Venture ِِAssistant

Ashoka Arab World

Background:

Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. From its regional office in Cairo, Ashoka Arab World creates a competitive, entrepreneurial, and globally integrated citizen sector and develops the profession of social entrepreneurship. Ashoka currently works with 80+ Ashoka Fellows located in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Libya, United Arab Emirates and Tunisia.

Venture:

is the mechanism through which Ashoka finds and supports the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. Ashoka was founded on the Venture model 30 years ago, and Venture remains the heart of Ashoka—the work upon which all of our efforts depend. We believe that the growth of a global citizen sector begins with the work of individual social entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs drive the sector forward, responding to new challenges and changing needs. They are rooted in local communities but think and act globally. They are the ultimate role models and the pillars of Ashoka’s vision of Everyone a Changemaker™.

Position Title: Venture (Search & Selection) Assistant
Reports To: Venture and Fellowship Officer
Employment: Full time
Office hours: 9 am to 5 pm (unless assigned to stay later fulfilling work requirements)
Working days: Sunday through Thursday, with weekends on Friday and Saturday. Work-related obligations sometimes require weekend attendance.

Duties and Responsibilities:

To assist and provide all necessary support to the Regional Director and Egypt Country Representative on the following tasks:
A. Search and selection of Ashoka fellows in the Arab World, this process includes:
 Sending nomination letters, emails, faxes, and carrying out phone calls
 Screening online Apply and Nominate forms
 Writing profiles about candidates for the Ashoka Fellowship and their ideas (Idea, Problem, Strategy, and Person)
 Conducting background research on candidates’ ideas
 Conducting first interviews with candidates for the Ashoka Fellowship
 Conducting field visits to candidates who are being promoted to the Ashoka Fellowship selection panel
 Organizing regional selection panel for the Arab social entrepreneurs to the Ashoka fellowship. This includes creating schedule, invitations to panelists, producing newsletters and panel reports
 Facilitating the organization of a bi-annual Candidates Retreat and producing the Candidates’ Retreat Report
 Sending feedback to rejected candidates
 Produce analytical progress reports on the selection process
 Maintaining and expanding the Nomination Network
 Coaching, follow up, and mentoring of pipeline candidates
 Updating the application form and developing different versions to accommodate people with special needs, illiterate candidates, and communicating with the preferred language of the candidate (English, Arabic, or French)
 Maintaining detailed documentation through out the process in qualitative and quantitative data
B. Mapping the Social Entrepreneurship and Social Sector in the Arab World:
1- Researching the social entrepreneurship sector
2- Identifying gaps in various sectors such as Education, Housing, or Health.
3- Identifying leading social entrepreneurs and carrying out targeted venture
C. Promotion of Ashoka Arab World:
1- Developing Ashoka Arab World articles
2- Developing reports on Venture to be used by other teams like development, media and marketing, and for Ashoka's Annual Report
3- Preparing creative marketing materials to reach out to candidates and nominators for the Ashoka fellowship
4- Attending social entrepreneurship events and conferences to represent Ashoka and promote its mission and Fellowship criteria
5- Participating in Ashoka Arab World events to promote AAW mission

Performance management

1- Together with her/his supervisor, the staff member will develop a performance agreement at the beginning of her/his term. This agreement will include goals, measures and expected results and will be the baseline for the performance review to take place after the first three months and followed by a bi-annual performance review/
2- Together with her/his supervisor, the staff member will develop an annual plan of action. This plan will be created at the beginning of the year and updated on a monthly basis.
3- Based on annual action plan, a monthly work plan with all activities to be executed during the month will be sent to Regional Director and supervisor.
4- Staff member will complete a weekly time-sheet to be sent at the end of Thursdays to his/her supervisor.
5- Staff member will develop a monthly report with all activities executed during the month; to be sent to his/her direct supervisor, Operations Manager and Regional Director on the 25th of each month.

Qualifications:
Education:
• B.A. in a relevant field, preferably in Social Sciences, Business, Economics, or Political Science.

Experience:
• 2 years of relevant experience is required.
• Excellent research skills
• Excellent writing and editing skills (English)
• Proficiency in Microsoft applications including Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.

Language requirements:
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic
• Ability to type in Arabic and English

Other Qualifications:
• Initiative, independent with sound judgment, service oriented, excellent communication skills, excellent drafting skills, flexible.
• A good understanding of the social, economic, political, and cultural context of the Arab world
• Good critical thinking and analytical skills
• Good communication skills with different actors
• Willingness to work in a multi-cultural environment
• Ability to mentor candidate social entrepreneurs for the Ashoka fellowship

Work Conditions:
• 70% of the work hours are in the office and 30% in the field
• Official working hours are from 9 am-5pm, five days a week (which represents 50- 60 % of the time)
• On average we work until 6 or 7 p.m. at least 20 % of the time.
• During major events we work until 8 or 9 (25 % of the time)
• Sometimes we work during holidays if needed (10% of the time)
• After three years of work at AAW, staff members can apply to other Ashoka jobs in the region or abroad

How to apply:

Interested candidates should kindly send their application package at: recruiting@ashoka-arab.org with “Venture Assistant” in the subject line.
Application package should include:
1- An updated resume in a PDF format.
2- A cover letter explaining why you are interested in Ashoka and why you are fit with our hiring criteria.
3- A written essay or a research paper, something that you previously wrote entirely by yourself, in English on any topic of interest.