JUST TRANSITIONS

PROGRAMME
MANAGER

APPLICATION DEADLINE:
TUESDAY 24TH OCTOBER
2023, 9.00AM UK TIME

Making respect for human rights

part of everyday business

Image: DFID/Flickr
PROGRAMME MANAGER JUST TRANSITIONS

THE ROLE
• Title: Just Transitions Programme Manager
• Reporting to: Head of Just Transitions Programme
• Start date: November 2023 (ideally)
• Hours: Full-time (37.5 hours / 5 days per week) or willing to consider part-time (30 hours / 4
days per week) for the right candidate
• Location: Remote/Home-based, location flexible, preferably within 1-2 hours of GMT timezone.
Candidates must already have permission to work in the country of their location and easy access
to international travel.
• Duration: 12 months renewable annually subject to funding and performance, with 3-month
probationary period.
• Pay: £47,000-£57,000 per annum pro-rata depending on experience. This post will have a contract or
consultancy agreement subject to UK law. Equivalent consulting rate offered to non-UK based applicants.
PAYE contracts can be offered to UK-based applicants.PAYE contracts can be offered to UK-based applicants.

ROLE SUMMARY
The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is seeking a dynamic Programme Manager to support its growing
Just Transitions Programme.

The ideal candidate will have a diverse balance of skills spanning:

• project management, research, and analysis on the social impacts of decarbonisation across a range of
sectors, particularly energy and food systems;
• communications and storytelling experience to ensure the programme’s messages are clear, human-centred,
and fit for various audiences;
• hunger to engage with the fundraising and donor management skillset, requiring an
entrepreneurial mindset;
• a sophisticated approach to stakeholder engagement, understanding the sensitivities required to bridge
business, finance, government, and civil society actors whilst also able to identify leverage points and
opportunities for collective action; and
• a willingness to roll up their sleeves on essential support areas such as events coordination, consultant
management, and development of a new internship programme.

ABOUT IHRB
Founded in 2009 under the leadership of Mary Robinson, IHRB deploys a mix of human rights-based research,
engagement, and collaborative action with businesses, governments, financial actors, and civil society
representatives to advance our mission: making human rights part of everyday business. We have developed a
track record of independent analysis as well as constructive interventions and collaborative engagement with all
constituencies, earning a reputation as a trusted organisation committed to working with all actors to identify
practical solutions and approaches needed to effect positive change.

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IHRB also has a strong track record in successfully developing permanent, independent initiatives and national
platforms on key systemic issues. These include: The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (MCRB), Centro
Regional De Empresas Y Emprendimientos Responsables (CREER), Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB),
Centre for Sport and Human Rights (CSHR), and Leadership Group for Responsible Recruitment (LGRR).

For further details on IHRB’s vision, mission, and approaches please see IHRB’s 2023-2025 Strategy.

ABOUT IHRB’S JUST TRANSITIONS PROGRAMME

IHRB is an established thought leader on the human rights and social implications of the global transition to net-
zero, with a foundation of authoritative analysis and convenings on the principled and pragmatic approaches
required. These include:

• IHRB’s foundational report “Just Transitions For All”, which examines the just transition agenda from the
perspective of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The findings provide the basis for
IHRB’s engagements and advocacy across business, government, and civil society involved in climate action
initiatives, to ensure the historic lessons of the last several decades of the responsible business movement are
incorporated and wheels being needlessly reinvented.

• IHRB’s white paper on the role of banks outlines the critical role that private capital will play in delivering net-zero
by 2050 and the human rights responsibilities of banks in doing so.

• The 2023 IHRB-Wilton Park Dialogue, which brought together a cross-section of leading experts across
business, government, civil society to discuss how greater monitoring, engagement, and accountability can be
exerted across just transitions globally and sets out four essential elements for any private sector involvement
in just transition processes.

• Since 2021, IHRB’s annual COP roundtables assess the state of play in emerging global practice on the social
imperatives of transitions out of high-carbon industries, into low-carbon systems, and the government and
investor leadership required to ensure justice, equity, and human rights are at the centre of planning, financing,
and implementation.

We know from long experience on business and human rights that “just” processes and outcomes will not be an
automatic outcome of industrial systems change; they will need to be intentionally planned and monitored. IHRB’s
Just Transitions programme seeks to identify and understand the foreseeable bottlenecks and barriers to realising
the human rights and social imperatives of net-zero transitions in practice. This encompasses both public- and
private-sector responses to the climate crisis, across the multiple levels and complex timescales at play.

Our ultimate aim is to ensure that the rights and agency of the workers, communities, indigenous peoples,
consumers, and all the other groups affected by the transition is at the centre of decision making, and that those
designing and implementing transition strategies are truly accountable to them. This means working with all actors –
local and national governments; financial institutions across public, private, and blended finance; companies across
the green value chain; leaders from worker, indigenous, community, and consumer groups; intergovernmental
institutions; philanthropy; and academia – to learn, share, and continuously improve approaches.

In particular, the Just Transitions Programme Manager will support the Head of Just Transitions to implement a
number of multi-year research, policy-influencing, and ecosystem-building projects, including but not limited to:
• Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP)
• Stories of Stakeholder-led Policy-making
• The Costs of Green Conflict
• The Spectrum of Just Transitions Finance

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WHAT YOU WILL DO

Working closely with the Head of Just Transitions and the wider IHRB team, the Programme Manager will be responsible
for overseeing and coordinating the projects outlined above. Key responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

Project Management and Policy Research

Keeping close track of milestones, deliverables and impact under the different workstreams. Identifying practical
leverage points to influence policy and decision-making. Undertaking research and drafting as needed to
supplement or finalise project deliverables.

Project Communications and Storytelling

Driving project communications, working closely with IHRB’s communications team, including developing key
messaging materials, multimedia dissemination campaigns, all while maintaining an eye on the importance of
accessible and human-centred outputs.

Fundraising and Donor Management

Supporting with donor identification and research and developing new fundraising proposals. Tracking donor
deliverables against deadlines, supporting meeting preparations, and drafting reporting outputs.

Stakeholder Engagement
Building and growing the profile of the programme through strategic stakeholder identification and network
development. Providing supporting research and preparation for speaking engagements, and serving as a
programme spokesperson at external events.

Events Coordination
Managing the planning and delivery of virtual and physical events, including stakeholder management, agenda
development, speaker briefings, AV and logistics coordination, event summary drafting, and other follow up.

Programme inter-connections
Liaising with other IHRB programmes (built environment, oceans, Gulf Sustain, and migrant workers) to ensure
robust information and network sharing as well as joining up deliverables strategically and efficiently.

People Management and Internship Development

Tracking the deliverables of project consultants against deadlines, coordinating communications, and preparing
meetings with research consultants to support efficient progress. Spearheading the development of a paid
internship programme, including scoping, recruitment, and management.

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PERSON SPECIFICATION
The successful candidate will have the following:

ESSENTIAL
Experience
• At least 5 years’ experience in the fields of business and human rights, sustainable development, or equitable energy transition.

Substantive Knowledge
• Excellent understanding of the intersection between the climate action and social policy agendas, including
relevant frameworks, policy advocacy approaches, as well as leverage opportunities and challenges.

Project Management and Policy Research:

• Experience coordinating research, including delivering on time and within budget driven by keen attention to
detail, as well as contributing to and consolidating research outputs and synthetising findings into accessible
internal and external communications.

Communications and Storytelling:

• A demonstrable track record of conveying complex information in an accessible and compelling manner, including
through storytelling and other creative ways of centering people. Experience working across diverse media types.

Fundraising and Donor Management:

• Experience of supporting non-profit fundraising as well as donor relations. An entrepreneurial and creative
approach to spotting and maximising opportunities.

Stakeholder Engagement:
• A proven track record of successfully establishing and maintaining relationships and undertaking work that
requires awareness of political sensitivities and maintaining trust through careful diplomacy.

Events Coordination:

• Experience of planning and executing virtual and in-person events.

Programme Interconnections:
• A track record of effective internal coordination across diverse departments, with an eye on institutional efficiency
and silo-busting.

People Management and Internship Development:

• Some experience of recruitment as well as supervision of contributors.

Autonomy and Remote Working:

• Experience working in an unsupervised environment on a regular basis and working within a small ‘virtual’ team
across varying time-zones.

Language:
• Fluency in English, with excellent written and spoken communication skills. An articulate and confident public
speaker and credible interlocutor.

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DESIRABLE
• Further education certificate / diploma in relevant field, or equivalent experience.
• Based within 1-2 hours of the GMT time zone
• Experience in successfully identifying and securing funding opportunities and donor relationships.
• Experience of contributing to the development of programme strategy in line with organisational priorities.

TIMELINE & PROCESS

1. Deadline for applications: Tuesday 24th October 2023, by 9.00am UK time.
2. Interviews: First interviews will be held on Thursday 2nd November 2023, via Zoom, with IHRB’s Head of Just
Transitions and IHRB’s Deputy CEO. Applicants should ensure their availability for a 45 minute slot during UK
work hours on this date. Short-listed candidates will be notified and invited by email by Friday 27th October 2023.
Please note that only successful applicants will be notified.
A second interview for the final candidate(s) being considered will be held on Tuesday 7th November 2023 with
IHRB’s Head of Just Transitions and IHRB’s CEO.

3. Expected start date: November 2023 (ideally). A job offer will be subject to the receipt of at least two satisfactory references.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Please email your CV and cover letter to Kathy McLeish at: recruitment@ihrb.org. In your cover letter you must
address the above Person Specification to show your suitability for this role.

In your covering email, please state:

• Where you saw the vacancy advertised

• If you are applying for the full time role, or requesting consideration of a part time role
• Your availability for interviews (dates and times) during the interview period
• Your earliest possible start date.

As part of our ongoing commitment to an accessible recruitment process, applicants with disabilities are encouraged to
contact IHRB to discuss any support or assistance they may have during the application or recruitment process. Please
contact Kathy McLeish, Governance and People Management Officer via email - recruitment@ihrb.org - in the first instance.

IHRB is an equal opportunities employer and encourages applications from all individuals regardless of age, disability,
sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil
partnerships. This means we will not discriminate against candidates or employees based on their protected characteristics.

Included in the candidate pack is an optional Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form. The information collected is
confidential and anonymous and will not be used in any decision making for this role. You do not have to complete
and return this document but doing so will help IHRB maintain equal opportunities in all of our recruitment processes.

Applications from unsuccessful candidates will be held on file for 6 months after the end of the recruitment process.

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