Chair (voluntary position) Peace Direct London EC2 Overall role of Chair a) To enhance Peace Direct’s reputation and reach in one or both of global philanthropic circles (eg Davos, Clinton Global Initiative) and governments and multilaterals with an interest in conflict resolution. b) To work with the Board of Trustees and staff to ensure that Peace Direct: • Has an overall strategic plan which it is following • Has an effective staff team • Has sufficient funds to carry out its work • At all times operates legally and with integrity. c) To ensure that the talents and contribution of individual Board members are harnessed effectively to work collectively and with the staff team Specific responsibilities • Work with Board (including US and Germany)and staff to develop and implement a strategic influencing programme • Lead Board of Trustees in developing, with staff, Peace Direct’s strategic direction, setting overall policy, defining goals and evaluating performance against agreed targets, including through preparing for and chairing Board meetings • Ensure, with the Finance Sub-Committee, that Peace Direct has sound financial procedures for managing and disbursing funds, and managing risk • Maintain regular contact with Peace Direct’s Chief Executive providing informal one to one supervision, encouragement and where appropriate, challenge, and if occasion arises, steer the process of recruiting a successor • Ensure, with the Company Secretary, that Peace Direct complies with charity and company law, and with its governing document, and applies its resources exclusively to its objects. Person specification Essential • Enthusiastic commitment to Peace Direct’s vision, values and work • Leadership experience in at a senior level in a relevant organisation • Ability to devote at least ten days/year to Peace Direct (ideally up to 18 days/year) and to attend at least five out of six bimonthly Board meetings and one weekend retreat/year • Ability to quickly gain an understanding and acceptance of the legal duties, responsibilities and liabilities of trusteeship • Ability to work effectively as a member of a team • Willingness to support Peace Direct’s fundraising alongside other Board members • International exposure and outlook Desirable • Experience of peacebuilding from a government or civil society perspective • Access to possible funding sources Peace Direct has an effective and engaged Board of Trustees, who between them provide support on many of the Chair’s responsibilities. Hence the Board wish particularly to emphasise the representational role of the Chair, in order to enable the core message of Peace Direct to be heard more widely and with greater impact. Please write with an expression of interest to [email protected]. Deadline 30th June 2012. Background on Peace Direct Wherever there is conflict – Sudan, Nepal, DRC…there are also local people working for peace. Peace Direct believes that their work must be at the heart of any strategy for managing conflict. It is their work that prepares the ground for peace agreements, and mitigates the risk of a return to war during the perilous ten years after a peace agreement is signed. Our vision is of a world where local people lead in the resolution of their own conflicts, and local peacebuilding is at the centre of all strategies for managing conflict. Our mission is to find, fund and promote locally led peacebuilding worldwide: • We seek out effective and visionary local organisations and individuals working to end conflict and build peace in their own countries. • We fund them to do what they think will be most effective in their unique context – we don’t tell them what to do. • We put them in contact with people in power - including donors, international agencies and the media. In pursuit of this, we wish Peace Direct to be recognised as a leading authority on local peacebuilding. Peace Direct is currently funding work in DRC, Sudan, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Kashmir, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Newham, East London. Since our beginning in 2004 we have sent approaching £2m directly to local peacebuilding groups. Here are some examples of the work we are funding: • In Pakistan, Aware Girls works intensively with young people in the SWAT Valley at risk of being radicalised. Young people use their personal and family connections to seek out those deemed to be at risk and patiently work with them to show them an alternative to the jihadi narrative. • In Sudan, 11 Peace Committtees working in the contested state of South Kordofan, have peacefully resolved 70 conflicts in the last year, despite the escalation of violence between the governments of Sudan and South Sudan. • In Sri Lanka, where even the word ‘peace’ is taboo, our partner Dishani Jayaweera works with religious clergy and with Young Visionaries across the sectarian divide to enable them to work together to resolve conflicts, and appreciate diversity. Recently Dishani won two prestigious global awards. Our Insight on Conflict website (www.insightonconflict.org)showcases the work of 610 local peacebuilding organisations, many with no other web presence, and received over 500,000 visits in the past year, with 3,800 subscribers to our monthly research digest. Our particular approach, of being led by local people rather than using them to implement a far-away donor’s project, is very much appreciated by those we partner with. In a recent independent survey, Peace Direct was the highest scoring charity among 25 European and US international NGOs in terms of partner ratings. http://www.peacedirect.org/aid-agencies- challenged-by-international-survey/ We are seeking to bring this approach into the mainstream through our ‘Local First’ initiative, which promotes the idea that all interventions should build on the local social capital that already exists, rather than parachuting in outsiders who assume a ‘blank sheet.’ Peace Direct launched to the public in 2004 and won Best New Charity in the Charity Times Awards in 2005. In 2009 we benefited from the Independent Christmas Appeal (www.peacedirect.org/independent/). Our income has grown steadily, and reached £1,448,252 in the year to March 2011, before falling back, with the ending of a DfID grant, to £702,425 for the nine months to end 2011. Income for 2012 is forecast to reach £1,062,800. Raising funds from the public is a core part of our mission – in the last financial period, roughly one third of our income came from public donations and high net worth individuals, and two thirds from UK, European and US trusts and foundations. Our unrestricted reserves at the end of last financial year stood at £62,000. The enthusiasm we see for our work, both among the public, and increasingly within Government, has encouraged us to expand Peace Direct beyond the UK. In both Germany and the US, we have gone through the approval process for registering a charity and have active Boards and a part-time staff member. We have signed license and affiliate agreements with them to allow them to use the (protected) Peace Direct brand. These affiliates will focus on advocacy, fundraising and communications, while our international programmes will continue to be directed from a single point. The exact way that the parts of Peace Direct work together will evolve over time, as they take on staff and generally expand their capacity. The aim is to work as ‘one organisation in three locations’ while recognising that each separate Board of Trustees is legally responsible for their affiliate. Peace Direct currently employs 12 staff (10 f/t/e) and benefits from a number of interns. Our interim Chair is Roland Ward, currently a non- executive Director of Praemium UK, an investment portfolio administration company. Our Vice Chair, Joan Link, was formerly Head of the Conflict Issues Group in the FCO. Scilla Elworthy, Peace Direct’s founder, is also a Trustee – details of our other six Trustees and of staff are on our website. The Board meets every two months, with Board meetings currently from 5-7pm on the fourth Tuesday of the month. The Board participates in an Away Day at least once a year, which may involve an overnight stay. Our values Practical We find and fund committed, pragmatic and effective organisations and individuals working at the frontline of conflict or potential conflict. Local We think local, and act local, believing that the most effective way to prevent and end conflict is through the knowledge and activities of those living and working in conflict areas. We champion local heroes, believing them to be the best judge of how to achieve rapid and long-lasting peace. Vocal We support, promote and publicise the work of local peacebuilders, believing that it is critical that their message is heard and their knowledge shared. We connect peacebuilders with journalists, policy makers, politicians, the public and anyone else who can help their cause. Our operating principles Commitment to local leadership We listen to what local peacebuilders say is needed to deal effectively with conflict, and aim to fund them to deliver programs that they have prioritised. Non-partisan We fund people and organisations that bring different groups together, not those that work only on one side of the conflict. Committed to action We understand the urgency in conflict situations and focus funds on work that will have a tangible effect on the ground. Valuing the personal We create and value personal relationships with those we fund, between those we fund and our supporters, as well as between those who work for Peace Direct, whether as staff, Trustees or pro bono. Commitment to change We want to work with others to build an environment in which, when considering conflict, people first ask: 'What can local people do? And how can we support them?' Integrity and transparency We do not undertake work simply because funding is available.