Programmes Lead, Middle East and North Africa

ISD is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to safeguarding human rights and reversing the rising tide of polarisation, extremism and disinformation worldwide.

About the Strong Cities Network

Launched at the United Nations in 2015, Strong Cities is an independent global network of more than 250 cities and other local governments dedicated to addressing all forms of hate, extremism and polarisation at a local level. The Network fills a critical gap in efforts that have traditionally overlooked the unique roles that sub-national governments can play in preventing and responding to these threats, complementing both existing security-led measures and grassroots efforts led by civil society stakeholders.

Why work for Strong Cities at ISD?

This role will sit within the Network’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Hub, dedicated to Strong Cities regional coordination, engagement and activities as the Network seeks to deliver on a new strategy to enhance its impact at a city, national, regional and global level.

The Strong Cities Network is hosted by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). Recruitment for this role will be managed by, and the successful candidate contracted by, ISD. For more information on ISD’s recruitment policies and processes, visit the ISD website.

Salary

Competitive dependent on experience. 

Location

Ideally based in Morocco, other locations may be considered, depending on the strength of the candidate.

Contract type

Six month contract with possibility for extension pending funding availability.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

ISD is committed to promoting diversity throughout its workforce and aims for its team to be truly representative of all sections of society. We make a concerted effort to ensure our workplace, employment policies and organisational culture creates an inclusive, positive and progressive environment in which all members of our team are treated with dignity and respect. For further information about this policy or our recruitment practices, please email vacancies@isdglobal.org.

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, carers, and people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.

Role Purpose

The purpose of this role is to support Strong Cities’ engagement with cities and relevant partners across the MENA region, particularly in Morocco. The successful candidate will be a core member of the MENA Regional Hub team, fostering strong and effective relationships with municipalities across the region. Outside of expanding relationships and opportunities in Morocco and managing programmes there, the role will also have primary responsibility for stakeholder engagement in the Middle East, as well as support colleagues in wider efforts, particularly on 2 regional events in 2025 and other regional city engagement.

The role will also support a wider effort to ensure that the Strong Cities Network is driven by – and is addressing – the needs and gaps that cities themselves identify in their ability to prevent hate, extremism and polarisation at the local level. With a focus on regional engagement, there will be a need for strong internal coordination with Central Team colleagues, so that the Central Team and Regional Hubs are functioning as a cohesive Management Unit serving Strong Cities members around the world.

Key responsibilities include:

• Strengthen and maintain effective long-term relationships with member cities by engaging with members in the region on the Strong Cities global strategy and functions of the MENA Regional Hub (focus on Morocco and Middle East).
• Conduct outreach with municipalities and mayors’ offices to (re)engage key points of contact in the Network’s activities and build strong and lasting relationships with local governments throughout the region and in Morocco especially.
• Identify, develop and deliver regional and in-country programming that responds to the needs of cities.
• Build a consistent profile of member needs/gaps in preventing and countering hate, extremism and polarisation at the city level across the region, including through consultations, interviews, focus groups, informal discussions and roundtables, desk-based research and literature reviews and other media.
• Ensure that the Strong Cities’ global strategy is informed by the needs, priorities and concerns of members in the MENA region, including through supporting regional strategy development processes.
• Establish, promote and staff a MENA Regional Hub Help Desk function to respond to member requests for support and expertise (Morocco in particular).
• Facilitate city peer-learning through the identification and exchange of good practices by identify the critical thematic priorities for cities and other sub-national authorities across the region through general engagement and needs/gaps assessment processes.
• Work with Central Team colleagues to develop policy learnings, good practice case studies and recommendations that draw on the experiences of cities and other sub-national authorities in the region.
• Develop policy briefings, training manuals, guidelines, blog posts, and quick-turnaround research analysis briefings for dissemination to regional cities and global membership.
• Support the delivery of regional workshops which will unite mayors with relevant national and local stakeholders on key thematic priorities determined in accordance with local needs.
• Contribute to weekly regional and global Strong Cities internal team meetings.
• Support the drafting of donor reports.
• Use institutional and external project management tools to effectively manage projects and activities to time, quality and budget.
• Contribute to the identification of development opportunities and partnerships.

To view a full job description, please click here.

The ideal candidate

The ideal post holder will have strong written and spoken communication skills who has the ability to speak confidently with city officials. This individual will have experience in developing and/or delivering peacebuilding/preventing violent extremism/local governance programmes with a range of stakeholders (in Morocco in particular). They will bring energy to the role and possess a strong work ethic and attention to detail. They will have demonstrated in previous roles the ability to work both independently and as part of a dynamic team environment – and one which requires timely action and response -- and be motivated to contribute actively to the Strong Cities mission.

Please review our  job description for essential criteria, and keep in mind that no candidate will meet every requirement in the advert. If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified, but you think you can bring value to the role, we'd love to hear from you.

How to apply

Please submit your application by 5pm (GMT) on the 26^th November 2024. ISD reserves the right to interview and appoint candidates prior to the advertised closing date.

If you have any further questions about this vacancy or want to speak to a member of our recruitment team, please contact vacancies@isdglobal.org.