Hiring: Global Voices Seeks Director for Rising Voices · Global Voices
Ivan Sigal

Global Voices  seeks a Program Director for its Rising Voices citizen media training and outreach initiative. Rising Voices was launched in May 2007 with the support of a Knight News Challenge Award. Rising Voices seeks to empower under-represented communities to make their voices heard online by 1) providing financial support to outreach projects, 2) developing a series of participatory media tutorials, and 3) cultivating a network of passionate citizen media activists to help encourage and support the replication of outreach trainings. Over the past three years Rising Voices has funded 22 grantee projects, published a series of multilingual guides, and grown its mailing list related to citizen media development to around 1,000 subscribers. Rising Voices, working together with other Global Voices projects, creates a path for local stories and voices to reach a global audience through translation, contextualization, and advocacy.
Global Voices is a global, virtual organization, supported by the paid and volunteer efforts of over 400 people on every continent. The director of Rising Voices must possess a wide range of professional and personal skills to help the project reach its potential as the leading international network for the development of successful and impactful citizen media projects.
The Rising Voices director will be responsible for the following:
- Management oversight of Rising Voices staff and current grantee projects, including direct communication with project leaders, grant disbursement, financial oversight, and technical support
– Design and coordinate future microgrant competitions to support the development of new citizen media projects in communities that are currently under-represented in both traditional and new media
– Facilitate the translation, contextualization, and editorial amplification of content from each project so that it is repurposed in a variety of media
– Build and maintain relationships with partners, other networks, and donors interested in supporting specific issue initiatives related to citizen media development
– Draft and manage operating budgets for the program – in collaboration with Global Voices’ Managing Director and Executive Director
– Update, aggregate, develop, and distribute a collection of guides, tutorials, and resources related to citizen media production with a focus on community development
– Foster networks of participatory media initiatives in underserved communities around the world, and increase access to knowledge resources, best practices, and training materials for those networks
– Work with media and technology conference organizers to ensure active participation of citizen media projects from under-represented communities
– Promote and facilitate the localization of free and open source software into languages that are currently not supported
– Extensive travel in the course of supporting the work of grantee projects and representing Rising Voices
Specifically, we are seeking a candidate with
- Strong leadership skills
– Experience managing a multilingual, multicultural team
– Strong technical skills and experience with citizen media, including blogging, podcasting, and digital video
– Familiarity with the open source software and open content communities
– Strategic planning experience, preferably in a nonprofit or media context
– The ability to work independently and be able to produce results
To work effectively with our community, we would prefer that candidates:
- Have experience living and working internationally, or have traveled extensively in the developing world
– Are active bloggers or creators of online media
– Are multilingual, with fluency in English and at least one other language
– Have experience working in diverse, multicultural environments.
The ideal candidate must have a passionate commitment to the values and goals of Global Voices, they will be joining a well established team of editors and authors who are dedicated to amplifying the voices of world. There is no geographic requirement associated with this position – Global Voices has no office, headquarters, etc. – but substantial travel is expected. Candidates must have access to broadband internet connectivity and be comfortable working in a wholly virtual environment. We strongly welcome candidates from outside North America and Europe, and encourage people currently working on the Global Voices project to apply.
The position is full-time, but should be treated as a freelance contract.
To express your interest, please send a cover letter and CV to “rvjob AT globalvoicesonline DOT org” by no later than June 10.