The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Its international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership initiatives in Africa, Central America, and India.

Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative aims to put human rights standards at the heart of global governance and policy-making, and to ensure that the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable are addressed on the global stage.  Realizing Rights serves as a catalyst, convener and communicator for new ways to tackle global inequities through strategies which draw upon international human rights standards, commitments and processes.  Cross-cutting principles underlying all of our work are to: 

• support principled leaders, especially women leaders and progressive business leaders
• encourage efforts to strengthen local and national capacities and voice in ways that will support the realization of human rights, particularly economic and social rights
• contribute to the development of more human rights-consistent national and international policies
  increase national and international accountability and responsibility for realizing rights
• demonstrate how economic and social rights can be progressively implemented and applied strategically, especially in Africa.

Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health:
The Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health (MLI), funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is a four year initiative (October 2007 – October 2011) of Realizing Rights, the Health Financing Task Force and the Council of Women World Leaders to strengthen the leadership capacity of Ministers of Health and their senior staff in order to promote pro-poor health financing reforms and increased effectiveness and harmonization in donor funds for health. The project will pilot an innovative leadership development model to improve ministerial knowledge, skills, and decision-making by utilizing methodologies such as peer learning, tailored technical assistance, real-life business-style cases highlighting ministerial-led best practices, and an on-line community of practice. This model is grounded in activities based on practical experience, taking advantage of the wealth of learning available from ministerial experiences worldwide.  In addition, the Initiative will support the World Health Organization (WHO) in its implementation of interventions that will have a positive impact on women’s health.

Basic Function:
The Project Director will be responsible for the overall management and oversight of the 4-year Ministerial Leadership Initiative project. S/he will provide strategic and operational leadership to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate an integrated project that will achieve measurable impact.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide overall management responsibility for project performance and partner performance as well as project activities against key milestones, deliverables, and timeline
• Ensure that efficient systems are in place to support all aspects of project activity including monitoring and evaluation, subgrant management, and accurate financial reporting
• Actively oversee and engage in partner MLI activities to ensure linkages between project areas, quality of work, and project and staff coherence
• Serve on Project Management Committee (PMC) and review project’s progress and any management issues in partnership with PMC
• Responsible for ongoing assessment of usefulness/applicability/relevance of MLI project in global health context; link with other global, regional efforts as appropriate (ie OECD DAC meetings on aid effectiveness, International Health Partnership, etc)
• Provide overall responsibility for project budget, working closely with Director of Program Development and Operations and other finance staff
• Serve as key liaison with MLI Advisory Council and the WHO Director General’s office
• Serve as a key spokesperson for the project in relevant global, regional and other forums
• Oversee design of Monitoring and Evaluation plan and implementation with M & E Officer
• Establish communication protocols and processes for internal and external communications with MLI Communications Officer
• Represent MLI with donor and prepare and submit all donor reports and respond to donor requests for project information
• Supervise the following project staff:  M & E Specialist, Communications Officer, and Project Coordinator

Principal Interactions:
Works closely with the MLI project staff, including MLI partner staff and regularly interacts with the Managing Director, Director of Program Development and Operations and Realizing Rights’ health team based in both Washington, DC and New York.  Also interacts with other Realizing Rights staff as well as Aspen Institute staff, as necessary.

Key Qualifications: