Capacity Building Manager

Capacity Building Manager  

Location:

Hybrid / London

We combine home working and office-based working to suit individual and organisational needs. This post requires presence in the office in Central London at least once a month, but preferably once a week.

Salary:

£42,000 – £52,000

Contract:

Permanent, full-time

Hours:

37.5 hours, occasional evening and weekend work

Responsible to:

CEO

Key relationships:

CEO, Development and Programmes Director, Finance and Operations Director, Finance and Compliance Officer, Grants Officers, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learnings Officer, Legal Team, Events Coordinator and Team Assistant, funded partners, external lawyers

Closing date:

7 October 2024

Media Defence is a charity that helps media to defend their rights. We support independent media, journalists and citizen journalists who are under legal threat by making sure that lawyers are available to defend them. We engage in strategic litigation to improve the regulatory environment for media freedom. We build local legal capacity by 1) providing grants and added value support to organisations in various countries to run media defence programmes, and 2) training lawyers we work with on freedom of expression and media law. Media Defence is a leader in the field.

About the role In this role, you will manage Media Defence’s capacity building work to develop or strengthen local legal capacity to defend, promote and strengthen freedom of expression. This includes:

• Building capacity around the world by providing grants and technical support to organisations in key countries. This enables them to provide free, high quality legal support directly to journalists and media outlets locally;
• Running litigation surgeries for local lawyers in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and North Africa;
• and Facilitating cross-partner learning, promoting best practices in media defence litigation, and strengthening legal advocacy across the world, including building and maintaining an online resource hub of training materials and organising peer learning events.

Main Responsibilities

Funded partners programme

• Oversee the implementation and growth of Media Defence’s relationship with funded partner organisations in line with the 2025-2029 strategy.
• Oversight of funded partners and training programmes design, objectives, goals and budget.
• Implement the partner convening programme, including developing objectives, indicators and understanding impact.
• Coordinate added value support to funded partners based on the partner’s needs and explore possibilities for collaboration and cross-pollination.
• Support partner/grant evaluations, including site visits.
• Work with the Finance and Operations Director to periodically review and streamline grant making processes and grant terms and conditions.

Training programme

• Design the relevant operations and project workplans, ensuring activities are implemented to a high degree of quality.
• Oversee the implementation and expansion of the training programme and build relationships with organisations in the relevant regions in line with the 2025-2029 strategy.
• Oversee the training budget, including reviewing financial reports, and financial and spending strategy within the budget.
• Oversee the organisation of litigation surgeries to develop litigation and advocacy skills, including selection of participant lawyers, programme design and all contractual, financial and logistical aspects.
• Engage consultants to develop training materials for litigation surgeries and ensure that Media Defence’s capacity building resources on the Resource Hub are kept up to date.
• Oversee the fellowship programme for partner organisations.

Peer learning and resources

• Oversee the development and maintenance of regional networks of lawyers to foster peer learning with regular engagement and improve opportunities for regional outreach for Media Defence.
• Work with the Legal Director to ensure that new resources are regularly created and that existing resources are kept up to date, including working with pro bono lawyers to create guidance for local lawyers on key media freedom issues.  

Other

• Line management of Training Officer(s).
• Close relationship with Events Coordination and Team Assistant.
• Ensure compliance with donor terms in all local legal capacity building.
• With support from the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer, ensure M&E activities for local legal capacity building are successfully carried out.
• Work closely with Development and Finance Teams to monitor actual vs. budget spending, reallocate expenses, generate timely donor reports and provide input for funding proposals.
• Represent Media Defence at meetings, conferences, workshops and to other international organisations as needed. Identify and carry out any other duties which fall within the scope, spirit and purpose of the post as requested. This post requires international travel.

Person Specification

Essential

• Educated to a degree level or equivalent. 
• At least five years’ experience of capacity building or relevant programmatic work, including experience of organising training, as well as grant management in a legal environment and/or an international charity.
• Experience of project management and excellent time management, administrative and organisational skills. Understanding of, and experience with, US Government grants, subawards, procurement and compliance regulations.
• Previous experience of administering donor funds and of budget management.
• Strong written and oral communication skills, experience of communicating to a wide variety of audiences, excellent written and spoken English.
• Ability to work independently and flexibly as part of a small team, with a strong commitment to learning and improvement.
• Ability to work in multi-cultural environments and build effective working relationships with partners and colleagues around the world and willingness to undertake international travel.
• High level of personal integrity and commitment to the values of the organisation.
• Ability to work flexibly and collaboratively to tight deadlines.
• Ability to manage a varied workload and demands from different teams.
• Passion and commitment to the mission and vision of Media Defence.
• Proficient IT user including Microsoft Office Packages, internet and email. Right to work in the UK.  

Desirable

• Knowledge of French, Spanish and/or Arabic.
• Knowledge of data protection regulations and experience of handling personal data.
• Experience of monitoring and evaluation.
• Familiarity with human rights / legal systems in relevant sub regions.

Benefits

• Pension: Contributory pension scheme (employer matched contribution up to max. 8%).
• Annual leave: 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Office closed between 25 December and 1 January.
• Third Friday of each month off.
• Opportunity to carry over five days into the following annual leave year.
• Days’ start/finish time is flexible.
• Friendly and supportive team culture.
• On joining Media Defence, all employees are automatically able to access professional support through our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) and a digital health app.
• We offer an enhanced maternity and paternity leave package.
• We provide a range of training and development tools to support our employees to improve or develop skills and knowledge for the benefit of both the individual and the organisation.

Equality and diversity are fundamental to our mission. We are committed to the recruitment and retention of individuals from diverse backgrounds and who reflect the diverse communities in which we operate.

If you are interested in applying for this role, please email your CV and covering letter in PDF format, referencing ‘Capacity Building Manager’ via the button below.

Closing Date: 7 October 2024

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so we encourage interested qualified candidates to apply soon.

Interviews will take place online on a rolling basis or between 14 to 24 October 2024.