Organization: NEAR (Network for Empowered Aid Response), (Hosted by Adeso – African Development Solutions)

Reporting To: Solutions Director

Duration: Design Phase: Six months with the possibility of renewal for another six

Starting Date: As soon as possible

Working with: Prototype locally led pooled fund partners, governance, technical design team, legal and financial advisors, funding partners, NEAR Secretariat and members

Duty Station: Remote, with a lot of travel expected

ABOUT NEAR

NEAR is a movement of local organizations with a bold ambition to shift power, resources, and decision-making to local actors across the Global South. NEAR’s vision is a world where local communities have the resources and agency to address the challenges that impact them. NEAR is a membership-based organization with more than 360 members based in four regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

POSITION PURPOSE

As the international aid system faces profound disruption - marked by shrinking resources, deep structural biases and political retreat - NEAR is investing in building credible and practical alternatives. The Networked Financing Mechanism (NFM) is a central component: a decentralized, interoperable, and locally governed financing architecture that connects and catalyzes autonomous locally led funds across the Global South. Rather than reforming existing aid flows from within, the NFM is designed to channel resources through systems built with, by, and for local actors.

The NFM Director will lead, drive and facilitate the co-creation of a testable prototype of the NFM with selected Global South-led prototype partner funds in 2026, building toward a live pilot in 2027. This prototype design phase requires coordinated effort across eight workstreams: co-creation with partners; prototype architecture; interoperability design; legal and operational infrastructure; fundraising and donor engagement; strategy and global positioning; learning and documentation; and internal NEAR governance. The Director will ensure coherence, momentum, and values alignment across all eight workstreams.

The prototype design and testing will be anchored in the principles and values that have emerged in discussions with locally led pooled funds in the development of the NFM concept to date, including equity, decentralization, local ownership, proximate leadership, interoperability, shared accountability and risk, transparency, collective learning and continuous adaptation. The Director will translate the NFM vision and principles into a practical, co-created, and test-ready prototype, while building the partnerships and donor relationships required to sustain the NFM into its pilot year.

CORE OBJECTIVES

By the end of the 2026 design phase, the NFM Director will have:

• Co-designed the prototype collaboratively with Global South-led prototype partner funds.

• Led and integrated all eight NFM workstreams, ensuring alignment and interdependency.

• Built and maintained a functional internal governance structure for the design and testing period.

• Established the governance, legal, and operational readiness for prototype testing in 2027.

• Secured donor commitments to fund prototype testing and iteration, as well as preliminary anchor funding commitments for scaling.

• Embedded a learning and documentation culture throughout the design and testing process.

• Positioned the NFM as a credible, values-aligned alternative to failing international aid architectures.

SPECIFIC ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Strategic Leadership and Workstream Integration

• Lead planning, sequencing, and oversight of all eight NFM workstreams throughout the 2026
  design year.

• Ensure coherence and interdependency across prototype architecture, governance, legal,
  financial flows, interoperability, learning, positioning, and partner
  co-creation.

• Convene cross-workstream integration reviews to identify bottlenecks, resolve
  misalignments, and maintain progress.

• Identify emerging risks early and drive mitigation strategies in collaboration with workstream leads and partners.

• Manage the overall workplan timeline, adapting sequencing as the design process evolves including but not limited to:

  • Prototype Architecture Development

  • Co-creation with Prototype Partners

  • Governance, Legal and Operational Readiness

2. Fundraising and Donor Engagement

• Lead development and execution of the NFM fundraising and donor engagement strategy.

• Identify and cultivate relationships with donors aligned with NFM values, particularly those willing to support flexible, risk-tolerant, and locally led models.

• Lead sensitivity conversations with donors around risk-sharing, flexible funding, and devolved decision-making.

• Coordinate donor briefings and consultations, ensuring messaging is consistent with the NFM’s positioning workstream.

• Secure donor commitments to fund prototype testing and iteration, as well as initial commitments for anchor funding for scaling.

• Produce scenario planning for different levels and types of donor participation.

3. Strategy and Global Positioning

• Lead development of the NFM’s positioning narrative, communicating it as a credible and values-aligned alternative to collapsing international aid architectures.

• Integrate NEAR’s decade of financing innovation and learning into the NFM’s positioning.

• Oversee production of messaging and analytical materials for donors, allies, and system actors.

• Ensure the NFM’s strategy reflects the urgency of the current aid landscape, the centrality of Global South leadership, and alignment with broader movements.

• Represent the NFM at strategic external moments, including conferences, convenings, and donor engagement events.

4. Learning, Documentation, and Adaptation

• Ensure that learning and documentation are embedded into the design and testing process.

• Oversee development of the learning roadmap, priority learning questions, and documentation templates at the outset.

• Facilitate monthly or bi-monthly learning cycles and two formal learning syntheses (mid-term and end-year).

• Ensure the design rationale, trade-offs, tensions, partner adaptations, and contextual variations are systematically captured.

• Produce the 2026 learning compendium in Q4, codifying design-phase insights for replication and advocacy.

5. Risk Management and Monitoring

• Maintain an active risk register across all workstreams, updated monthly.

• Lead bi-monthly cross-workstream risk reviews.

• Develop collaborative mitigation strategies with prototype partners for context-specific risks.

• Elevate monitoring for centralization drift, dilution of purpose, values misalignment, and legal or political risks to the prototype.

• Report to NEAR Leadership on progress against delivery indicators, participation indicators, values alignment signals, and learning indicators.

How to apply

APPLICATION PROCESS

Applications should be submitted to jobs@near.ngo with “NFM Director” in the subject line no later than 8 July 2026.

Each application package should include the following:

• Cover letter with the applicant’s current contact information and expected annual gross pay in USD (limited to one page)

• CV

All applicants must meet the ‘Essential’ requirements described above. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Adeso is an equal opportunity employer.