About Parity Lab
According to the UN, one in three women faces violence from men in her lifetime; between 30-60% women face violence from an intimate partner. While civil society (both non-profits and social enterprises) around the world have been working to change gender attitudes on ground, co-ordinated support for such organizations is not available to amplify impact at scale.
Parity Lab is an early-stage feminist accelerator for rural survivor-led organizations addressing gender-based violence. We identify women-leaders from marginalized rural communities leading NGOs, with both an extensive track record and vision for fostering change to either prevent or respond to gender-based violence. Parity Lab is an embedded support system that provides capacity building, coaching and thought partnership to our fellows and their organizations, for 12 months.
Job Description
This position reports to the Founder & CEO of Parity Lab and will work closely with the programming team, the board and the leadership team. The wellness associate will lead all mental health programming activities for the Parity Lab team, the current cohort of fellows and their organizations (referred to as partner organizations) and alumni support for graduated cohorts. This associate will conduct group sessions for the current cohort of fellows, develop training materials and conduct one-on-one coaching sessions with the Parity Lab staff and Fellows.
Qualifications
- A Masters degree in counseling or clinical psychology.
- At least 5 years of experience working in a training/teaching/research capacity in the social sector space.
- Language requirements: Fluent written and spoken Hindi and English required
- Experience in curriculum development, preferably in the field of mental health or capacity building.
- Knowledge of evidence-based frameworks and best practices in mental health support.
- Familiarity with the MHI (Mental Health India) and Narrative Practices network or groups such as Narrative Practices Group, Australia. Training in Narrative Practices/Contemplative Practices will be a bonus.
- Excellent communication and facilitation skills to effectively deliver group sessions and develop training materials.
- Ability to work collaboratively with diverse stakeholders, including survivors, entrepreneurs, and internal team members.
- Strong organizational and project management skills to meet timelines and deliverables.
- Understanding of monitoring and evaluation methodologies to assess the impact of the curriculum.
- Sensitivity to the unique challenges faced by marginalized communities and a commitment to promoting equity and well-being.
- Flexibility and adaptability to respond to the evolving needs of the program and its participants.
Responsibilities
Needs Assessment and Retrospective Outcome Analysis
- Design, conduct and analyze focused group discussions and retrospective pre and post surveys with past participants of Parity Lab’s accelerator program to document mental health needs and gaps to address in the upcoming cohorts.
- Develop a detailed program document, mapping psychological correlates of grassroots engagement, barriers to safety, justice, impact, and organizational development.
Curriculum Design and Prototype Testing
- Design, test and consolidate a curriculum that incorporates evidence-based frameworks and best practices for mental health support to entrepreneurship development.
- Ensure the curriculum is intersectional and non-diagnostic, supporting individuals in dealing with every day difficult emotions and understanding the signs and symptoms of psychological distress from a lens of intersectional well-being.
- Develop a systems-based curriculum that allows space for participants to explore their psychological burden and understand the potential impact of capacity-building modules on their work.
- Employ a strengths-based facilitation approach, expanding participants' stories to include strengths in themselves, their teams, and their communities.
- Establish explicit links between the skills learned in the mental health curriculum and other areas of organizational capacity building.
Monitoring & Evaluation
- Design, test, and finalize assessment tools to constitute a lean monitoring and evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of the curriculum, track participants' progress, and help Parity Lab make timely course corrections.
Parity Lab’s Knowledge Management
- Collaborate with internal team members and external partners for 360° representation of stakeholder voices for the design, plan of implementation, and ongoing support of entrepreneurs by Parity Lab’s core team.
- Develop entrepreneur-facing training materials, assessment tools, and facilitation guides, and train-the-trainer guidelines on entrepreneur needs, MH integration in curriculum, and MEAL framework for capacity building and high fidelity ease of use within the organization.
The last date for application is Feb 28, 2024 and all applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. To apply, please email your resume and cover letter to careers@paritylab.org with the subject “Wellness Associate”. In your cover letter, please include your approach towards non-diagnostic mental health support working with women from marginalized communities, your experience at the intersection of mental health and program development, and what you imagine will be the most difficult and most natural parts of this role for you. Please share specifically how one or two of your past work experiences translate to this role and why you are excited about this organization and role.
Parity Lab is a women-led organization and an Equal Opportunity employer. We recognize that lived experience as a survivor is a valuable asset for this position and encourage survivors of gender-based violence, particularly from marginalized communities, to apply. We understand that imposter syndrome may be a barrier, especially for survivors of violence from marginalised communities. We encourage you to apply if you are excited about the position and can think of ways to contribute to Parity Lab, even if you feel you may not hold all the qualifications listed above.
To apply, please email your documents to careers@paritylab.org
