Chief of Staff, MDs Office - Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

BRAC is the world’s largest Global South-led international non-governmental development organization, with the vision of a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination, where everyone has the opportunity to realize their potential.  BRAC is a leader in developing and implementing cost-effective, evidence-based programs to assist marginalized and disadvantaged communities in low-income countries. It is an organization of and for the people of the Global South, pioneering new development and social enterprise approaches to equip communities to achieve prosperity.

BRAC was founded in Bangladesh in 1972 by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. As of today, BRAC has reached more than 100 million people and works in 16 different countries across Africa and Asia. BRAC has a holistic approach to development that uses a wide array of programs that include microfinance, education, health, agriculture, gender, and human rights. BRAC invests in communities’ own human and material resources, catalyzing lasting change and creating an ecosystem in which the poor have the chance to seize control of their own lives.

About the Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

BRAC International’s Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) was founded to build off the success of BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation program in Bangladesh. BRAC UPGI aims to position the Graduation Approach as a key driver to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide. It does this by:

●      Advocating for uptake of the Graduation approach by policymakers, national governments, multilateral institutions, and non-governmental organizations; and

●      Effective adaptation and implementation of the Graduation Approach in countries around the world, supported through technical assistance and capacity strengthening for external stakeholders. 

In 2002, BRAC pioneered the Ultra-Poor Graduation (“Graduation”) Approach in Bangladesh - a holistic intervention to help people lift themselves from extreme poverty - after recognizing that existing poverty alleviation programs were not reaching them. Through the provision of livelihood assets, cash transfers, and continued mentoring and training, the Graduation Approach addresses participants’ multidimensional needs within the local context and ‘graduates’ people from extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods. 

Graduation is an evidence-based, scalable intervention proven to break the poverty trap for the long term. To help eradicate extreme poverty, BRAC UPGI is working to scale globally by integrating Graduation into existing government programs to reach 21 million more people by 2026. 

But BRAC UPGI cannot do it alone. This is beyond the means and capacity of a single organization- no matter how ambitious or innovative. Sustainability and scale demands change at the systems level with active government engagement. BRAC UPGI is committed to creating effective solutions that leverage the available resources and existing programming to achieve the long-term benefits demonstrated by Graduation. The organization is partnering with governments, as well as multilateral institutions, NGOs, and civil society, in countries where BRAC UPGI thinks it can have maximum impact and drive greater uptake for Graduation.

The BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) seeks to hire a Chief of Staff to join the Managing Director’s office. This is a pivotal role, that will drive efficiency and smooth strategic decisions by organizing and overseeing  program wide planning, strategy, and organizational performance processes across UPGI. The position will be part of a small team in the MD’s office and report to the MD.

The role calls for an exceptional individual who can coordinate and guide senior management through regular analysis and discussions towards well-founded decisions. This role requires strong analytical skills, able to support strategic thinking and problem analysis across diverse contexts (at least 7 countries, along with regional and global work).  The successful candidate will work closely in support of the MD, using a mix of emotional intelligence, judgment, discretion, and diplomacy to create a positive and productive organizational culture.  Critically, the role calls for an exceptional communicator. Externally, the role will help to distill and describe the complexities of UPGI’s work concisely and consistently for diverse audiences. The person does not need to be an expert in Graduation, livelihoods or social programs but must be ready to analytically understand and describe these well. 

The preference is for this role to be based at BRAC’s regional office in Nairobi Kenya but could also be based at one of BRAC International’s offices in: Washington DC, Oxford UK, The Hague, or Dhaka. The role requires weekly work hours to include GMT 10AM-3PM for maximum overlap with country and global teams. Flexibility in working hours will be required to accommodate the global nature of UPGI’s team. The role requires international travel approximately 20% of the time (primarily in Africa & Asia). 

BRAC’s UPGI program is into its fourth year of a new strategy and entering a new phase from 2025-2030 where our execution will be tested by realities, challenges will be identified, and new opportunities will emerge. We aim to constantly learn from this and remain nimble to proactively respond. This role sits at the heart of this process and would need to organize and inform senior management of UPGI to operate optimally. 

This Chief of Staff function will take the lead at the heart of the organization and be responsible for:

●      Support in strategy development: Facilitate discussions and option appraisal that aids the senior leadership team and the MD to set strategic direction.

●      Guide the Senior Leadership Team towards success by overseeing effective and consistent planning and management practices:

○      Organize and facilitate regular bi-monthly management discussions among the Senior Leadership team (UPGI’s top 9 management roles). At least twice a year organize and facilitate of an offsite for this same group.

○      Organize and guide senior management through regular planning and strategy process: annual work planning and budgeting, annual staff performance evaluations, regular country/global team performance reviews. Help build the internal culture within the leadership team and that extends to all staff and offices.

○      Contribute and add to ongoing organizational learning.

●      Refine and Manage UPGI’s organizational planning and strategy process:

○      Facilitate organizational planning and strategy processes: including annual planning and budgeting, review of new investments (Big Bets), progress reviews, and the efficient documentation and execution of decisions.

○      Aggregate and depict country and global efforts in concise and compelling form to help shape strategy discussions.

●      Develop program materials: Support the MD in reporting to the BRAC International Supervisory Board, drafting presentations and other materials, and collaboration with the BI executive leadership team. Contribute to new funding opportunities and develop content directed to external audiences UPGI aims to influence.

Safeguarding Responsibilities

●      Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation to achieve the program’s goals of safeguarding implementation

●      Practice, promote, and endorse the issues of safeguarding policy among team members and ensure the implementation of safeguarding standards in every course of action 

●      Follow the safeguarding reporting procedure in case any reportable incident takes place, and encourage others to do so

●      8+ years experience working in international development

●      Master’s degree in administration, business or policy

●      Experience with strategy, finance and organizational performance

●      Evidence of strong analytical and written skills (writing, powerpoints)

●      Extremely well organized: developing schedules, setting deadlines, issuing clear instructions, well developed project management skills

●      Communication skills and patience to work in support of leadership team, earn their trust, and develop strong working relationships

●        Success working independently and collaboratively as part of a remote, multicultural, multi-time zone team

●        Maturity to work in support of a senior global management team to drive a global program

●      Highly organized with ability to take initiative and balance multiple priorities

●      Diplomatic, with strong interpersonal skills, a high degree of cultural dexterity

●      High performance in prior work in multiple different organizations, countries and cultural contexts

This is an outstanding opportunity to support a highly effective, collaborative, and innovative non-profit. BRAC International offers a competitive salary and benefits package.  If you feel you are the right match for the position mentioned above, please follow the application instructions accordingly:

Application deadline: 25 April, 2025

BRAC is committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share the same commitment. We believe every stakeholder and every member of the communities we work with has the right to be protected from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation - regardless of age, race, religion, and gender, status as an individual with a disability or ethnic origin. Therefore, our recruitment process includes extensive reference and background checks, self-disclosure of prior issues regarding sexual or other misconduct and criminal records and our values are a part of our Performance Management System.

BRAC is an equal opportunities employer.