Author: JobstoApply.com

Who We Are

Co-Impact brings together local changemakers and funders from around the world to make health, education, and economic systems stronger and more inclusive – creating impact that lasts. Our commitment to advancing gender equality and women’s leadership is central to this goal. By focusing on systems, we work at the scale of the problem – dismantling the root causes of inequality that disadvantage hundreds of millions of women, girls and marginalized communities. Spanning five continents, our team identifies partners that will create lasting progress when supported with the resources to work at scale. Pooling funding allows us to provide large, flexible grants and strategic support to locally-rooted partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America who know their systems best. Our partners’ initiatives will benefit more than 600 million people, and we can go even further together. We aim to deploy over $1 billion by 2030 and achieve a world where everyone can lead fulfilling lives. For more information, please visit co-impact.org and take a look at our Handbook. 

Co-Impact partners with Professional Employment Organizations (PEOs) to employ their staff.

The Role

The Philanthropy Team at Co-Impact seeks a Prospect Research Analyst. This position identifies, collects, analyzes, synthesizes, organizes and disseminates information on prospects, prospect groups and issues of strategic importance to Co-Impact to enhance the ability of the philanthropy team to make decisions and successfully expand our funder community. The position reports to the Associate Director, Philanthropy.

Responsibilities

• Conduct and refresh research on prospects that might be appropriate partners to Co-Impact. 
• Analyze and synthesize information to assess prospect giving inclination, capacity and to map strongest points of contact; sources might include WealthX, LexisNexis, foundation tax reports, media coverage, social media accounts, and official corporate reports. 
• Conduct due diligence research on potential new funders in adherence with Co-Impact’s policies and procedures. Maintain accurate records in our donor management system. 
• Prepare event briefings and detailed profiles on individual, corporate and foundation prospects in advance of calls, strategy planning and events.
• Monitor news alerts and socialize relevant developments to support fundraising and funder stewardship functions.
• Ensure the integrity of research and prospect information in Salesforce.
• Contribute to the achievement of established team goals and objectives and adhere to team frameworks, procedures, and quality standards.
• Support on other projects and team processes as needed. 
• Monitor publications and other sources to identify prospects. 
• Identify and suggest improvements to prospect research workflows, tools, and data management practices to enhance team efficiency and output quality.
• As a secondary responsibility, support the team with donor-facing materials, including drafting proposals for prospective funding partners and preparing presentations for existing funding partners, which sometimes require a fast turnaround, senior team members will lead final proposal development and review.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years of related work experience.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and synthesize data from a wide variety of sources, and present the resulting information in a clear summary.
• Strong communication skills, written, verbal, and exceptional attention to detail and follow-through.
• Demonstrated proficiency in the methods of information acquisition, including use of sources (LexisNexis, WealthX, LinkedIn Sales Navigator).
• Ability to adjust to changing priorities and meet deadlines.
• Ability to take initiative and ownership of projects.
• Personal integrity and discretion in handling sensitive information.
• Experience with CRM software; Salesforce is preferred. 
• Excellent ICT skills – MS Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), AI agents etc.
• Willingness to travel occasionally.
• Fluent English, other languages a plus.

Required Skills

• Process Management and Results Orientation: Strong project management skills, deadline management, sense of responsibility and accountability, the ability to manage multiple responsibilities, adjust and adapt along the way.
• Supporting colleagues and senior leaders:  History of thriving in a role where your success is highly dependent on your team’s success, where your first responsibility is to provide outstanding leverage and support to your colleagues, including successfully and smoothly “managing upwards” by helping to guide and set-up things for your manager to be efficient and effective.
• Sound analysis and judgment: Ability to listen well, integrating gender analysis, evidence, and strong logical analysis, while seeing perspectives from different sides, resulting in strong recommendations and judgements based on values and principles balancing data, experience, and risk.
• Working with People: Experience contributing to collaborative teams to work productively, effectively, and inclusively towards shared goals.
• Managing Action with Purpose and Values: Ability to work with colleagues and get things done in accordance with core purpose and values.
• Interpersonal Savvy: Great at making and fostering relationships inside and outside the organization, keen intercultural appreciation, inclusive style, comfortable around senior leaders, can represent Co-Impact well.
• Financial understanding: Basic familiarity with the core elements of an organization’s financial model, financial statements, strategic financial analysis/ projections, and budgeting.
• Learning Orientation: Humble and intellectually curious; seek and work with evidence, demonstrated openness to new ideas and a diversity of perspectives; unafraid to admit and learn from failure.
• Strong Moral Compass: Impeccable personal ethics and integrity, kind and caring.
• Proficiency with core business tools: Strong proficiency in Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Excel.
• Communications: Exceptional ability to write and communicate ideas concisely and with clarity. Excellent oral communication skills, including the ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment.
• Global Flexibility: Given the global nature of the organization working across time zones, a willingness to be flexible with working hours, work remotely and periodically undertake international travel.
• Perspective: Sense of humor and ability not to take oneself too seriously.

Benefits

Co-Impact’s compensation philosophy is guided by the following three principles: 

• Equity and Fairness: Our approach to compensation and benefits are designed to ensure that our global team is treated equitably regardless of location and without regard to gender, race, or nationality.
• Transparency: We want Co-Impact’s employees to understand our salary structure and to feel confident that they are paid equitably, and potential job applicants to have an understanding of how the role for which they are applying will be compensated.
• Accountability: As stewards of the philanthropic resources entrusted to us so that we can support our program partners, we are accountable to our donors and our board, to our staff, and to the general public.

In accordance with that philosophy, we include the salary for each position in our job postings. To ensure equity within the organization and for all candidates, we do not negotiate salary or benefits. The role is remote and flexible for candidates who are authorized to live and work in Brazil, Kenya, Mexico, U.K & U.S East Coast. As we work across multiple regions, candidates should be comfortable collaborating across time zones, including occasional early‑morning or late‑afternoon meetings. The annual gross salary is USD 81,400, (where applicable, it may be paid in local currency equivalent) plus a generous benefits package.

Application Details

You are welcome to express your interest by submitting a tailored CV and cover letter that speak directly to this role and highlight your relevant experience. Applications that are generic, non-specific, or clearly AI-generated will be less competitive.

Please apply online by 5.00 PM Central Standard Time (GMT -6) on 2nd July 2026. In your cover letter, please confirm that you are authorized to live and work in one of the locations listed above. Please note that Co‑Impact cannot cover relocation costs. 

As we are a small team, we regret that we can only respond to applicants selected for an interview, and we are unable to participate in informational calls prior to interviews. Thank you for your understanding. We will review applications on a rolling basis. The position may close early if we receive a strong pool of candidates, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. Shortlisted candidates can expect to hear from the recruitment team by the end of July 2026.

⚠️ Recruitment Fraud Alert:

TaRL Africa does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process. Be aware of fraudulent messages offering job opportunities in exchange for money or “codes.” All official communication will come from @tarlafrica.org email addresses. If in doubt, contact us at recruitment@tarlafrica.org.

Position: Senior Associate, Research and Data – ESAR

Reports to: Senior Education Research Advisor

Dotted Line Manager: Director of Research, Learning & Evaluation

Languages: Fluency in English required; knowledge of local languages in Zambia, Malawi, and/or Kenya is an advantage

Location: Zambia, Kenya, South Africa or any other Sub-Saharan African country 

Deadline: On a rolling basis 

About TaRL Africa 

TaRL Africa initiative is hosted by Empower Learning Africa, a not-for-profit organisation registered and headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, with teams in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Malawi, Ethiopia and Zambia. TaRL Africa began as a joint venture by Pratham and J-PAL in 2019, with the goal of supporting governments and organisations across Africa to accelerate children’s foundational skill acquisition using the evidence-based “Teaching at the Right Level” (TaRL) approach. TaRL Africa’s vision is for every child across Africa to have foundational skills so that they can have a better future. Our mission is to ensure public education systems effectively equip children with these foundational skills. 

We support governments and organisations in over 19 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to design, deliver and scale impactful TaRL programmes while learning and sharing how the approach can be improved for different contexts. Together with partners, TaRL Africa has reached over 7 million children with TaRL programming. 

Research, Learning & Evaluation at TaRL Africa

Continually learning and adapting to amplify the impact of our work is a core value of TaRL Africa. As the approach has moved to scale in Africa, iterative adaptation to the local contexts and testing marginal innovations for efficiency and cost-effectiveness is critical to TaRL’s long-term success.

The Research, Learning & Evaluation (RLE) team: 

• Leads high-quality research and evaluations both internally and with external partners
• Supports TaRL Africa’s Program Design and Pedagogy team to effectively test new innovations through learning labs and other R&D efforts;
• Drives learning and impact through provision of cutting-edge measurement, analytics, and support for TaRL Africa data systems and knowledge management; 
• Generates and facilitates quality evidence uptake and learning within TaRL Africa as well as externally in the global education ecosystem to positively impact foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa. 

Role Overview

The Senior Associate, RLE  focuses on Eastern and Southern Africa, contributing to study design, data monitoring, and evidence generation to guide program improvements and policy. The ideal candidate brings strong quantitative research skills, experience in large-scale field studies, and a passion for education in African contexts.

Because of the nature of these specific research activities, we are seeking an individual with prior research associate experience for at least one large-scale research project such a randomized controlled evaluation or implementation research project.

Key Responsibilities

1. Rigorous Research Design and Implementation (50%)

• Contribute to the design and implementation of research studies, including:
  • Early grades pilot learning and support for a full-scale TaRL randomized evaluation conducted by partners in Malawi.
  • Coordinating / leading  new research and learning activities in Zambia for the Copperbelt region to build evidence on key long-term vision changes the government has proposed for the Catch Up program moving forward.
  • Monitoring research and learning activities for innovation Learning Labs as well as contributing to development and execution of new learning initiatives in Kenya. 
• Lead the process of applying for local and international institutional review boards.
• Set up a field plan and data flow plan.
• Develop and pilot research instruments, including assessments and surveys.
• Program digital version of questionnaires using software such as SurveyCTO or KoboCollect.
• Oversee data collection activities, ensuring adherence to research protocols and data quality standards, including:
• Writing clear, concise Stata .do files or R scripts for high frequency checks, data cleaning and analysis.
• Performing high-frequency checks and data cleaning processes to ensure data quality.
• Monitoring research study implementation and providing periodic reports to the Principal Investigator and researchers.
• Identifying possible threats to the validity of the study and communicating that to the larger research team.
• Systematically recording project decisions and study deviations through the study lifecycle.
• Support analysis report writing, presentation of results.
• Document research results and prepare handover documents that can be used by TaRL Africa staff and/or new researchers in the future.
• Manage relationships with local partner organizations and survey firms involved in research projects.

 2. Data Management, Analysis, and Knowledge Management (25%)

• Clean, manage, and analyze quantitative data using Stata or R, and qualitative data using Nvivo or other.
• Ensure efficiency and cost-effectiveness best practices are undertaken by maintaining quality MOUs, protocols and checklists for assigned research projects.
• Ensure ethical and security best practices are adhered to for data access, storage, and management for all research and learning projects assigned.
• Contribute to and improve strong knowledge management practices for research data including storage, codebook maintenance, and consistent use of knowledge and project management tools like Dropbox and Asana.
• Contribute to the interpretation of research findings and the preparation of academic and policy-oriented publications.

3. Evidence-Based Learning and Dissemination (10%)

• Work closely with the program and innovation teams to ensure that research findings are used to inform program design and implementation, including new pedagogy design.
• Prepare high-quality reports, presentations, and other materials to disseminate research findings to a variety of audiences, including government partners, donors, and the academic community.
• Contribute to building a culture of evidence-based decision-making within TaRL Africa and among our partners.

4. Team Collaboration and Technical Support (10%)

• Collaborate with other members of the TaRL Africa research team and program staff in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia and across the continent.
• Join and contribute to learning team meetings and brainstorming on other TaRL Africa research projects.
• Provide technical support and mentorship to enumerators.
• Contribute to the development of research proposals and grant applications.

5. Other special projects and activities as needed (5%)

Required Minimum Qualifications

Education: 

A Master’s degree in Economics, Statistics, Public Policy, Education, or a related field with a strong quantitative focus. Experience in education research and qualitative, behavioral design, and/or R&D human-centered design is strongly preferred. 

Experience:

• Experience working in Eastern or Southern Africa context.
• A minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience in a research-focused role, preferably in the education research sector.
• Experience coordinating an independent research project from start to end.
• Demonstrated experience in designing and implementing quantitative research, including a randomized evaluation or mixed methods study. 
• Experience with survey design, data collection, and data management. 
• Experience with data cleaning and data analysis.

Skills: 

• Proficiency in Stata or R for data analysis is required; familiarity with a qualitative tool such as Nvivo is advantageous.
• Technical knowledge of quasi-experimental, qualitative and mixed methods.
• Experience in digital survey programming with SurveryCTO, KoboCollect, or similar tool preferred.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills.
• Strong writing and data visualization skills, with the ability to communicate complex research findings to non-technical audiences.
• Proven ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Proven ability to handle multiple diverse assignments at one time, successfully completing assigned tasks and meeting deadlines while conducting high-quality work.
• Excellent project management skills to navigate multiple projects simultaneously with self-accountability. 
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of local languages in either Zambia, Malawi, and/or Kenya is a strong advantage.

Attributes:

• A passion for improving education and a commitment to evidence-based practice.
• A proactive and results-oriented approach to work.
• Willingness to travel frequently to program sites in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia, (estimated up to 30%). 

Location

Ideal preference is Zambia, Kenya, or South Africa. Travel will be required across sub-Saharan Africa.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.

 TaRL Africa Values

1. We place children’s learning first.
2. We are always learning, improving, and innovating.
3. We are locally rooted for high-quality delivery and sustainable impact.
4. We are kind, respectful and collaborative.
5. We are proactive, committed to integrity and doing our best each day.

This job description covers the main tasks and conveys the spirit of the sort of tasks that are anticipated proactively from staff. Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.

TaRL Africa provides a nationally peer-benchmarked compensation package aligned with organizational salary scales, taking into account both qualifications and professional experience.

TaRL Africa is an equal-opportunity employer committed to having a diverse workforce.

TERMS OF REFERENCE 

Task: Comprehensive Digital Platform 

Organization: Aflatoun International 

Location: Remote 

Project Duration: 8 months 

Closing Date: 22nd June 2026

Proposed Start Date: 20th July 2026 

ABOUT AFLATOUN 

Aflatoun International is a global non-profit organisation headquartered in Amsterdam, with a Global Programme Hub in Nairobi. Working through a network of nearly 400 civil society and government partners across 100 countries, Aflatoun’s Social and Financial Education (SFE), builds the agency, resilience, and protective behaviours of children and young people from early childhood through adolescence. 

Aflatoun’s impact has been independently verified through randomised controlled trials, tracer studies, and World Bank-partnered evaluations. Aflatoun has been recognized globally (Brookings, Harvard, HundrEd, Million Lives Club) for its high-impact, low-cost model, which has shown to be effective in changing behaviours of participants across the globe.  

Currently, the organisation is developing a Digital Learning Platform to serve as the primary digital environment through which its partners and teachers access training, curricula, eLearning courses, and collaborative resources. The platform will support Aflatoun’s mission by equipping those who deliver its SFE programmes with the tools and knowledge they need to do so effectively.  

Who the Platform Will Serve  

This platform is designed specifically for Aflatoun’s partners and teachers, the civil society organisations, government entities, and trained facilitators who deliver Aflatoun curricula on the ground. It is not a learner-facing platform for children or young people. Its primary users are:  

• Partner organisation staff and programme managers from Aflatoun’s global network  
• Certified Aflatoun facilitators and classroom teachers delivering SFE programmes  
• Trainers of Trainers (ToT) who cascade capacity to facilitators within partner organisations  
• Aflatoun International programme and regional staff who support partners  

The platform will enhance the capacity of these users to deliver Aflatoun curricula with fidelity and confidence, by providing centralised access to training, resources, and peer learning tools. 

Rationale for a Digital Learning Platform  

As Aflatoun International continues to scale across geographies, the management and delivery of partner-facing training and curriculum resources has become increasingly complex. A unified digital platform addresses the following needs:  

• Centralising access to official Aflatoun curricula. 
• Standardising facilitator and partner training delivery through hosted and recorded sessions  
• Supporting self-paced learning via modern eLearning formats, enabling partners to build capacity at their own pace  
• Integrating an existing AI tool that makes curriculum content more accessible and searchable  
• Showcasing collaborative work and joint projects with partner organisations 

PLATFORM OVERVIEW 

The platform will be structured around four functional sections, accessible to authenticated users through a personalised home page and dashboard. Each section serves a distinct purpose within Aflatoun’s partner and facilitator support model.   

• Training Hub and Curriculum Access: Hosted and recorded training sessions; structured access to Aflatoun curricula by programme type and age group, restricted to approved users     
• eLearning Centre: Self-paced online courses supporting standard eLearning formats with certificaion and badge feature (H5P, SCORM, xAPI, video, and others)   
• AI Learning Assistant: Embedded integration of Aflatoun’s existing web-based AI tool, enabling users to query curriculum and training content   
• Collaboration Showcase: A showcase of joint projects, co-created resources, and collaborative outputs produced with partner organisations   

SECTION A: TRAINING HUB AND CURRICULUM ACCESS 

Overview  

The Training Hub is the central learning and resource section of the platform. It combines live and recorded training sessions with structured access to Aflatoun’s suite of international curricula. Access to this section and in particular to curriculum materials is restricted to approved users based on their role and organisational affiliation. 

Hosted and Recorded Training Sessions 

Live Training Sessions  

The platform shall support the hosting and delivery of live, virtual training sessions. These sessions will be used by Aflatoun International and its partners to train facilitators, conduct ToT workshops, and deliver programme orientation. 

Requirements include:  

• Integration with a virtual classroom or webinar tool (e.g. Zoom, BigBlueButton, or equivalent)  
• Calendar-based scheduling and user registration for upcoming sessions  
• Facilitator controls: screen sharing, breakout rooms, polling, and in-session chat  
• Automated notifications and reminders sent to registered participants  
• Attendance tracking and session reporting accessible to administrators  

Recorded Session Library  

All training sessions shall be recordable and made available for later viewing within the platform. Recordings are stored on the platform itself and are not dependent on external links. Requirements include:  

• Searchable and filterable library of recordings, organised by topic, programme type, target age group, and date  
• User-level viewing history and progress tracking  
• Supplementary materials and resources linked to each session  
• Subtitle and transcript support to aid accessibility and multilingual use 

Aflatoun Curriculum Access  

Curriculum Structure  

Aflatoun’s curricula span multiple programme types, each designed for a specific age group and delivered by trained facilitators. 

Demographic-Based Access Control  

Curriculum materials shall only be accessible to users who have been approved for access based on their role and organisational context. This is a core compliance and safeguarding requirement. The system shall enforce the following:  

• Role-based access control (RBAC) tied to verified user profile attributes, including role, partner organisation, and programme area  
• Age-group gating, ensuring each curriculum type is only visible to users whose role corresponds to the intended delivery demographic  
• Organisation-level permissions, allowing partner organisations to access only the curricula relevant to their approved and active programmes  
• Administrator-controlled approval workflow for new user registrations, requiring sign-off before curriculum access is granted  
• Full audit logging of all curriculum access events, exportable by administrators  
• Periodic access review prompts to ensure permissions remain current and accurate 

All curriculum content must be protected by a mandatory authentication and authorisation layer enforced at the server level. No curriculum material — including previews, descriptions, or attachments — shall be accessible to unauthenticated or unapproved users. This requirement is non-negotiable given the safeguarding responsibilities associated with Aflatoun’s work with children and young people.   

SECTION B: eLEARNING CENTRE 

Overview  

The eLearning Centre provides a dedicated space for self-paced learning. It functions as a full-featured Learning Management System (LMS) module, capable of hosting a wide range of digital learning content formats. This section supports Aflatoun’s partners and facilitators in building their knowledge and skills at their own pace, complementing live training sessions and curriculum resources.  

Supported Content Formats  

The platform must natively support the following eLearning content standards and formats without requiring users to install additional software: 

• H5P , Open-source interactive content quizzes, drag-and-drop activities, branching scenarios, interactive video  
• SCORM 1.2 / 2004 , Industry-standard packaged courses with completion tracking and scoring  
• xAPI, Advanced learning data tracking supporting offline and mobile learning experiences  
• AICC , Legacy course compatibility standard for older eLearning content packages  
• MP4 / Video , Hosted video content with progress tracking and chapter navigation  
• PDF / Documents , Reference materials, manuals, guides, and supplementary reading  
• Audio (MP3 / OGG) , Podcast-style content, guided reflections, and oral learning formats  
• Embedded iFrames , Externally hosted interactive tools and content where licensing requires it 

LMS Functional Requirements  

• Course catalogue with search functionality and filters by topic, programme type, language, and level  
• Enrolment management supporting self-enrolment, administrator assignment, and prerequisite-gated access  
• Learner dashboard showing enrolled courses, completion status, and earned certificates  
• Automated certificate generation upon successful course completion  
• Assessment engine supporting multiple choice, open-ended responses, and multimedia question types  
• Course completion and progress data exportable by administrators for reporting purposes  
• Multi-language interface (English, Dutch, Arabic and Spanish) and content support, reflecting Aflatoun’s multilingual partner network  
• Mobile-responsive design ensuring full course functionality on smartphones and tablets 

SECTION C: AI LEARNING ASSISTANT (INTEGRATION) 

Integration Note  

The AI Learning Assistant described in this section is an existing tool developed by and for Aflatoun International, currently available in web-based format. The scope of work for this platform component is integration only. The platform developer will not build a new AI tool; they will embed the existing AI within the platform environment in a manner that provides a seamless user experience. 

Overview  

The platform will embed Aflatoun’s existing web-based AI Learning Assistant, enabling authenticated users to interact with it directly from within the platform. This tool allows partners and facilitators to query and explore Aflatoun curriculum content, training materials, and programme resources through a natural language interface.  

Integration Scope  

The following integration approaches shall be evaluated, and the most technically appropriate method selected in consultation with Aflatoun International:  

• iFrame embedding of the existing web-based AI interface within a dedicated platform page  
• API-based integration that allows the platform to pass authenticated user context to the AI backend  
• Single Sign-On (SSO) pass-through so that users who are logged into the platform do not need to authenticate separately to access the AI tool  
• The selected approach must ensure the AI tool functions correctly within the platform environment without degrading its existing capabilities.  

User-Facing Functionality  

The following capabilities are provided by the existing AI tool and shall remain accessible to users post-integration:  

• Natural language queries about Aflatoun curricula (e.g. ‘What activities support financial literacy for 10-year-olds?’)  
• Retrieval of relevant curriculum sections, facilitation guides, and training materials  
• Contextual recommendations based on programme area, target age group, or country context  
• Conversation history retained within a user session  
• Source attribution linking AI responses to the original Aflatoun materials 

Integration Requirements and Constraints  

• The integration shall not alter, retrain, or modify the underlying AI model or its content base  
• Aflatoun International retains full ownership and control of the AI tool; the platform developer has no rights over its underlying technology  
• The AI tool must be accessible only to authenticated and approved platform users  
• Any technical dependencies, API keys, or access credentials required for integration shall be provided by Aflatoun International  
• The platform developer must test the integration thoroughly and document the implementation approach 

SECTION D: COLLABORATION SHOWCASE/ MARKETPLACE 

Overview  

The Collaboration Showcase is a section of the platform that highlights Aflatoun International’s joint projects and outputs produced in partnership with other organisations. It demonstrates the breadth and impact of Aflatoun’s collaborative work and provides a visible record of shared resources that partners and facilitators can access and reference.  

Content Types  

The Showcase shall support the display and access of collaborative outputs, including:  

• Co-created eLearning courses developed with partner organisations  
• Collaborative videos, webinar recordings, and joint event content  
• Joint research publications, impact reports, and evaluation summaries  
• Field stories and programme highlights contributed by partner organisations  
• Shared toolkits, guides, and resources produced through joint initiatives  
• Multimedia campaign materials and photo galleries  

Functional Requirements  

• Filterable content library: by partner or collaborating organisation, content type, year, and region  
• Featured content area on the Showcase homepage for highlighted projects  
• Support for embedded third-party content where assets are hosted externally (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo)  
• Administrator tools to add, edit, archive, and feature Showcase items 
• Clear attribution of each item to the relevant partner organisation(s)   

USER MANAGEMENT and AUTHENTICATION 

User Registration and Login  

All platform users must authenticate before accessing any substantive content. The registration and login system shall include:  

• Email and password registration with mandatory email verification  
• Social login options (Google, Microsoft) as alternative authentication pathways  
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) support; mandatory for all administrator roles  
• Forgotten password and secure account recovery flows  
• Session timeout and account lockout after repeated failed login attempts 

User Roles and Permissions   

• Super Administrator , Full platform access; user management, content management, analytics, system configuration, and audit log access  
• Content Manager , Upload and manage training recordings, curricula, eLearning courses, and Showcase content  
• Partner Administrator , Manage users from their organisation; access to curricula and content approved for their organisation  
• Facilitator / Teacher , Access to assigned curricula, training recordings, eLearning courses, and AI Learning Assistant  
• Partner Staff , Access to eLearning courses, Collaboration Showcase, and AI Learning Assistant 

Home Page and Dashboard  

Upon login, each authenticated user shall be presented with a personalised home page that serves as their primary navigation hub. The home page shall include:  

• Welcome message and user profile summary including organisation and role  
• Quick-access navigation to the four main platform sections  
• A ‘continue where you left off’ module for in-progress training recordings and eLearning courses  
• Upcoming training sessions with registration links  
• Platform-wide announcements and notifications from Aflatoun International  
• Recently added or updated content relevant to the user’s programme area and role 

Sustainable Technology and Low Running Costs 

The platform must be built on a technology stack that minimises long-term operational costs without compromising reliability or security but stil gives Aflatoun autonomy. Aflatoun International is a non-profit organisation and running costs must remain sustainable over time. 

Accessibility and Inclusion  

• Multilingual  interface support, with right-to-left (RTL) language capability 
• Mobile-first responsive design 
• Optimised performance for users with slow or intermittent internet  connections, reflecting the connectivity realities of many partner  countries 

Key Integrations  

• Single Sign-On (SSO) using SAML 2.0 or OpenID Connect (OIDC) note: OIDC  is the current recommended standard for SSO in web and mobile applications; OAuth 2.0 alone is an authorisation framework and does  not provide user authentication; the document should specify SAML 2.0 or OIDC. 
• Learning Record Store (LRS) for xAPI data tracking 
• Email  delivery service for notifications and communications 
• Analytics platform for platform usage reporting 
• Aflatoun’s existing AI Learning Assistant via API or iFrame embed (integration  scope only) 

CONTENT GOVERNANCE   

Content Ownership  

Aflatoun International retains full editorial ownership and quality control over all content published on the platform. This includes curricula, training materials, eLearning courses, and Showcase content. Partner organisations may contribute content to the Collaboration Showcase, subject to Aflatoun International’s review and approval.  

Content Management Processes  

• Content submission workflow with review and approval stages before publication  
• Version control for curriculum documents and eLearning courses  
• Content archiving and deprecation procedures to ensure only current materials are accessible  
• Consistent metadata standards for all uploaded content: title, language, target age group, programme type, country/region, and publication date 

Platform Administration  

• Administrative dashboard covering user management, content management, and platform analytics  
• Exportable usage reports covering logins, course completions, training attendance, and AI tool interactions  
• System notification management for platform-wide communications  
• Documented scheduled maintenance procedures and user communication protocols 

IMPLEMENTATION and PROCUREMENT  

Scope of Work for the Technology Partner  

The selected technology partner or development team shall be responsible for the following:  

• Platform architecture design and production of a technical specification document for Aflatoun International’s review  
• Intuitive and vibrant UX/UI with at least 3 wireframes, mockups, and a style guide approved by Aflatoun before development starts. 
• Development and configuration of all four platform sections as described in this ToR  
• Integration of Aflatoun’s existing AI Learning Assistant within the platform (integration scope only)  
• User acceptance testing (UAT) in collaboration with Aflatoun International staff and selected partner users 
• Staff training on platform administration, content management, and user management  
• Post-launch technical support for a minimum period of six (6) months  
• Full technical documentation covering configurations, APIs, integrations, and administrative procedures 

Submission Requirements 

1. Organisational profile: company overview, location, and experience with similar or related projects.  
2. Proposed platform architecture and technology stack with justification. Detailed approach to delivering each of the four platform sections 
3. Detailed project workplan covering all phases from discovery to go-live and post-launch support. Workplan must be presented in a Gantt chart or equivalent format. 
4. Overall project timeline from contract signing to go-live. Clearly indicate any dependencies or risks that could affect the timeline 
5. Total proposed cost covering development and first year of running costs. Fully itemised budget broken down by phase and by cost category. Cost categories must include at minimum: design, development, testing, training, documentation, and post-launch support. Separate line items for any third-party tools, licences, or platforms proposed. 
6. CV for each named team member who will work on the project. CVs must include full name, role on this project, academic qualifications, relevant certifications, and summary of comparable project experience 
7. Minimum of three professional references from previous clients on comparable project

Annex 1: List of Abbreviations  

SFE	Social and Financial Education Aflatoun International’s core programme methodology
ToT	Trainer of Trainers a trained facilitator who builds the capacity of other facilitators within partner organizations
SCORM	Sharable Content Object Reference Model a technical standard for packaging and delivering eLearning courses
H5P	HTML5 Package an open-source framework for creating interactive eLearning content within a browser
xAPI / Tin Can	Experience API a specification for recording and tracking learning experiences beyond a traditional LMS environment
LMS	Learning Management System software for administering, delivering, and tracking educational courses
LRS	Learning Record Store a system for storing and retrieving xAPI learning records
SSO	Single  Sign-On an authentication method allowing users to access  multiple systems with one set of credentials
RBAC	Role-Based Access Control a permission model in which access rights are assigned based on a user’s role

Annex 2: Child Protection Policy and its Policy on the Protection of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) 

Due to the nature of Aflatoun’s work with children around the world, specific attention is drawn towards Aflatoun’s Child Protection Policy and its Policy on the Protection of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA). These two policies are required to be signed by consultants and forms part of the consultancy contract. The applicant commits to zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse.  

Screening for integrity is part of the recruitment process. Aflatoun considers it important to ensure the reliability, professionalism and the Integrity of its organization and its team. By applying for this position, the candidate accepts to be screened by Aflatoun which involves conducting a background check with 2 referees from the professional environment of the organizations, submitting a self-declaration of good conduct along with the CV and cover letter, and submitting a declaration of good conduct issued by the Judicial Documentation system in their home country in case they reach the final stage of the hiring process. The screening will cover up to 10 years. Only the data relevant for the screening of the position will be collected. In case the candidate is not selected for the position, the data will be destroyed 4 weeks after the closing of the position. For technical positions, an additional written test may be required. 

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Please apply online at https://aflatoun.bamboohr.com/careers/247

no later than June  22nd  2026.  
If you have any specific questions on the position, please contact our Education and Digital Department at stephanie.kibaara@aflatoun.org

ABOUT IHRB

The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) was founded in 2009. Our vision is to achieve a more just, regenerative global economy where:

• Workers and communities are free and able to use their voices effectively to ensure their rights are respected.
• Businesses demonstrate respect for the rights of workers and communities, and the natural systems they depend on, in their purpose, operations, relationships, and value creation.
• Financial actors use their leverage to positively impact the scale and performance of their partners’ human rights and environmental responsibilities.
• Governments actively implement a smart mix of long-term incentives and disincentives that drive rights-respecting and planet-aligned business.

IHRB’s mission is to make respect for people and planet part of everyday business. We advance our mission through human rights-based research, targeted convening, and development of collaborative action with businesses, governments and civil society to shape policy, advance practice, and strengthen accountability at all levels.

ABOUT IHRB’S WORK ON CLIMATE

IHRB’s Just Transitions Programme focuses on a central challenge: current climate action models are structurally misaligned – and this is undermining delivery. Decision-making remains top-down across sectors, financial systems misprice social risk, and practitioners lack awareness of usable, investable models. The result is an implementation gap, where ambition is rising but delivery is contested, delayed, or fragile – raising material risks for workers and communities, company operations, and the transition itself.

Our core contention is that climate action succeeds when governed as a social process, not just a technical or financial one. Embedding the rights and agency of workers, communities, and affected stakeholders into how decisions are designed, sequenced, and financed is not a moral add-on – it is a precondition for effective, investable climate action. This approach is grounded in international standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which establish participation, accountability, and due diligence as baseline conditions.

IHRB works to shift practice through three interconnected approaches:

• making risk visible – by demonstrating how social exclusion translates into financial and operational costs
• making the possible tangible – by identifying real-world models and mechanisms, and translating them into operational insights for diverse practitioners
• making change actionable – by convening and engaging business, finance, policy, and civil society in dialogue on shared challenges and emerging issues

PROJECT PURPOSE

The case for people-centred transitions is no longer theoretical. Transitions that exclude workers and communities from meaningful decision-making, regardless of sector, face mounting resistance, reputational damage, and outright failure. Transitions designed with workers and communities tend to be more durable, investable, and effective.

Yet these models remain poorly documented and systematically underused. Practitioners navigating real-time transition decisions – in boardrooms, investment committees, and government ministries – lack access to credible, peer-relevant evidence of what stakeholder-informed transitions actually look like in practice: how they were designed, what trade-offs were made, and why they worked.

JUST Stories was built to close this gap.

Launched in 2024, JUST Stories is a global search for stories of people working together to advance people-centred climate action. Phase I (2024–2026) produced four in-depth stories spanning coal transition in Australia, salt-pan workers and solar energy in India, affordable housing in Catalonia, and agricultural transition in Brazil – each documented through participatory fieldwork and translated into practitioner-grade insights for business and policy audiences.

Phase II builds on this foundation. From 2026–2028, JUST Stories will produce two complementary bodies of work: 2–3 new stories on people-centred decarbonisation; and 2–3 stories on community-led climate adaptation and resilience. This role spans both strands, holding the influence and engagement strategy across the full portfolio of up to six new stories.

ROLE OVERVIEW

IHRB is seeking an experienced Business Engagement Lead to drive the practitioner influence strategy at the heart of JUST Stories Phase II – ensuring that the stories, insights, and lessons produced reach and genuinely inform the companies, investors, and sector intermediaries shaping real-world transition outcomes.

This is not a communications or dissemination role. It requires someone who understands how senior business and finance practitioners think about transition risk and governance, can identify the specific decision-making moments where JUST Stories insights are most relevant, and has the credibility and relationships to place those insights where they will be acted on.

The role spans the full JUST Stories portfolio: decarbonisation stories and adaptation and resilience stories. Different stories will engage different primary audiences – industrial operators and transition-exposed corporates for decarbonisation; DFIs, insurers, and climate finance institutions for adaptation – but many practitioners operate across both domains, and the influence strategy should reflect that.

The Business Engagement Lead will work in close collaboration with two Researchers/Writers – one leading the decarbonisation stories, one the adaptation stories. The writers generate the raw material; this role determines how it reaches and moves its audiences. That division is clear, but the collaboration is continuous: the influence strategy must be shaped by what the research surfaces, and the research must be shaped by what the influence strategy requires.

The role will be supported by and embedded within IHRB’s wider team, drawing on nearly two decades of trusted relationships with companies, investors, and sector bodies across the just transitions landscape. IHRB enters Phase II with an established private-sector network spanning utilities, infrastructure investors, industrial developers, housing providers, food system actors, and financial institutions. The Business Engagement Lead will build on and extend this network.

WHAT THIS ROLE WILL ACHIEVE

Working in direct partnership with IHRB’s Head of Just Transitions, the Business Engagement Lead will drive the practitioner influence strategy across the full JUST Stories Phase II portfolio. By the end of the grant period, the role will have:

• Built and implemented a structured influence strategy for each story – mapping priority audiences, identifying decision-making moments, and designing bespoke engagement approaches that place JUST Stories insights where they can inform real transitions
• Produced practitioner briefs and sector-specific materials for each story that senior practitioners actually use: cited in corporate strategy discussions, referenced in policy consultations, and requested for internal circulation
• Established the annual dilemma forum as a trusted, sought-after space where senior practitioners work through real transition decisions with peers – not a conference, but a structured peer-learning mechanism with a growing cohort of repeat participants
• Produced masterclass series that are actively circulated within firms and used as internal learning tools, not published and forgotten
• Built an influence tracking and learning system that keeps the strategy adaptive – feeding signals on what is and isn’t landing back into story selection, lesson framing, and practitioner targeting
• Contributed to early evidence that engaged businesses are adjusting how transition decisions are assessed, sequenced, or governed – even where outcomes are still emerging

Success is measured by depth of engagement, not breadth: follow-on dialogue, invitations to contribute to internal governance or strategy discussions, and practitioners returning across the grant period and beyond. Integrated with IHRB’s broader just transitions programme, this role ensures that influence activities compound over time rather than concluding at publication.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Influence Strategy and Audience Mapping
For each story in the portfolio (existing and future), develop a structured influence map identifying primary business audiences with direct decision-making relevance, secondary enablers shaping norms and incentives, and just transition maturity levels across these groups. This mapping becomes the basis for all direct outreach, relationship-building, and forum targeting.

Practitioner Briefs and Business-Facing Materials
Working from the structured business lesson distillation provided by each Researcher/Writer, develop the practitioner brief for each story – designed for circulation within firms and at sector forums. Briefs should surface the tacit, practice-based insights practitioners consistently report are missing from existing just transition resources: decision sequencing, governance adaptations, commercial trade-offs, and enabling conditions. Produce sector-specific versions for targeted audiences, adapting framing without diluting the evidence base. The Business Engagement Lead holds editorial authority over final framing and targeting, with substantive input from the Researcher/Writer on accuracy and story integrity.

Direct Outreach and Relationship Stewardship
Lead targeted outreach to companies, investors, and institutions identified through influence mapping – briefings, follow-up conversations, and relationship management with senior practitioners responsible for transition strategy, capital allocation, and stakeholder engagement. Maintain and develop IHRB’s private-sector network across the just transitions landscape, building on existing relationships and extending into new sectors and geographies as the story portfolio develops. Manage a CRM-style engagement tracking system recording the nature and timing of interactions, follow-up requests, referrals, and qualitative influence signals.

Sector Forum Engagement
Map and prioritise the sector forum landscape for each story’s influence pathway, selecting events where just transition integration remains weak or contested. For each targeted forum, develop sector-specific materials and lobby for JUST Stories practitioners to be included as contributors. Represent JUST Stories at priority external forums with prepared materials and a clear influence objective for each.

Dilemma Forum
Design, curate, and deliver an annual invitation-only practitioner dilemma forum – IHRB’s most intensive business influence intervention. Convening approximately 35–40 senior practitioners from 25–30 organisations, it is explicitly not a conference: no panels, no abstract best practice, but a structured peer-learning mechanism built around real decision dilemmas. Responsibilities include pre-forum engagement to surface live transition challenges, facilitation design, cohort curation, logistics management in collaboration with IHRB operations, and synthesis of outputs as an input to programme learning. (NB: The dilemma forum focuses on the decarbonisation strand; adaptation stories feed into sector forum engagement and direct outreach.)

Masterclasses
Lead the production and delivery of a chapter-based digital masterclass series for each story (~30–40 minutes; 4–6 minutes per chapter), featuring transition leaders as teachers and designed for in-firm circulation. This includes developing the structure and interview framework for each series, commissioning and managing the external production partner, overseeing editorial review, and designing the distribution and circulation strategy.

Influence Tracking and Learning
Maintain a light-touch but intentional tracking system across all engagements – contacts reached, interaction type and timing, follow-up requests, and qualitative influence signals. Run periodic internal learning reviews synthesising what is landing, with whom, and why, and feeding findings back into story selection, lesson framing, and practitioner segmentation. Conduct structured follow-up conversations with selected practitioners 3–6 months post-engagement to assess how JUST Stories insights are informing transition decisions. Contribute to quarterly donor calls and annual reporting on influence evidence and engagement outcomes.

Collaboration with Researchers/Writers
The Business Engagement Lead works in continuous, structured collaboration with IHRB’s two Researchers/Writers – one leading the decarbonisation stories, one the adaptation stories. The writers generate the raw material and story relationships; this role determines how it reaches and moves the wider ecosystem. That division is clear, but the collaboration runs throughout: from input into story selection and mid-development field reviews, through to joint working on business lesson distillation, masterclass contributor development, and dilemma forum design.

ABOUT YOU

The ideal candidate combines senior experience in business engagement and practitioner influence with genuine fluency in just transitions, climate, and the corporate governance and investment landscapes through which transition decisions are made. They will bring existing networks across the relevant practitioner communities – companies, investors, sector bodies, and enabling institutions – and the credibility to open new doors.

Core Experience & Knowledge

• 10+ years’ experience in roles centred on practitioner engagement, business influence, or stakeholder strategy – in a think tank, NGO, consultancy, investor relations, or similar context where the primary objective was shifting how senior business or finance actors think and act
• Demonstrated track record of designing and delivering high-trust practitioner engagement – not events management or communications, but substantive relationship-building and peer-learning facilitation with senior decision-makers
• Strong understanding of how companies, investors, and sector bodies make transition-related decisions: the governance structures, capital allocation processes, risk frameworks, and stakeholder pressures that shape what practitioners can and cannot do
• Familiarity with the just transitions landscape – including relevant frameworks, debates, and the ecosystem of actors (ILO, OECD, sector associations, investor platforms, trade unions, multilaterals) shaping norms and expectations
• Experience working across multiple sectors and geographies, with the ability to map a practitioner landscape strategically and identify where influence is most achievable
• Existing networks across at least some of the priority practitioner communities: transition-exposed corporates, infrastructure and industrial investors, DFIs and multilaterals, sector associations, or employer bodies

Core Skills and Abilities

• Ability to read a practitioner landscape strategically – identifying who holds relevant decision-making power, where they are in their just transition journey, and what evidence or framing is most likely to move them
• Strong convening and facilitation skills – able to design and hold structured peer-learning processes with senior practitioners, not just chair panels or run events
• Ability to translate complex, participatory research insights into short, peer-grade, decision-relevant materials that practitioners will actually use
• Exceptional relationship management: maintaining trust, confidentiality, and sustained engagement with senior practitioners over multi-year timeframes
• Comfort operating at the interface between rigorous research and high-stakes business contexts – credible to both researchers and senior executives
• Strong project management and organisational skills: managing multiple influence workstreams, external production partners, forum logistics, and CRM-style tracking simultaneously in a remote, globally distributed team

Nice if you have, not a dealbreaker if you don’t

• Experience designing or delivering peer-learning forums or structured dialogue processes with senior corporate or investor audiences
• Background in or familiarity with participatory research methodologies and the ethical dimensions of community-centred storytelling – important context for understanding what JUST Stories is and why practitioners find it credible
• Additional languages relevant to project geographies or priority practitioner communities

Attitude

• Proactive and self-motivating: Entrepreneurial and outcome-oriented, with a proven ability to design and own end-to-end processes and be accountable for results in a small, nimble organisation
• Disciplined: Able to hold the line on depth and quality of engagement – this role is built on trusted, high-value relationships, not volume or visibility
• Collaborative: Comfortable working at the interface between research/storytelling and business influence, and confident in drawing on colleagues’ expertise rather than working in isolation
• Diplomatically astute: Able to engage credibly and sensitively with the full range of actors in JUST Stories – from community organisations to CFOs – without losing sight of the rights-based foundation the work rests on
• Flexible and adaptable: Able to adjust aspects of the work, timelines, and working style as the project evolves across a two-year grant period

TIMEFRAME & CONTRACTING

• Deadline for applications: Sunday 5 July 2026 (11pm UK-time)
• Interviews: First interviews will take place the w/c 13 July between the hours of 2-6pm GMT. Second interviews will take place one week later and be scheduled with candidates closer to the time, including a short exercise prepared ahead of second interview.
• Expected start date and timeframe: As soon as possible. The consultant will be contracted through 29 June 2028, with a one-month notice period.
• Location:
  • This is a home-based role and open to candidates globally. To support effective collaboration, we are only able to accommodate candidates whose primary working hours align with time zones up to Central European Time (CET), or west of CET, ensuring substantial overlap with colleagues working on US/Europe/Africa time (MST/CET/SAST).
  • Candidates must already have the legal right to work in their country of residence, be able to manage all related taxes, provide their own laptop, and have reliable internet connectivity.
  • The role requires willingness to travel internationally, including to sector forums and for the annual dilemma forum. Site visits to story locations may occasionally be required in a supporting capacity.
• Hours: This is a full-time role of 5 days per week. Exact working patterns will be agreed with the successful candidate.
• Compensation: The consultancy fee is £5,833 per month from the agreed start date through 29 June 2028 (equivalent to £70,000 per year).
• Contracting: The successful candidate will be engaged through a consultancy agreement subject to UK law. They will need to be registered as self-employed and will be responsible for managing their own taxes, insurance, and any other legal or financial obligations. A consultancy offer will be subject to receipt of two satisfactory references.

Click on the “Apply Now” button to answer some specific application questions. 

Please note: The following yes/no questions are intended to help you identify whether you are qualified and well-positioned for this role. Please answer honestly. We list these minimum criteria and constraints for a reason. If you do not qualify this time, there will certainly be other opportunities in the future. Answering dishonestly only takes away from our capacity to consider other applicants that are well suited for this particular role. So please note that if you answer “yes” to an answer and we find that to be untrue, your name will be added to a black list and you won’t be considered for future roles at IHRB

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

ABOUT IHRB’S WORK ON CLIMATE

IHRB’s Just Transitions Programme focuses on a central challenge: current climate action models are structurally misaligned – and this is undermining delivery. Decision-making remains top-down across sectors, financial systems misprice social risk, and practitioners lack awareness of usable, investable models. The result is an implementation gap, where ambition is rising but delivery is contested, delayed, or fragile – raising material risks for workers and communities, company operations, and the transition itself.

Our core contention is that climate action succeeds when governed as a social process, not just a technical or financial one. Embedding the rights and agency of workers, communities, and affected stakeholders into how decisions are designed, sequenced, and financed is not a moral add-on – it is a precondition for effective, investable climate action. This approach is grounded in international standards, including the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which establish participation, accountability, and due diligence as baseline conditions.

IHRB works to shift practice through three interconnected approaches:

• making risk visible – by demonstrating how social exclusion translates into financial and operational costs
• making the possible tangible – by identifying real-world models and mechanisms, and translating them into operational insights for diverse practitioners
• making change actionable – by convening and engaging business, finance, policy, and civil society in dialogue on shared challenges and emerging issues

ABOUT JUST STORIES

The case for people-centred decarbonisation is no longer theoretical. Across sectors – from coal and steel to agriculture, construction, and energy – transitions that exclude workers and communities from meaningful decision-making face mounting resistance, reputational damage, and outright failure. Transitions designed with them are demonstrating greater durability, investability, and overall effectiveness.

Yet these models remain poorly documented and systematically underutilised in the lessons they offer. Practitioners navigating real-time decarbonisation decisions – in boardrooms, investment committees, and government ministries – lack access to credible, peer-relevant evidence of what stakeholder-informed transitions actually look like in practice: how they were designed, what trade-offs were made, and why they worked.

JUST Stories was built to close this gap.

Launched in 2024, JUST Stories is a global search for stories of people working together to advance people-centred climate action. Phase I (2024-2026) produced four in-depth stories spanning coal transition in Australia, salt-pan workers and solar energy in India, affordable housing in Catalonia, and agricultural transition in Brazil – each documented through participatory fieldwork and translated into practitioner-grade insights for business and policy audiences.

Phase II builds on this foundation.

From 2026-2028, JUST Stories will produce 2–3 new immersive stories focused on people-centred decarbonisation in practice, while a parallel strand – separately resourced – extends the work into climate adaptation and resilience. This role sits within the decarbonisation strand.

Story selection prioritises real-time transition processes far enough in implementation to demonstrate clear evidence of success, even if early-stage; where companies, financial actors, workers, communities, and public institutions are actively navigating complex trade-offs between climate objectives, commercial realities, and social outcomes.

The stories produced are not communications outputs alone. They are structured evidence, designed to:

• Surface how companies, workers, communities, and governments have navigated the real governance, commercial, and social trade-offs that shape transition outcomes
• Identify the enabling conditions that allowed stakeholder-led approaches to succeed – and the constraints that tested them
• Inform the decisions of practitioners who are actively shaping how transitions unfold: operators, investors, policymakers, sector intermediaries, and worker and community representatives.

The ultimate goal is to shift the dominant decarbonisation narrative from top-down implementation to co-designed transition governance – and to place that evidence where it can inform wider practice.

ROLE OVERVIEW

IHRB is seeking an experienced researcher and narrative writer with a specialism in decarbonisation – spanning energy and industrial transition, land use and agricultural emissions, and other sectors undergoing significant emissions reduction – to lead the research and storytelling at the core of JUST Stories Phase II.

This role will focus on identifying, researching, and producing immersive, evidence-based, solutions-oriented narratives of people-centred decarbonisation in practice. The stories produced must:

• Withstand scrutiny from technical and policy experts across sectors – including energy and utilities, heavy industry, agriculture and land use, infrastructure, and finance
• Authentically reflect the lived realities of workers, communities, and local actors at the heart of transitions
• Be directly usable in business and investment decision-making contexts – not as inspiration, but as peer-relevant evidence of what works and why

Target audiences for JUST Stories outputs include senior practitioners from:

• Industrial operators, utilities, energy companies, and manufacturers managing transition programmes
• Agricultural and food system companies navigating land-use change
• Infrastructure investors, private equity, and asset managers with transition exposure and commercial banks and DFIs financing decarbonisation at scale
• National and subnational governments designing transition frameworks
• Sector associations, employer bodies, and standard-setting institutions

While also being credible to, and co-created with, the workers, unions, community organisations, and frontline actors whose experience the stories document.

This requires the ability to move fluently between ground-level realities (what it takes to negotiate a transition plan with a mining community) and system-level decision environments (what an infrastructure investor needs to understand about stakeholder governance before committing capital).

The role will be supported by and work in collaboration with the wider IHRB team to ensure technical robustness and to translate story insights into business influence. A dedicated Business Engagement Lead (being recruited in parallel to this position) will take primary responsibility for story dissemination and practitioner outreach, sector forum engagement, masterclass production, and dilemma forum convening – allowing this role to focus on research and storytelling depth.

ROLE OBJECTIVES

To lead the process of:

• Identifying a long-list of real-time examples of people-centred decarbonisation in practice across a diversity of sectors and geographies
• Producing 2-3 deeply researched, field-based stories for publication
• Producing immersive multi-format outputs for each story: a visually compelling, long-form narrative feature, fact sheet, and structured business lesson distillation as well as video supplement and social media collateral.

And to work with the wider IHRB team to:

• Ensure each story contributes to a coherent body of evidence that advances the case for stakeholder-informed transition governance
• Support the development of cross-story synthesis and learning products – in particular the business briefs, masterclasses, and annual dilemma fora

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

• Stories that are credible to the workers and communities at their centre, and genuinely useful to the business and policy practitioners they are designed to influence
• Clear, evidence-based articulation of what made each transition work – the governance choices, sequencing decisions, and enabling conditions that practitioners can learn from and apply
• Outputs that are cited, requested, and used by practitioners
• A structured lesson distillation for each story that gives the Business Engagement Lead strong material to work with for bespoke business and sectoral briefings
• Contribution to a recognisable, growing body of evidence on people-centred decarbonisation

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Research & Framing

• Conduct rigorous literature and landscape reviews on decarbonisation across relevant sectors, with particular attention to how stakeholder participation, workforce planning, and community governance shape transition outcomes
• Identify high-potential, real-time case studies through IHRB’s networks, sector contacts, and targeted outreach – building a long-list from which the 2-3 stories are selected
• Develop analytical frameworks to assess what constitutes a “just” and “effective” decarbonisation process – one that is commercially viable, stakeholder-informed, and durable

Fieldwork & Primary Research

• Design and implement ethical, high-quality interview and engagement processes across all levels of each story – from community and worker actors to company executives, investors, and government counterparts
• Undertake field visits to selected sites (1-2 per year) to gather primary data, context, and narrative material – having built the necessary trust and relationships with local actors to co-create the story together
• Ensure all research is conducted to the highest standards of safeguarding, consent, and representation, in line with IHRB’s ethical guidelines for field research
• Surface the governance choices, sequencing decisions, and commercial trade-offs that shaped transition outcomes – the material that makes a story useful and actionable to practitioners, not just compelling to read

Narrative Development

• Produce publication-quality stories that integrate human narrative, analytical insight, and clear articulation of enabling conditions and constraints
• Translate complex, context-specific findings into clear, structured insights for both frontline communities and institutional decision-makers
• Work with IHRB communications colleagues to produce accompanying outputs including fact sheets, social assets, and audio-visual supplements
• Own the fact-checking, validation with story subjects, and translation into the primary local language of each story
• Collaborate in the editorial review process, sharing draft outlines and sections at key stages, responding to feedback from various IHRB colleagues, and working with IHRB’s Head of Just Transitions and Head of Communications on key editorial tradeoffs and decisions

Business Lesson Distillation

For each story, the Decarbonisation Lead & Writer will produce a structured distillation of the business-relevant lessons – identifying the decision moments, governance adaptations, commercial trade-offs, and enabling conditions that shaped outcomes. Specifically, the writer will:

• Provide this distillation as a substantive input to the Business Engagement Lead for development into the practitioner brief and sector-specific materials
• Participate in mid-development reviews with the Business Engagement Lead to ensure the right questions are being surfaced in the field before fieldwork concludes
• Contribute story insights and lesson material to inform the design and content of the annual practitioner dilemma forum, led by the Business Engagement Lead.

Masterclasses

Each JUST Story will be accompanied by a chapter-based digital masterclass series featuring the transition leaders and practitioners at the heart of the story. The writer’s role in this is foundational: the relationships built during fieldwork and participatory research are the basis on which masterclass contributors are identified and approached. Specifically, the writer will:

• Identify and cultivate relationships with potential masterclass contributors during the research and fieldwork process
• Closely liaise with the Business Engagement Lead on contributor profiles, story insights, and the key lessons each contributor is best placed to teach
• Support the Business Engagement Lead in framing and structuring masterclass content where editorial input from the researcher perspective adds value

The Business Engagement Lead holds primary responsibility for masterclass production and delivery – but that is highly dependent on the foundational work in producing each story.

Strategic Integration

Working with the wider IHRB team to:

• Ensure each story contributes to a coherent body of evidence across Phase II and builds on the foundation of the first four JUST Stories
• Support the identification/formation of and regular engagement with the Project Advisory Council to refine story selection, framing, and quality assurance
• Support the development of cross-story synthesis products, drawing out patterns and lessons across the JUST Stories portfolio
• Contribute story insights and lesson material to inform the design and content of the annual practitioner dilemma forum, led by the Business Engagement Lead.
• Contribute to IHRB’s broader just transitions knowledge base and organisational learning

ABOUT YOU

The ideal candidate combines:

• Strong primary research capability (including interviews and fieldwork)
• Exceptional narrative writing skills, with the ability to translate complex, context-specific realities into compelling, analytically rigorous stories
• Demonstrable curiosity in balancing industrial decarbonisation and sectoral climate policy alongside the qualitative dimensions of stakeholder agency and human rights.

Core Experience & Knowledge

• 7+ years’ experience in journalistic and writing roles, combining primary research or fieldwork with long-form features and/or narrative or analytical report writing.
• Demonstrated expertise in decarbonisation and just transitions, with a track record for cross-sectoral curiosity and applied analysis
• Strong understanding of how decarbonisation intersects with corporate governance and investment decision making in tandem with respect for human rights, workforce planning, and community relations
• Familiarity with relevant frameworks and debates, including just transition principles, ILO standards on just transition, NDCs and sectoral decarbonisation pathways, the evolving landscape of transition finance, and broader landscape of business and human rights
• Proven ability to produce high-quality, analytically rigorous, and narratively engaging written outputs for specialist and non-specialist audiences
• Experience working in politically and socially sensitive contexts, where power dynamics between companies, governments, and communities are live and contested

Core Skills and Abilities

• Exceptional writing and storytelling ability – able to balance human narrative, analytical rigour, and evidence-based insight
• Strong qualitative research skills, including interview design, fieldwork, synthesis, and analysis
• Ability to translate local, context-specific insights into broader systemic relevance for institutional audiences
• High degree of emotional intelligence and cultural sensitivity when engaging with workers, communities, and frontline actors
• Ability to identify and surface the governance decisions, commercial trade-offs, and sequencing choices that practitioners need to understand – not the human story alone, but the structural lessons within it
• Strong organisational skills and ability to manage multiple workstreams in a remote, globally distributed team
• Ability to build trust-based relationships with a genuinely diverse range of actors – from community members and frontline workers to company executives and government counterparts – and to hold those relationships with integrity across the full arc of a story.

Nice if you have, not a dealbreaker if you don’t

• Experience working directly with worker organisations, trade unions, or community groups in the context of industrial or economic transition
• Experience engaging with corporate sustainability, transition planning, or ESG practitioners from within business or finance
• Additional languages relevant to project geographies

Attitude

• Proactive and self-motivating: Entrepreneurial attitude, with a proven ability to own and be accountable for end-to-end processes and tasks, and ensure successful outcomes
• Flexible and adaptable: Ability to adjust aspects of the work, timelines, and working style as needed to cater to the realities of a small, nimble, globally distributed organisation
• Collaborative: Comfortable working as part of a small team with distinct but interdependent roles – particularly in the interface between research/storytelling and business engagement
• Diplomatic and tactful: Treating all actors – from community members to senior executives – respectfully and sensitively, acting as a bridge builder across power and perspective

TIMEFRAME & CONTRACTING

• Deadline for applications: Sunday 5 July 2026 (11pm UK-time)
• Interviews: First interviews will take place the w/c 27 July between the hours of 2-6pm GMT. Second interviews will take place one week later and be scheduled with candidates closer to the time, including a short exercise prepared ahead of second interview.
• Expected start date and timeframe: As soon as possible. The consultant will be contracted through 29 June 2028, with a one-month notice period.
• Location:
  • This is a home-based role and open to candidates globally. To support effective collaboration, we are only able to accommodate candidates whose primary working hours align with time zones up to Central European Time (CET), or west of CET, ensuring substantial overlap with colleagues working on US/Europe/Africa time (MST/CET/SAST).
  • Candidates must already have the legal right to work in their country of residence, be able to manage all related taxes, provide their own laptop, and have reliable internet connectivity.
  • The role requires willingness to travel internationally up to three times per year. Site visits may involve remote locations; candidates should therefore hold a valid driver’s license and maintain appropriate insurance and a good driving record.
• Hours: This is a full-time role of 5 days per week.
• Compensation: The consultancy fee is GBP£4,250 per month from the agreed start date through 29 June 2028.
• Contracting: The successful candidate will be engaged through a consultancy agreement subject to UK law. They will need to be registered as self-employed and will be responsible for managing their own taxes, insurance, and any other legal or financial obligations. A consultancy offer will be subject to receipt of two satisfactory references.

Click on the “Apply Now” button to answer some specific application questions.

Please note: The following yes/no questions are intended to help you identify whether you are qualified and well-positioned for this role. Please answer honestly. We list these minimum criteria and constraints for a reason. If you do not qualify this time, there will certainly be other opportunities in the future. Answering dishonestly only takes away from our capacity to consider other applicants that are well suited for this particular role. So please note that if you answer “yes” to an answer and we find that to be untrue, you will not be considered for future roles at IHRB

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