NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Organization: Gray Matters Capital Foundation is a charitable arm of Gray Ghost Ventures, a social investment company that seeks to invest in visionary people, with an emphasis on microfinance and education.? Since 1996, Gray Ghost Ventures has worked to foster strategic innovation by incubating and investing in enterprises and tools to provide market-based solutions to social issues.?

Through the initiatives of its charitable foundations, The Rockdale Foundation and Gray Matters Capital Foundation and through its investment activities Gray Ghost Ventures has improved capacity of the microfinance industry in the Arab world, supported successful reform efforts in the Atlanta Public Schools, created the first privately-held global microfinance investment portfolio and social venture capital fund, offering both financial and social returns. Gray Ghost Ventures seeks to expand the mission of its charitable foundations and its social investing in the area of expanding the access and quality of primary and secondary education to the poor in developing countries.

About the Education Initiative: While some countries have a credible public education sector, there are many in Asia, Africa and Latin America that are in desperate need of alternatives to failing public schools.? As a result, privately-owned affordable schools for low-income families have emerged, where families are considered clients with rights to demand quality.? These schools put an emphasis on quality, efficiency and performance, justifying the modest tuition charged that allow them to become sustainable enterprises.?

Affordable schools for the poor exist throughout the world and serve millions of children living in some of the most difficult conditions. Gray Matters Capital seeks to connect affordable schools with resources that will allow them to improve quality while remaining accessible and affordable for low-income families.?

Position:?? The Gray Matters Capital Foundation is seeking a Program Officer to manage program activities that will build the ecosystem around the affordable school sector. This ecosystem will include educational resources, industry infrastructure and transparency as described above that will benefit students and their learning.? The Program Officer will be responsible for researching and designing programs, developing partnerships with other supporting organizations and donors, and monitoring results to ensure quality education is being offered.

Primary Duties for this position include:

• Sourcing and Due Diligence:? Identify, evaluate and make recommendations of promising partners; develop and maintain pipeline of grants & programs.
• Project Management:? Serve as the direct point of contact for partners, managing grants and programs from design through execution and evaluation.
• Monitoring and Analysis:? Conduct ongoing financial and social analysis of the grant and program portfolio.?
• Research: Conduct ongoing and project-specific research. Identify and implement appropriate measures of assessing quality and impact.
• Promotion: Represent the initiative in a variety of venues to diverse audiences from high level to the general public.
• Strategic Direction:? Contribute to the ongoing development of the strategy and planning around the initiative.??

To apply for this consultancy, please send the following items to Genia Topple, Executive Director, at gtopple@rockdalefdn.org.

1) Cover letter with responses (max 2 pages) to the following questions:

a. Do you believe there is a role for private schools for the poor in developing countries?

b. What would you consider essential to providing quality education in these schools? How would you integrate it?

2) CV (max 2 pages)