Career advice from a lead project manager at CARE

As a lead project manager of the gender in emergencies team at CARE International, the scope of Tamara Jurberg’s role focuses on supporting women-led organizations, WLOs, in their leadership and participation in humanitarian coordination mechanisms. Her work has also extended beyond gender-based violence in emergency settings to include broader humanitarian spaces, she explained. Central to her team's work is the Equal Partnership Approach, which Jurberg explained “seeks to transition away from a model in which WLOs were viewed as implementing partners, breaking down traditional program hierarchies to foster equal partnerships between CARE and WLOs.” Despite listing many accomplishments, “there is still much work to be done,” said Jurberg, particularly the limited access of WLOs to decision-making spaces and funding opportunities. With this in mind, she said that professionals aspiring to work in this space will need a blend of patience and persistence, acknowledging that tangible outcomes are not always immediate. During a recent email interview, Jurberg offered more insights into her work promoting inclusive leadership and what it takes to succeed as a project manager in global development. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. How did you end up in this type of work? I was born and raised in Brazil, and one of my greatest inspirations was my aunt, who dedicated herself to working with vulnerable communities in Rio de Janeiro, promoting their social integration. Early on, I realized how unequal my country was, and felt compelled to work towards reducing inequalities. However, I was unsure about my specific career path at that time. Despite this uncertainty, I pursued a bachelor's degree in international relations, believing it would provide a solid foundation for my career aspirations. For five years, I worked with a national NGO in Brazil. However, I soon felt the need to broaden my horizons and pursue an international career. Two primary motivations drove this decision: Firstly, the desire to immerse myself in different contexts and gain diverse experiences, and secondly, the aspiration to be closer to decision-making processes. I wanted to ensure that the most underprivileged people would have opportunities to sit at the same table and raise their voices directly, without intermediaries. My first professional international experience was with Médecins Sans Frontières in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I worked on a project addressing sexual violence. It was during this time that I discovered my true passion for this field, further influenced by my personal and family experiences. Subsequently, I understood the exact field I wanted to work in was gender-based violence in emergency settings. Since then, I have been dedicated to this field, gaining experience at organizations such as UN Women, UNHCR, and more recently at CARE. At CARE, my scope of work has expanded to support WLOs in their leadership and participation in humanitarian coordination mechanisms. This work extends beyond gender-based violence in emergency settings to include broader humanitarian spaces. What does your role as a lead project manager specialized in supporting WLOs include? My team works to support WLOs for their leadership and participation in humanitarian coordination mechanisms. Our approach seeks to transition away from a model in which WLOs were viewed as implementing partners, breaking down traditional program hierarchies to foster equal partnerships between CARE and WLOs. As such, CARE establishes flexible, multiyear partnerships with WLOs, engaging them in all steps of the program life cycle, from conception. CARE also ensures that WLOs are involved in strategic decision-making regarding joint programs, and more broadly, on shared objectives. Through these relationships, WLOs are supported to have direct access to donors and to access global advocacy opportunities beyond the scope of an individual program. Between 2020 and 2023, my team implemented the Call to Action Field Implementation (CAFI) project, aimed at catalyzing the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies. Working with a WLO consortium member in each country, the project facilitated the coordination of national networks of WLOs to drive change and enhance GBV prevention, risk mitigation, and response in humanitarian emergencies. Currently, the project operates in nine countries: Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Ukraine, and Venezuela. Since 2022, my team has also been involved in the Women’s Voice and Leadership in Humanitarian Settings (WHS) project. This five-year initiative focuses on capacity-sharing, learning, and grant-making for WLOs in Afghanistan, Colombia, the DRC, and Nepal. In collaboration with a Lead Partner Organization (LPO) and Lead Learning Partners (LLP) in each country, the project targets 60 participant WLOs. The aim is to strengthen their voices and leadership in humanitarian planning and decision-making, significantly increasing the proportion of humanitarian funding directly allocated to WLOs capable of representing and responding to the needs and priorities of women and girls in humanitarian settings. What skill sets have you found to be most valuable, or what traits have you focused on building to progress in your career as a project manager? Put partners at the center, always: Involve partners in every step of the decision-making process, starting from the project's conception. Leadership and inclusive problem-solving: Inspire and guide your team and partners while fostering an environment of shared decision-making. Including others in discussions enhances problem-solving and helps navigate uncertainties and challenges. Encourage feedback and collaboration: Actively seek input from your team and partners, sharing responsibilities and decisions. Diverse ideas and mindsets contribute to a stronger, more innovative team. Emotional intelligence: Understand and empathize with the needs, priorities, challenges, and aspirations of your team members and partners, recognizing that they are individuals with unique perspectives. Cross-cultural skills: Understand and respect cultural differences within your team and among partners. Being culturally aware and adaptable helps in building strong, effective, and inclusive collaborations. Analytical thinking: Develop a broad understanding of situations to make strategic decisions, while encouraging team and partner participation in the decision-making process. Strong written and verbal communication: Ensure communication is clear, timely, and comprehensive. Effective communication in meetings, emails, and reports is crucial for a project manager. Even better if you have different language skills, especially if you aim at working at global projects. Recognize achievements and provide feedback: Acknowledge successes and provide constructive feedback where needed. Ensure your team and partners have the support and tools they need to succeed. Anticipate issues: Plan for the future by designing different scenarios and potential responses to mitigate risks and keep initiatives on track. Resilience: Expect roadblocks and develop the resilience to overcome them. Build trust and maintain clear communication with your team and partners to effectively navigate challenges and keep the project on track. Flexibility: Be an active listener and remain open to adapting and redesigning based on the needs of your partners and team. Curiosity: Continuously seek new insights, solutions, and approaches. A curious project manager fosters innovation and adaptability within the team and with partners, [which is] key to project success. Accountability: Maintain accountability to both your team and partners, ensuring transparency and reliability in your actions. What are some differences between working on WLO for their leadership and participation in humanitarian coordination and emergencies, compared to nonemergency contexts? Two-thirds of all humanitarian assistance is directed towards long-term recipients facing protracted crises lasting eight years or more. This statistic underscores the urgent need to reevaluate the enduring impact of humanitarian response and its interconnection with development and peace efforts. Peace, development, and the fulfillment of humanitarian needs are intrinsically linked; none can be achieved without the others. Consequently, we have been collaborating with WLOs not only to enhance their leadership and participation in humanitarian coordination mechanisms — such as the cluster system, Humanitarian Needs Overview, and Humanitarian Response Plans — but also to facilitate their engagement with local and national governments. Our aim is to ensure that WLOs are also integrated into the design and implementation of public policies. We work to create spaces where WLOs can effectively advocate for changes or improvements to national legal frameworks and ensure the accessibility of services for women and girls. What skill sets have you found to be most valuable, or what skills have you focused on building to progress in your career? Working in a multicultural environment and across different countries certainly requires language skills. In my current professional role, I frequently utilize English, Spanish, and French. In addition to language proficiency, I also rely heavily on project management and proposal writing skills for operational tasks. At a technical level, my expertise lies in Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies and Localization initiatives. What impact do you see your work having? My team advocates with the international humanitarian community to ensure that WLOs have enough space to engage, lead, and participate effectively. Despite numerous global commitments to localization, such as the Grand Bargain , Charter for Change, the Call to Action on Protection from GBV, and the recently launched IASC Policy on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls in Humanitarian Action, partner WLOs still encounter structural barriers when attempting to access decision-making spaces and humanitarian funding. Consequently, our team is dedicated to ensuring that various stakeholders translate these global commitments into practical implementation, thus promoting locally led solutions. As a result of our efforts, we have achieved tangible results, including WLOs engaging in direct discussions with donors, participating in global events such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), and having increased access to humanitarian funds. Despite these accomplishments, there is still much work to be done, particularly in terms of reducing the criteria for accessing funding and making it more accessible to WLOs. What advice would you have for other professionals looking to work in this field? I believe that professionals working in the advocacy space require a balanced blend of patience and persistence because the impact of our actions isn’t always immediately visible. With a background in programming and field implementation, both in development and in the humanitarian sector, I have gained a deep appreciation for the importance of ensuring that projects effectively address the real needs on the ground. Recently, I transitioned to the advocacy side at the headquarters level, which has provided me with a whole new set of experiences. While there are some excellent policies and strategies in place regarding localization and Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE), simply having policies or guidance documents is not enough to ensure that stakeholders are effectively implementing them on the ground. As a result, there is a huge need for extensive conversations and discussions on how to make these policies feasible and accessible. Simultaneously, we must ensure that the prioritization of needs comes directly from the communities, emphasizing bottom-up and locally led solutions over top-down and pre-defined approaches. However, making these spaces accessible is not without its challenges. It requires those in positions of power to cede their spaces to ensure that others have the opportunity to engage. Additionally, it demands that processes and procedures become more flexible to accommodate diverse voices and perspectives, especially from WLOs. 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