CIVICUS Announces 6-Month Consultancy on Civil Society Engagement with the World Bank
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the Secretariat of the World Bank-Civil Society Joint Facilitation Committee (JFC), seeks to hire a Senior Researcher to produce a set of proposals on how engagement between civil society and the World Bank could be more transparent and relevant. The Senior Researcher will be responsible for holding individual interviews and meetings, and supporting national consultations that will inform the production of the proposals and the Statement of Principles. This will be in preparation for a series of consultations with the wider groups of civil society. The final proposals and the Statement of Principles will be presented at the Global Policy Forum between civil society groups and the World Bank, to be held in late February/early March of 2005.
The Senior Researcher needs to be available to start immediately on a full time basis. The incumbent will be fully integrated into the work of the Joint Facilitation Committee. The closing date for applications is August 14th! Click below for the full announcement.
Background:
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is an international civil society movement, founded in 1994, with members in over one hundred countries. CIVICUS works with its members and a rapidly growing network of partners at the national and global levels to ensure that civil society organisations enjoy the rights to organise, speak freely and promote the common good at all levels. CIVICUS facilitates activities to nurture the founding, growth, protection and resourcing of citizen action worldwide and especially where participatory democracy, freedom of association and expression, and other enabling conditions for civil society are threatened.
The World Bank-Civil Society Joint Facilitation Committee (JFC) is a transitional body tasked with exploring transparent and effective mechanisms for meaningful dialogue and engagement between civil society and the World Bank. The JFC, an outgrowth of the former World Bank NGO Working Group, is presently composed of civil society representatives from fifteen regional and international organisations and the World Bank management. The JFC activities currently include:
a global study, or ?‘Issues Paper?’, on the World Bank-civil society relations;
the development of a Statement of Principles on the WB-civil society engagement which civil society organisations hope will be adopted by the World Bank as a basis for transparent civil society engagement;
the convening of a Global Policy Forum on terms of engagement between the WB and civil society.
CIVICUS has been serving as the JFC Secretariat since November 2002.
The successful candidate will have:
- Detailed knowledge of the key issues and political dimensions of civil society engagement with multi-lateral institutions, particularly the World Bank.
- A sound understanding of the civil society community at international, regional and national levels.
- A strong record of experience in developing high quality research and policy documents on civil society engagement with multilateral development banks, and specifically, with the World Bank.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate effectively with a broad range of stakeholders operating in diverse cultural contexts and institutional settings.
- Ability to work independently and with minimal supervision as part of a ?‘virtual?’ team.
- The capacity to operate well under pressure and against deadlines.
- A degree in economics, international relations, development studies or another relevant social science.
The appointment will be for a six month period, to start as soon as possible. Salary and benefits will be commensurate with experience.
Applications
Please supply:
1. Your Curriculum Vitae
2. Contact details of three referees
3. An example of your written work.
Please e-mail your applications to Ian Plaskett at [email protected] or
Fax: +27 11 833 7997
Deadline:
The closing date for applications is the 14th August 2004. Only short-listed candidates will be notified.
Eric Muragana
Communications Associate
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
24 Pim corner Quinn Sts., Newtown
2001 Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 833-5959
Fax: +27 11 833-7997
Join CIVICUS. Visit http://www.civicus.org
