M2M Senior Technical Manager (M2M STM) – ASM Formalization, Responsible Sourcing, and Child Labor in Mining

Job Description

At the heart of Pact is the promise of a better tomorrow. A nonprofit international development organization founded in 1971, Pact works on the ground in nearly 40 countries to improve the lives of those who are challenged by poverty and marginalization. We serve these communities because we envision a world where everyone owns their future. To do this, we build systemic solutions in partnership with local organizations, businesses, and governments that create sustainable and resilient communities where those we serve are heard, capable, and vibrant. Pact is a recognized global leader in international development. Our staff have a range of expertise in areas including public health, capacity development, governance and civil society, natural resource management, poverty, fragile states, monitoring and evaluation, small-scale and artisanal mining, microfinance and more. This expertise is combined in Pact’s unique integrated approach, which focuses on systemic changes needed to improve people’s lives.

Department

Mines to Markets (M2M) - Pact’s Mines to Markets Signature Initiative assists mineral-dependent communities to gain lasting benefits from the more sustainable use of the natural resources around them. Pact takes an integrated approach to its work in the mining sector: we link mining to livelihoods, governance, health, environment, and the strengthening of local, regional and national institutions. The M2M program is currently active in eleven countries, working with all scales of mining from large scale industrial operations (LSMs) to individual Artisanal and Small-scale Miners (ASMs) and their communities, in remote areas. For more information on current and some past projects at www.pactworld.org/mining.

Position Overview

Pact’s Mines to Markets (M2M) program spans projects around the world (currently in 13 countries). Pact’s M2M program addresses many challenges related to the mining sector’s governance and contribution to economic and social development. This spans issues including working conditions, responsible sourcing, livelihoods, equitable employment opportunities, informal mining, workers’ organization/representation, local capacity development, gender equity, mining’s impact in local communities, and child labor. Such issues are central to Pact’s portfolio of projects in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, for which the M2M STM will drive program design and technical direction and provide quality assurance for project reporting.

Elevated scrutiny from the news media, advocacy groups, and other international organizations of child labor and other human rights abuses in the copper-cobalt (2C) supply chain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has prompted a surge of interest in Pact’s M2M program by a range of donors and prospective donors. Such scrutiny has also contributed to maintaining interest in supporting Pact’s programming related to child labor in mining in the nearby tin, tungsten, and tantalum (3T) supply chain, where Pact implements the traceability and due diligence system, the International Tin Supply Chain Initiative (ITSCI), for conflict-free minerals.

Pact’s work addressing child labor in the 3T supply chain has fostered a promising application of an integrated development approach. The Watoto Inje ya Mungoti (“Children out of Mining”) project, for example, has used economic empowerment, education, governance, and capacity-building interventions to promote the sustainability of the initial child protection interventions. This suite of interventions is necessary to reduce child labor in mining over the long term since, together, they more fully address the normative, governance, and economic causes of child labor. Child labor in mining can therefore be an entry point to improving human, institutional, and economic development in mining communities. This contextual premise recognizes that, while mining may be the unsustainable use of non-renewable resources, the sector can afford communities lasting benefits across the above dimensions if properly managed, and thus enable their full participation in a wider range of sectors as the economy diversifies.

This approach, in conjunction with the evolving responsible sourcing agenda, has led the portfolio to expand into the formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining in addition to interventions for large-scale mine operators (LSMs) to strengthen human rights, their engagement with mining communities, and transform their relationships with ASM activities into socially and commercially constructive ones. Such interventions are focused on developing the capacity of mine operators, cooperatives, and regulators to work together to make ASM safer, more transparent, more professionalized, and meet ambitious international responsible sourcing goals.

The M2M Senior Technical Manager - ASM Formalization, Responsible Sourcing, and Child Labor in Mining will be responsible for harnessing the interest of prospective donors and initiatives in addressing the above set of issues to build integrated programs that improve the economic opportunities for mining communities and promote a more responsible and equitable mining and minerals sector. The M2M STM will have strategy, program design, business development, donor relationship, communications and project management responsibilities.

D.C. location preferred, Worldwide locations condsidered.

Key Responsibilities

A: Programming in the DRC:

• Develop programmatic strategies to realize improving standards regarding ASM formalization and sourcing practices, child labor, occupational health and safety, human rights, economic empowerment and development, access to education, and governance in the 2C and 3T supply chains in the DRC;
• Work with the DRC Country Director, M2M Vice President and technical team, DRC Capacity Development Program Manager, Child Labor in Mining Reporting Coordinator, and respective 3T and 2C program implementation and project managers to design programs and projects that are:
• Geographically and thematically integrated;
• Locally relevant, including with buy-in from national, provincial, and local government and civil society;
• Complementary with or that integrate the formalization agenda; and that
• Leverage market dynamics
• Translate identified strategies into clear and compelling pitches and proposals to prospective donors;
• Provide technical supervision and monitoring of ongoing project activities, through regular communication with and support to field-based project and program managers, to ensure projects are meeting goals, being implemented according to donor requirements, and meet the specific needs of beneficiaries within the framework of project scope;
• Assist the Child Labor in Mining Reporting Coordinator in coordinating programming with international initiatives including the World Economic Forum’s Global Battery Alliance, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce for Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters’ Responsible Cobalt Initiative, and others as the need arises;
• Coordinate programming with international development organizations including UNICEF, International Justice Mission, GIZ, and Good Shepherd International Foundation, and others as the need arises;
• Collaborate with the M2M Vice President, DRC Country Director, and the Child Labor in Mining Reporting Coordinator on developing partner and donor engagement strategies to grow the portfolio; and
• Conduct close donor and partner liaison to maintain and grow their engagement and communicate the strategic value of the programs they support.

B: Capacity-building of local technical team

• Jointly develop data collection, analysis, and reporting tools with the portfolio’s M&E focal point and local technical teams to make project tracking, learning, and implementation more clear and consistent across projects;
• Leverage the effective use of the above tools to provide capacity-building to the local technical team in producing project deliverables;
• Provide capacity-building to local technical teams regarding the delivery of specialized trainings in the mining sector;
• Actively share relevant new information about international norms, market dynamics, politico-economic developments, and research with local technical teams to incorporate such information into programming as necessary.

C: Global programming:

• Collaborate with the M2M team on developing new opportunities, technical resources, partner and donor engagement strategies to grow the portfolio geographically and in terms of sectoral diversity;
• Work with Pact’s Results and Measurement team to develop tools and a learning agenda that generate data on program activities of sufficient quality and detail to synthesize and share best practices and models;
• Incorporate current research on relevant best practices as well as important local and international market dynamics in mining livelihoods programming;
• Represent Pact at international events and in the media as required; and
• Provide technical support to other Pact M2M projects around the world that could leverage practices and models implemented through this work.

Other duties as may be required

Basic Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree and six years’ relevant experience; or Masters’ degree and four years’ relevant experience (particularly ASM standards and formalization, international due diligence and operating norms in mineral supply chains, and interventions focused on livelihoods and market access for upstream mining communities)
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Strong sense of responsibility, personal initiative, and follow-through;
• Ability to work independently in a fast-paced, multi-task environment;
• Ability to work as part of a team and to coordinate across departments;
• Ability to travel in remote areas
• Must be fluent in English and French
• Experience in the Great Lakes Region preferred
• Understanding and/or experience in the artisanal mining sector in Africa specifically is a plus

D.C. location preferred, Worldwide locations condsidered.

Pact provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, age, national origin, marital status, disability status, political ideology, military or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

About the Organization

At the heart of Pact is the promise of a better tomorrow. The promise of a healthy life. Of a decent livelihood. Of sustainable natural resources that benefit communities. Now more than ever in its 42-year history, Pact is helping millions of people who are poor and marginalized discover and build their own solutions and take ownership over their future.
Pact enables systemic solutions that allow those who are poor and marginalized to earn a dignified living, be healthy, and take part in the benefits that nature provides. Pact accomplishes this by strengthening local capacity, forging effective governance systems, and transforming markets into a force for development.

Pact is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors.