue

Alberta Climate Dialogue (ABCD) is a new project to engage citizens and stakeholders in climate change planning and action at the municipal and also provincial levels, using tools of deliberative democracy. The Project Lead will play a pivotal role in ensuring the successful launch and deployment of this innovative project, including project planning and strategy, fundraising, communications, operations and partnership development. Strong candidates would include academics in related areas with strong project management experience, experienced project managers familiar with research and interested in citizen engagement and climate solutions, and deliberative democracy practitioners with strong project management skills.

ABCD is premised on the conviction that well-designed citizen deliberations can play a crucial role in informing the politics of climate change in Alberta, and in shifting the climate change policies of participating cities and towns and motivating community action. The Project Lead will work with researchers and practitioners on the project team to support municipal governments and other partners in designing and convening citizen deliberations on climate policy and action; document and evaluate impacts both on policy and on the political capacities and behaviours of participants; and share this learning regionally and internationally through documentation, scholarly products, new media, conference and workshop presentations, and other venues.

The project currently has $1 million in funding from the Community-University Research Alliance program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, as well as $3 million in matching cash and in-kind support from community organizations and partners; the Project Lead will work with partners to leverage further funding from public, private, and not-for profit sources.

Competitive candidates for the Project Lead position will have:

• Passion about the role of citizen engagement in climate change responses and the ability to be a vocal and visible champion for this.
• Superb, demonstrated project leadership and management skills.
• Superior writing, speaking, and communication skills.
• Proven fundraising ability, budget management skills, and preferably some business development experience.
• Proven ability to meet multiple deadlines and balance numerous projects while maintaining a perspective on long-term goals.
• Strong knowledge in at least one of the fields of climate change and/or dialogue and deliberation.
• An understanding of Alberta’s political climate and the realities of Canadian federalism would be a strong asset.
• A postsecondary degree in a related field (e.g. political science, environmental studies, communication, political science); an MA or PhD would be a strong asset.

The position is based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The project currently has five years of funding in place, and the Project Lead’s initial term will be for two years. Starting salary of $51,000-$64,000 depending on qualifications, plus a comprehensive benefits package and yearly cost of living and merit increases.

Please send application materials to [email protected]. We will begin considering applications on April 9, 2010 and continue until a suitable candidate is hired. Application materials should include:

• A cover letter describing why you are interested in this work and summarizing why you should be considered for this job;
• A resume;
• Two writing samples; and,
• Telephone and e-mail contact information for three employment references.

All attachments should be in pdf or Microsoft Word format and titled as follows “Lastname_Firstname_documenttitle”.

For further information on the project and the position please see www.albertaclimatedialogue.ca. If you have questions not answered on the relevant webpages, please contact the ABCD’s Principal Investigator, David Kahane at . You can also learn more about David Kahane on his NCDD member page.