Program Manager: Self Help Groups and Asia Programs

The Share Trust is a non-profit organisation with a mission is to support community driven collective action. We believe that people should be in control of their own development, and yet only a small fraction of international assistance reaches local actors to allow them to drive the change they want to see. We work closely with Warande Advisory Centre our sister organisation based in Nairobi.

Together we aim to address this issue holistically, working across an ecosystem to shift power, process and funding to local actors. We employ three core strategies:

1. Supporting Self Help Groups (SHGs), one of the most evidence based and cost-effective approaches to drive community driven development. These groups of 10-25 people meet every week to save, start small businesses and support each other, effectively harnessing the transformative power of gathering to create extraordinary impact.
2. Partnering with Coalitions of local and national organisations (LNOs) as they co-design and implement coordinated programming to meet their community’s highest priorities. The Local Coalition Accelerator (LCA) is a flagship initiative of the Share Trust and the Warande Advisory Centre—currently being implemented in Uganda, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya —that provides both financial and technical support to the coalitions over three years. LCA coalitions work with SHGs to ensure decision making and programming are grounded with the most marginalised by channelling and amplifying their voices to drive change; and
3. Bridging the gap between donors (bilateral and multilateral), philanthropy, international practitioners and community driven collective initiatives through research and advocacy to fundamentally change the way that international assistance is designed and delivered. Our focus is on strengthening the enabling environment and shifting policies, funding, and processes to enable locally led action.

Position Overview

We are seeking an Asia-based Program Manager for SHGs and Asia Programs to join our team. We are a small and rapidly growing organisation, working across numerous countries and time zones. It is a dynamic and innovative work environment, with each team member leading and contributing across a range of functions. This role will be critical in: i) managing projects related to community driven collective models such as SHGs; ii) overseeing our Bangladesh LCA and other Asia expansion opportunities, and iii) supporting research and training to scale the SHG model.

This is a fully remote position for candidates based in Asia.

Responsibilities:

• SHG Program Oversight: Project Coordination: assist in managing SHG programmes, including organising meetings, developing workplans and managing timelines, and coordinating with team members to ensure the smooth execution of research projects.
• Project technical input: provide technical input for SHG-related programming drawing upon experience with the SHG model, to support practitioners to establish SHG groups and/integrate the model across other programme activities.
• Capacity sharing support: lead training/capacity strengthening workshops and providing mentoring on the SHG model to a range of practitioners including partners and SHG facilitators.
• Guidance, tools, and template development: work with the team to update existing SHG guidance, tools, and templates and tailor to respective projects.
• Research support: assist in conducting literature reviews, gathering relevant research materials, and synthesising information on the SHG model.
• Expertise development: stay current with the latest developments in the field of Self-Help Groups (and other community collectives), community empowerment, and related areas to enhance the depth and breadth of research contributions.

Asia Program Oversight:

• Oversight of the LCA Bangladesh program including supervision of the Country Representative. The Bangladesh LCA is grounded in SHGs and other community-based groups at the core of its work.
• Coordination: Provide strong coordination with the LCA Bangladesh strategic partner Start Fund Bangladesh, including regular communications, work planning and troubleshooting challenges as they arise
• Donor cultivation: Identify and cultivate potential bilateral partners and donors in Bangladesh and across Asia.
• Asia expansion: Identify and evaluate opportunities for programmatic expansion in Asia, particularly with regards to high potential research opportunity and fee for service contracts.
• Collaboration and Peer Learning: Work closely with the WAC team on cross-coalition learning, peer sharing and periodic global events.

General Responsibilities:

• Report writing: draft and refine research reports, SHG/Bangladesh LCA programming reports, and publications, ensuring clarity, coherence, and adherence to research objectives and findings.
• Communication: effectively communicate SHG/Bangladesh LCA research and programmatic findings, insights, and recommendations to both internal team members and external stakeholders through presentations, reports, and other mediums.
• Collaboration: collaborate with cross-functional teams, including researchers, analysts, and project managers, to contribute to a holistic understanding of SHGs, coalitions of local and national actors; and their societal impact.

Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field such as Social Sciences, Development Studies, Economics, or related disciplines.
• Experience: proven experience (8+ years) with SHGs and other related community-based structures. Deep understanding of SHG structure, functioning, and impact on community development is essential. Experience in report writing, data analysis, and project coordination is highly desirable.
• Project management: proficiency in project management including SHG programming is essential.
• Communication: excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively provide training and share experience with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Team Player: ability to work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary, multicultural team and manage multiple tasks in a dynamic research environment.
• Initiative: self-motivated and proactive approach to problem-solving, research, and project management.

TST believes our team is better and stronger with a diversity of perspectives and experiences. We welcome applications from candidates historically underrepresented in the international development sector. If you do not meet all the stated qualifications but feel you can succeed within this role, please consider applying for this position. TST is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment.