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BACKGROUND
Ford Foundation's Natural Resources and Climate Change International (NRCC-I) team is hiring a Technology Fellow to join their team. The Tech Fellow will integrate into the NRCC team, and will also be a part of the broader Technology Fellowship Program, which was created to support integrated learning and action at the intersection of social justice and technology throughout the work of the foundation.
Fellows work both as a cohort across the foundation and as part of program teams to explore the role and impact of technology with social justice and help develop a critical technology lens throughout the foundation. The Technology Fellowship Program has three overarching goals:
Enrich perspectives within the Foundation by providing a perspective grounded in technological experience and expertise.
Assess and increase the technical capacity of the Foundationโs program areas.
Generate novel, forward-thinking ideas and build new relationships and networks.
Technology Fellows will play a strategic advisory role to the Foundation as well as provide practical technical expertise to staff and grantees. Note that this role does not include IT and administration responsibilities. Technology Fellows will enable the foundation to better serve the technical needs of grantees, identify emerging opportunities and threats related to technology, help develop networks and communities of social justice values-driven technology experts, and enrich the diverse perspectives of the program area teams. Technology Fellows have the potential to add a technical perspective to the way the Foundation supports leaders and organizations on the frontlines of social change around the world.
The Technology Fellow position will be embedded in the NRCC-I program area for a two-year, competitively compensated fellowship. The Technology Fellow will report to the director of the program area and will work closely with the program officers, associates, assistants, and grantees of that area.
The cohort of Technology Fellows across the foundation will serve as a second home and provide a basis for intersectional work across the Foundation, including other program areas. The Technology Fellows will co-work regularly, enabling fellows to share experiences, collaborate on challenges, and identify foundation-wide opportunities.
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION: NRCC-I
The NRCC-I program at the Ford Foundation works to disrupt the forces that create inequalities in the control, use and enjoyment of benefits from natural resources, and recognizes that the reduction of these inequalities has a vital role to play in addressing climate change. NRCC-I pays particular attention to community, land, human and governance rights as they relate to pressures to clear humid tropical forests, extract mineral and hydrocarbon resources, transform energy systems, and control lands for criminal activities.
In pursuit of program goals, NRCC-I team members work closely with, and develop grants to, NGOs, community-based and social movement organizations, research centers, and some government and international organizations. Grantees address commodity supply chains, tenure rights, policy and institutional frameworks, and public narratives that can aggravate, and also attenuate, the creation and perpetuation of inequalities. The work centers community concerns while also recognizing the need to foster broader societal coalitions committed to transitions in energy and resource governance systems that address diverse inequalities and needs in society. The program works across seven of the foundationโs eleven offices - Indonesia, West Africa, Southern Africa, Brazil, the Andean Region, Mexico and Central America, and the US - and collaborates increasingly with the China office.
An increasing number of NRCC grantees work with geospatial, data management, communications and other technologies to further their goals. This is as much the case for community-based and social movement organizations as it is for NGOs and research centers, and the program aspires to support synergies among these different appropriations of technologies. The program is interested in recruiting a Tech Fellow to help us and our partners re-assess and invigorate our approaches to technology.
The Tech Fellow will sharpen and deepen the ways in which the NRCC-I team and grantees use diverse technologies in their work and understand the place of technology in enhancing or constraining natural resource justice. The Fellowโs role will be both to support and to challenge team assumptions about and thinking on the opportunities, risks and transformational possibilities that diverse technologies bring with them. The NRCC Tech Fellow will do this by developing a program of analytical, convening and modest grant-making work in conversation with the NRCC-I team and partners.
Ideal candidates for this position should have:
A solid background in the relationships between the political economy of natural resources and social justice at different scales, as well as experience in the intersection of technology and using technologies in this work.
Experience in understanding the impact of technology, tech power, and tech policy on NRCC priorities such as community, land, human and governance rights as they relate to pressures to clear humid tropical forests, extract mineral and hydrocarbon resources, transform energy systems, and control lands for criminal activities.
Experience and/or demonstrated interest in one or more of the following areas:
The roles of geospatial, visualization and/or story mapping technologies and analytical techniques in the practices and strategies of rural social movement organizations and NGOs, especially those focused on land, territory and natural resources. These technologies and techniques may include Earth Observation Systems/Remote Sensing, GIScience and Spatial Analytics, Community mapping and monitoring, and visualization techniques among others.
Spatial data-based trackers and visualization tools related to traceability, legality, and sustainability in commodity supply chains and international trade flows for forest-risk commodities and/or energy transition minerals.
Locally developed and autonomous communications systems in rural areas, forests and other resource-rich territories, such as community radio, community internet and/or other systems, and the intersections of these and other communications technologies with processes of political organizing and land rights recognition.
Familiarity with the intersections between the decarbonization of energy systems, forest governance and land governance in areas occupied by diverse types of local communities.
An understanding of the positive and negative roles that technologies can play in the gendering of natural resource governance and/or in processes of youth organizing around climate justice.
Comfort with and enthusiasm for working with a team spread across multiple geographies, languages and socio-economic contexts.
RESPONSIBILITIES
A Technology Fellow will be charged with three key roles to serve their program area and the Foundation at large. These roles are described below along with the potential work that fellows may undertake.
Strategic Advisor - Strategic support is a critical priority of a Technology Fellow. Tasks may include helping the program area examine the role of technology in advancing its objectives, informing the development of technology strategies for the program area, conducting landscape research, identifying and analyzing potential threats, supporting strategic grant proposal reviews, serving as an internal technology advisor, identifying technologically proficient grantees and thought partners working in the program area, and collaborating with other technology experts at Ford on Foundation priorities.
Technical Expert - Building the technical capacity and perspective of the team is an integral part of the Technology Fellowโs role. Tasks may include supporting technical proposal reviews, conducting technology assessments, developing expertise to advise on emerging technologies, coaching and mentoring grantees, and working as internal technology โguides.โ
Relevant Independent Projects: This role is secondary to the other two and may include supporting needs in the field, conducting research, participating in relevant civil society endeavors, participating in grant making strategies for work that involves technology, working with the Communications Office as necessary, writing and publishing on topics at the intersection of technology, social justice, and the thematic area.
QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelorโs degree, or equivalent experience, with a minimum of 5 years of professional experience
Strong ability to critically assess technologies relevant to Natural Resources and Climate Change program area, particularly regarding usefulness, effectiveness, security risks, and potential impact
Sophisticated knowledge about existing and emerging technologies, and their potential intersections within a fellowโs program area
Experienced in understanding needs of individuals, organizations, or communities and collaboratively designing technical solutions to meet them
Strong communication skills, including the ability to collaborate with and articulate the potential impact of technology to diverse audiences - particularly those utilizing more traditional forms of engagement
Excellent research, writing, analytical, and presentation skills
An eagerness and openness to learning, growth, and collaboration
Experience working with a range of individuals in civil society, government, and/or the private sector
Ability to work well with colleagues, consultants, funders, and grantees across many diverse backgrounds and perspectives
Ability to work effectively in a shifting environment and navigate ambiguity
Fluency in English; proficiency in Spanish, Portuguese and/or Bahasa Indonesia, are a plus
Willingness to be based in New York City and work in the office 3 days per week
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
This position is primarily a sedentary role. However, the person in this position may need to occasionally move about inside the office to liaise with internal staff, access files, office machinery and a copy machine/printer. Additionally, domestic/international travel will be expected (approximately 20-30%) to visit grantees and attend discussions, convenings, workshops, retreats and conferences.
The Ford Foundation is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its programs, and operations. As part of this commitment, the Foundation will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application process,, please contact, talentacquisitionhr@fordfoundation.org.
SALARY: The Ford Foundation is committed to practicing salary transparency. The minimum salary for this position is $117,000 and the maximum is $136,000#LI-Hybrid
Alignment to Culture and Values
Commitment to the Foundationโs mission and core values of equity, openness, collaboration, trust, accountability and urgency
Personal qualities of humility, capacity for self-reflection, and a sense of humor
Discretion and ability to handle confidential issues
Action-orientated and entrepreneurial self-starter who can work well independently and in teams
Benefits
Hybrid Workplace and Flexible Work Arrangement policies
Medical and dental benefits for employee and immediate family on first day of work
Retirement savings account with matching company contributions of up to 13%
Three weeksโ paid vacation in first year of work; four weeks in subsequent years
Tuition Reimbursement
Office closed the week between Christmas and New Yearโs Day
Professional development initiatives for growth
Generous parental leave (maternal and paternal) during new childโs first year (born into family or adopted)
Equal employment opportunity and having a diverse staff are fundamental principles at The Ford Foundation, where employment and promotional opportunities are based upon individual capabilities and qualifications without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, sexual orientation/affectional preference, age, national origin, marital status, citizenship, disability, veteran status or any other protected characteristic as established under law. The Ford Foundation does not discriminate against formerly incarcerated individuals.