Regional Director, Asia

Who We Are

Co-Impact brings together local changemakers and funders from around the world to make health, education, and economic systems stronger and more inclusive – creating impact that lasts. Our commitment to advancing gender equality and women’s leadership is central to this goal. By focusing on systems, we work at the scale of the problem - dismantling the root causes of inequality that disadvantage hundreds of millions of women, girls and marginalized communities. Spanning five continents, our team identifies partners that will create lasting progress when supported with the resources to work at scale. Pooling funding allows us to provide large, flexible grants and strategic support to locally-rooted partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America who know their systems best. Our partners' initiatives will benefit more than 600 million people, and we can go even further together. We aim to deploy over $1 billion by 2030 and achieve a world where everyone can lead fulfilling lives. For more information, please visit and take a look at our Handbook.

Co-Impact partners with Professional Employment Organizations (PEOs) to employ their staff.

The Role

Reporting to the Vice President, Programs you will serve as a senior program leader, responsible for sourcing, vetting and finalizing grant recommendations in Asia. You will support program partners (grantees) to develop effective strategies for gender equality, women’s leadership and systems change at scale, while enhancing organizational capabilities for sustainable impact. Additionally, you will contribute to advancing learning and practice among partners, within Co-Impact, the global development sector, and philanthropy.

You bring a strong commitment to gender equality, inclusion, and justice, demonstrated through strategic acumen, an abiding curiosity, and a desire to learn. You also bring excellent interpersonal and analytical skills, along with a high level of personal initiative and the ability to thrive in a distributed, diverse, deep-thinking, and fast-paced environment. You are driven by a focus on root causes, justice, and solving social issues at the systems level and at scale.

You have 15+ years of relevant experience in gender and global development, including at least 5 years in grant-making and supporting program partners. You possess substantial experience working within and understanding the political economies of your regional context. Fluency in English is required.

Responsibilities

As the lead for the region, you will be accountable for achieving Co-Impact’s goals at both the regional and global levels. Core responsibilities include but are not limited to the following

Strategy Development and Implementation: Program Partners

Lead the regional team in developing, implementing and monitoring a contextualized Co-Impact program strategy and implementation at a portfolio level. Contribute to ongoing reflection and enhancement of Co-Impact’s strategy and programs, theory and practice of systems change, gender equality, and organizational strengthening. Support the overall model to achieve shared goals ensuring that the regional program strategy aligns with and contributes to global and cross-regional plans. This includes

Annual Program partner support plan: In consultation with the regional team, the Regional Director (RD) will lead the development of annual support plans for existing program partners – categorized by their grant phase – design phase and post-design phase. The RD will conduct regular check-ins with team members to ensure that support for program partner (PP) is on track, address any issues as they arise, and monitor PP progress throughout the grant.

Develop external support streams for regional PPs: Working closely with cross-regional teams such as the Design Team and the LME Team, the Regional Director will identify various streams for support for PPs including coach support, communities of practice and LME support.

Oversee the development and implementation of scalable systems and processes to ensure sourcing and PP support are well-planned, process-driven and institutionalized.

Oversee the development of the regional sourcing strategy and approach document, designed to identify and engage new program partners. The RD is responsible for ensuring alignment with Co-Impacts’ overall goals, issue areas and regional priorities.

Regional Learning Strategy: Take responsibility for consolidating lessons and insights for the region in partnership with the LME Director. Collaborate with the LME team, fellow Directors and account teams to distil key lessons and insights from evidence and data across themes, partners and regions.

Serve as an account lead for select program partners (PPs) to ensuring a strong alignment with the programmatic work.

Communications: Serve as a spokesperson for the organization representing Co-Impact regionally and with global stakeholders, working closely with the Communications team.

Philanthropy: Working closely with the Philanthropy and Communications team and the Strategic Partnerships team, to cultivate relationships with key funders in the respective region.

Engaging champions

Provide input and ideas on engagement plans in the region for funders and Boards.

Play a key role in facilitating cross-learning and knowledge sharing across regions and sub-teams. Intentionally incorporate and disseminate lessons learned, particularly with other Program directors.

Management and Leadership

Provide strategic leadership for the region by establishing and expanding Co-Impact’s presence and cultivating partnerships in the region.

Cultivate and maintain trusted relationships with senior government and public sector stakeholders, as needed, helping position Co-Impact as a credible long-term partner while navigating complex political, policy, and regulatory contexts across the region.

Develop and oversee the regional budget on an annual basis.

Lead and sustain a motiva