ICRD Program Assistant Position: 

The International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD) is seeking to hire a Program Assistant who will work with the ICRD team to provide support for specific projects—particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and/or Central to South-east Asia—and assist with grant proposals and overall strategic organizational development. The Program Assistants portfolio would include, but may not limited to, the following: 

  • Provide administrative and programming support including: communications, drafting of documents, and logistical support; 
  • Coordinate team visits, travel authorizations, expense reports, and contract agreements to support implementation of programs; 
  • Assist with writing summaries of project activities and results including quarterly and other program reports for funding agencies; 
  • Assist the team with project oversight, including financial tracking and progress towards program deliverables; 
  • Translate between English and/or Arabic, and/or French, and/or other languages (based on additional capacities) both orally and in written documentation; 
  • Collect and track news and data sources on recent developments for specific project portfolios, such as Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Uganda, United States; etc; 
  • Conduct desk research to support senior staff on analyzing interreligious dynamics in countries of interest, including determining drivers of religious conflicts, mapping peacebuilding activities and assessment of religious minority rights; 
  • Support compilation and analysis of data from monitoring & evaluation activities; 
  • Possible travel to assist with field-programming and training logistics; 
  • Other tasks as designated by senior staff. 

Required Skills: 

  • Strong inter-personal skills; 
  • Commitment to religious pluralism and religious freedom;
  • Meaningful experience in supporting project management, administration, and implementation; 
  • Demonstrated interest in the fields of conflict resolution, peacebuilding, tolerant religious education and/or faith-based dialogue and reconciliation; 
  • In-depth knowledge of, for instance: Saudi Arabia’s and Uganda’s education sector; global spread of Salafism; preventing/countering violent extremism; inter and intra-religious conflict dynamics and transformation;  
  • Exceptional research, writing, and editing skills; 
  • Willingness to be flexible and contribute beyond normal tasks and areas of expertise; 
  • Ability to handle multiple competing deadlines, as well as adapt to differences in cultural and professional styles across country contexts; 
  • Effective at working as part of a team in a diverse and fluid environment; 
  • Self-starter with a demonstrated ability to identify and solve problems with minimal supervision; 
  • Legally authorized to work in the United States (ICRD is unable to sponsor visas at this time); 
  • Fluency in written and spoken English, Arabic and/or French; 
  • Bachelor’s Degree with 2 years of relevant experience in International Affairs, Conflict Resolution, Religious Studies or related field or Master’s Degree in same. 

Additional Skills: 

  • Experience in grants management, including working with USG grant mechanisms; 
  • Experience in program design; 
  • Experience in designing financial management tools; 
  • Experience in teacher training and textbook design and evaluation;    
  • In-depth knowledge of at least one religion or religious community, combined with an ability to look broadly, analytically and comparatively at a diverse spectrum of religious beliefs and practices in a certain country or region; 
  • Experience in engaging religious actors in peacebuilding activities, social justice initiatives and interfaith dialogue and collaboration; 
  • Experience in monitoring and evaluation, data collection, conducting interviews and designing surveys. 

Salary Range: $32,000 to 35,000 annually depending on experience. 

How to Apply:

Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and will be accepted no later than 18 August 2021. To be considered for a Program Assistant position, please compile your cover letter, resume, writing samples, and references into a single Word or PDF document and send to Maelys Lossa (she/her) at admin@icrd.org. Please label the attachment: “Last Name First Name_ICRD Program Assistant Application”. For an application to be consider, all documents must be included.

  • Cover Letter – Include a brief overview of your qualifications for the position and why you are interested in working with ICRD. 
  • Résumé – Include your professional and educational experience and language skills (specify level of oral and written skills). 
  • Writing Sample – Please submit two 1-3 page writing samples of your choice (may be excerpts from longer essays) and an Arabic translation of one of those writing samples. 
  • References – Please submit the name, phone number, and email of two-three references. At least one of these should be a professional reference, the others can be professional or academic references.