About Tara

Bringing together two successful European Climate Foundation programmes, Tara is a new philanthropic initiative which aims to achieve prosperity, clean air and a safe climate in Asia by supporting a diverse group of partners to accelerate the transition to sustainable, clean energy. Tara is a regranting initiative working in South, Southeast and East Asia - excluding India and China – which focuses on supporting civil society actors to achieve a rapid transformation in the energy sector in order to meet global climate targets and ensure clean air for all citizens.

Tara is seeking a Managing Director to lead its operations in the region. This exciting role will lead the development of the Tara fund, including overall organizational management and development, fundraising and oversight of high-level strategy.  We are seeking a strong, dynamic leader based in the region who has the skills and experience to lead an organisation that has an ambitious mandate to solve the region’s challenging energy dilemmas.

Tara is a platform currently hosted at the European Climate Foundation, but with a mandate to localise in the future.  ECF is committed to both backing it throughout the transition and to the objective of localising.

Please note that we will only consider the applications following the "how to apply instructions" below. 

Context of the role

The Tara fund is being built out of existing ECF-hosted platforms, and already has a highly performing team and a solid funding base from a variety of donors. Tara’s funders are looking to localise the team in the region, and are seeking a dynamic leader to grow and develop the organisation and provide strategic direction. As this is a new entity, we need a visionary self-starter with solid experience scaling successful organisations.

We are looking for an exceptional individual with a drive for the highest quality strategy, management and people motivation.  Reporting to a board of funders, under the umbrella of the ECF board, the Managing Director will lead the regional team and the eventual localisation of this new entity.  The expectation is that the MD will transition to be the CEO of Tara as it progresses to becoming an entity separate from ECF and based in the region.

The role is full time.

Key responsibilities

Organisational Management and Development

• Synthesis of High-Level Strategy, developed by the Tara team and in service to the grantees and partners on the ground;
• Take responsibility for the planning, budgeting and control of finances as well as compliance with standards and safeguards, under the direction of Board of funders;
• Overall management responsibility of the platform/foundation, covering overall business planning (including robust M&E), robust grantmaking processes, (IT) systems and HR processes;
• Representing Tara internally and externally at events, meetings etc., including relationship building, and fundraising efforts;
• Build Tara as a strong outward, and forward-looking organisation, with an Influential, credible and cohesive voice to advocate widely on Issues relating to clean energy.
• Manage a significant funding budget; build new sources of funding, and sustaining excellent funder relations;
• Ensuring systems for quality control, risk management and exceptional monitoring and evaluation for measurement of Impact

Strong Management Skills

• Manage a team of 10-20 people across a geographically dispersed team (a minimum of 6 countries);
• Planning, implementing and leading the functions and operation of different teams, including line-management of senior staff; 
• Collaborating closely with the teams on building team structures, processes and culture to drive impact, efficiency and nimbleness;
• Embodying and upholding organisational values and principles and facilitating the creation of a strong team culture.

Funder relations and reporting (together with senior programme staff)

• Managing a Steering Committee of diverse and committed funders to meet their needs and expectations in delivering strategy and exceptional performance;
• Ensuring regular reporting to funders and overall responsibility for ensuring that fundraising targets are met;
• Create strong working relationships with current funders and new funders that you or others bring in.

Responsibility for overseeing transition to locally based entity.

• Localisation of the platform:
  • Articulate the operating model of the future entity with a transition phase leveraging the support of the ECF;
  • Oversee and develop the options framework for localisation of Tara for presentation to the Steering Committee, including where and what type of organisation to register in a realistic timeline;
  • Build capabilities towards an autonomous operational set-up.

Develop and sustain effective and productive partnerships with a range of stakeholders to support the delivery of Tara strategy. Key Relationships include:

• Funder relationships;
• The Tara Team;
• Regional Partners including CSOs and NGOs such as local and international think tanks, academics, NGOs, businesses and consumer platforms;
• Regional Governments, bi-lateral and multi-lateral organisations.

Experience and competencies

The successful candidate will have exceptional and proven organisational leadership, a solid understanding of how civil society can help drive change, and a proven track record of leading an innovative and growing organisation. Broad credibility with stakeholders from grassroots civil society organizations, industry and government will be important, plus a demonstrable track record of having led successful and thriving teams during change.  

Candidates will demonstrate a majority of:

Knowledge and experience:

• A minimum of 15+ years of relevant work experience, gained in either NGOs, government or business.
• Significant experience, networks and credibility in the South, Southeast and East Asia region.
• Demonstrated experience managing a diverse team, including responsibility for oversight of all operational functions including organisational development, finance and fundraising.
• Strong external experience interacting and networking with senior policy and decision-makers in NGOs, industry, government and/or the financial sector.
• A grasp of energy policy and energy system transformation is desirable but not essential in a management role.

Skills:

• Intrinsic motivation, excellent organisational and self-management skills, including a demonstrated track record in growing an organisation.
• Excellent strategic capabilities and board management skills.
• Experience working with philanthropic funders or donors and an understanding of how to build and sustain successful funding relationships.
• Strong networking skills, insights in community building and experience with culture development. Understanding and respect for how advocacy campaigns, strategic litigation, and innovative communications can combine with technical advocacy, donor alignment, entrepreneurship, innovation and market creation to create profound market disruption. 
• Sharp written and verbal skills, fluent English language skills; other (regional) languages are  highly desirable.

Personal:

• A deep commitment to solving the climate crisis and enabling systemic change is essential.
• Flexibility over working hours to accommodate global time zones.
• Willingness to travel frequently, both regionally and internationally.
• Impeccable ethics, and experience working confidentially and operating with high security.

What we can offer you

• The unique opportunity to lead a highly dynamic team who combine their passion to make a difference with a rigorous and results-oriented approach to work.
• The opportunity to be a part of an exciting new initiative driving philanthropy in the region.
• A flexible work environment and a space to develop and challenge yourself.
• Competitive compensation commensurate with experience.

Location

The candidate must be based in the region (South, Southeast and East Asia excluding India and China). The applicant should have a valid residency or work permit to work and travel extensively in the region.

How to apply

Please send you CV and Cover letter (both in English) to this email address: [email protected]

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 5th March 2020.