The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) seeks a writer to develop detailed descriptions of community initiatives that promote sustainable human development and community-level natural resource management.

The written products will take the form of:

• Project proposals
• Articles that advocate for the priority projects of local people
• Letters to current and prospective partners
• Statements regarding project sustainability, organisational capacity, monitoring and evaluation

We seek someone that finds joy and satisfaction in the craft of writing, and who is entirely dedicated to improving the lives of all people who welcome and need development assistance.

The Development Specialist will work with the HAF team in Marrakech in a collaborative and supportive manner, together fulfilling the participatory development mission of the organisation.

If you are interested, please send an email with your CV and how you can best contribute to the work of the High Atlas Foundation to haf@highatlasfoundation.org

Organization

Founded in 2000 by former Peace Corps Volunteers, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) works to establish development projects in Morocco that local communities design and manage, and that are in partnership with government and nongovernment agencies.  HAF – a U.S. 501c3 nonprofit association and a Moroccan national association – uses a participatory approach that includes beneficiaries as active partners in every step of the development process – from prioritizing goals to project implementation and management to monitoring and evaluation. Key to this approach is the facilitation of community planning meetings where beneficiaries together determine the types of projects they want to undertake and create action plans, which are most often in the areas of fruit tree agriculture, clean drinking water, and women’s and girls’ cooperatives.

For more information, please visit www.highatlasfoundation.org

Position overview

Responsible and reporting to

President of Operations

Summary of primary job functions

The Executive Assistant works closely with the President, Program Managers and administrative staff to ensure the smooth and effective functioning of all HAF programs and operations.  This involves handling a wide range of administrative and executive support related tasks.  Working under the supervision of the HAF’s President, the Executive Assistant will assume the following responsibilities:

• Provide administrative, logistical and program support to the President.
• Plan with President and HAF staff and implement public relations and communication strategy, coordinating with projects stakeholders and partners.
• Work closely with ITS to design website and social media.
• Compiling projects calendars and staff action plans, requiring interaction with program managers, program assistants, and consultants, to coordinate executive, staff, project, and partner meetings.
• Manage communications on behalf of the President and HAF.
• Assist Program Managers with preparation of presentation reports and materials.
• Review proposals, letters, reports, articles and documents; prepare background documents and communications.
• Assist in prioritizing and managing multiple projects simultaneously, and follow through on issues in a timely manner.
• Assist in preparing and organizing special events and projects.
• Compile, transcribe and distribute meeting agendas and minutes.
• Provide general HR Support, including handling HR issues, volunteer requests, etc.
• Recruit, interview and select staff that have the right technical and personal abilities to help further the organization’s mission
• Deepen and refine all aspects of communications–from web presence to external relations with the goal of creating a stronger brand.
• Research, build and develop approaches for strategic corporate partners, including promoting sense of Corporate Social Responsibility in the Moroccan private sector
• Arrange and coordinate the travel logistics for the President and visitors, including setting appointments, making hotel reservations, preparing necessary travel documents and information packages.

Assist the President as needed in his HAF operational responsibilities.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree, ideally in a related field, with at least 6 years of senior management experience
• Exceedingly well organized, flexible, and thrive while facing the administrative challenges of supporting a large office of diverse programs and projects.
• The ability to interact with staff (at all levels) in a fast paced environment, sometimes under pressure, remaining flexible, proactive, resourceful and efficient, with a high level of professionalism and confidentiality is crucial to this role.
• Expert level written and verbal communication skills both in French and English, strong decision- making ability and attention to detail are equally important.
• Excellent calendar management skills, including the coordination of executive meetings
• Experience assisting management with the creation of presentations
• Strong knowledge of MS Office
• Experience scheduling travel arrangements for management
• Support experience in a project support and professional services, PR/marketing, international development
• Experience successfully creating and/or modifying processes
• Demonstrates integrity, strives for excellence in her/his work, and has experience of leading others to new levels of effectiveness and programmatic impact.
• Passionate about the High Atlas Foundation’s mission and able to promote and communicate the philosophy, mission and values of HAF to external and internal stakeholders
• Passion, humility, integrity, positive attitude, mission-driven, and self-directed

 Applications from qualified female candidates are especially encouraged to apply.  Competitive salary rate, includes health insurance.

 The High Atlas Foundation is an equal opportunity employer. Personnel are chosen on the basis of ability without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, marital status or sexual orientation, in accordance with US and Moroccan law.

The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) has an integrated gender empowerment methodology that incorporates processes of discovery, knowledge-building of human rights, and women and girls creating cooperatives that meet familial livelihood needs and achieve financial independence for its members.  The approach incorporates approaches that are both global as well as Moroccan (legalistic and cultural) to advance women’s own analysis and activism.

The initial phase of the empowerment experience builds confidence to achieve more precisely-defined visions for future growth and instills awareness around legal re-courses to overcome situations that may hinder personal and professional progress. The methodology assists participants in identifying and creating consensus on socio-economic production activities in order to formally launch their cooperatives.

The Gender and Development Specialist will:

• Work collaboratively with HAF’s project management team and the rural and urban communities we serve to coordinate program activities to achieve the objectives of the empowerment experience;
• Support training of empowerment trainers with female university students and coordinate their facilitating of empowerment workshops with rural women; advance similar processes for men;
• Provide research and evaluation assistance toward improving, measuring, and understanding the results of our applied gender empowerment approach;
• Communicate our process for empowerment to partners and the public in the form of articles, reports, social media content, letters, and other forms of communication; and
• Develop with HAF colleagues project concept notes and full proposals for submission to Moroccan and international government, civil, and private donors that seek to promote and facilitate gender-liberating and sustainable development experiences.

This specialist position requires skills in research and data-gathering, project management, collaborative learning, and superb writing skills in highly-formal as well as publicly-accessible formats.

For those interested in applying for this position, please send a cover letter and CV to haf@highatlasfoundation.org.

The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) seeks to create a new position on its operational team in Marrakech – an Intercultural Development Specialist – who will be dedicated to advancing sustainable development projects with multicultural (including interfaith) partners.

The model for such projects of HAF and indeed that of Morocco, is to promote human development while at the same time utilising multicultural dialogue as a helpful bridge and contributor to achieving socio-economic and environmental projects, for and by Moroccan communities.

Responsibilities of the staff member include:

• Facilitating communication among diverse cultural and religious groups that compose the dynamic social fabric of Moroccan society.
• Applying participatory planning methods, procedures for consensus-building, and processes that lead to affirmation and acknowledgement among social and civil groups. The intention is that together, multicultural parties will create joint action plans for sustainable development projects that promote marginalised peoples’ and communities’ livelihoods, education, health, and empowerment to achieve improvements in their own lives.
• Researching and writing concept notes, project proposals, articles that advocate policies to further expand approaches and projects implemented, letters, and other forms of communication. This is aimed at building awareness around HAF’s and Morocco’s enormous opportunities to foster social unity and shared growth for the benefit of the nation, and as a global example that could inspire other similar efforts.

The specialist will have previous success in forging enduring relationships among groups of varied ethnicities, histories, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. The specialist will have exemplary writing and public speaking skills and shave shown abilities to adapt and flourish in multicultural settings and communities.

If you are interested in this position, please send a CV and cover letter to haf@highatlasfoundation.org.