Job Description
The Social Cohesion Manager (Technical) will provide technical assistance and support to the Aawaz II programme’s efforts under Output 4 (promoting social cohesion and tolerance). Working closely with the Output 4 Lead/Conflict Advisor, this position will ensure that social cohesion activities are effectively planned, implemented, monitored, and adapted in response to emerging needs. The role will coordinate with implementing partners, community stakeholders, and other technical leads to advance programme outcomes and strengthen community-level social cohesion and tolerance initiatives.
CONTEXT AND ENVIRONMENT
The British Council The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections, and engendering trust. We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language and education. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. About the project The Aawaz II is working with local communities to promote the rights of women, youth, persons with disabilities, religious minorities, and other excluded groups, to strengthen and facilitate their development. The programme has a focus on the issues of child marriage, gender-based violence, social cohesion, intolerance, to which marginalised groups are extremely vulnerable. The impact the Aawaz II programme is hoping to achieve is: A more inclusive, tolerant, and peaceful Pakistan, with less exploitation and intolerance. British Council is leading on the delivery of Output 3, Community Dialogue, Awareness and Voice and Output 4, social cohesion, and tolerance. As part of the delivery of these pillars, Aawaz II is supporting the capacity building of Aagahi Centres across 37 districts to provide a safe space for marginalised members of the community, getting information on their rights and promoting social cohesion and promote tolerance particularly towards religious minorities. Aawaz II aims to achieve these objectives by creating a more protective and enabling environment for girls, boys, women, youth, religious minorities, the differently abled and those at risk of exploitation.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Aawaz II specifically promotes social cohesion and tolerance within local communities. It supports communitybased interventions, dialogue forums, and behaviour change activities. The Manager Social Cohesion (Technical) will play a key role in assisting Conflict Advisor in designing, overseeing, and refining these interventions and ensuring that partners and stakeholders have the technical support needed to meet the programme’s goals. The Manager Social Cohesion (Technical) will provide technical support for all social cohesion and tolerance interventions under the guidance of Conflict Advisor, coordinate and collaborate with the M&E teams, provincial, downstream, and provincial partners, and other stakeholders to strengthen programme effectiveness in the Role Profile 2 of 5 domain of social cohesion. This includes strategic planning, capacity-building for partners, cleaning, validating and analysing data received from the Early Warning System and Early Response mechanism (EWS-ERM), reviewing programme progress against social cohesion outcomes, and ensuring alignment with the overall Aawaz II objectives. S/he will travel to districts to meet with the Aawaz communities and Aawaz Aagahi Centre and EWS/ERM focal members to understand the progress and issues. S/he is expected to document lessons, case studies and prepare information for use in briefs on social cohesion.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:
1. Technical Support • Operational Guidance: Provide day-to-day operational support to the Conflict Advisor, helping develop and refine social cohesion work plans in coordination with Head of Delivery and Delivery Team. • Technical Input: Offer preliminary input on conflict-sensitive strategies, ensuring alignment with the broader programme vision, in discussion with the Pillar Lead, Gender and Social Inclusion, for improving and finalising interventions in close consultation with Conflict Advisor. • Activity Coordination: Schedule and facilitate internal planning sessions, ensuring the Conflict Advisor has updated information on partner activities, emerging challenges, and potential risks.
2. Programme Implementation • Activity Execution: Oversee on-ground social cohesion initiatives, ensuring partners follow the guidance and standards set by the programme. • Quality Assurance: Track compliance with established benchmarks, flagging any shortfalls to the Conflict Advisor for timely course correction. • Timely Delivery: Liaise with procurement, finance/grants, and delivery teams to ensure resources are deployed on time, allowing smooth implementation of scheduled interventions. • Data: Engage with local communities and village forums for participatory data collection through interviews, focus group discussions, and other qualitative methods.
3. Collaboration and Capacity Building • Training Roll-Out: Plan and oversea community-based social cohesion and tolerance trainings in close coordination with the Conflict Advisor, provincial teams (Punjab and KP), and downstream partners. • Mentoring Partners: Offer guidance and feedback to partner teams post-training, supporting adaptation of learned methods to local contexts. • Material Development: Draft and refine research tools; review translated resources for accuracy; and integrate recognized best practices in social cohesion and tolerance to ensure content quality and contextual relevance.
4. Stakeholder Engagement • Relationship Building: Strengthen working relationships with downstream partners, and Aawaz II communities, civil society organizations, based on directions from the Conflict Advisor. • Coordination Support: Schedule regular coordination meetings among partners to prevent duplication of efforts and maintain consistent messaging on social cohesion.
5. Reporting • Data Collection: Collaborate with the M&E team to ensure robust tracking of social cohesion indicators and early warning and response data, leveraging both quantitative and qualitative methods. • Analysis & Reporting: Clean data and draft brief analyses of trends, presenting initial findings to the Conflict Advisor for deeper review. • Drafting Documentation: Compile initial versions of technical reports and policy briefs for the Conflict Advisor’s review. • Success Stories & Case Studies: Collect field anecdotes and success stories, shaping them into cohesive narratives that showcase progress and lessons learned. • Presentation Support: Assist with creating presentations for donors or partners, ensuring data accuracy and clarity of key messages. 3 of 5
6. Safeguarding and Risk Management • Policy Compliance: Uphold British Council safeguarding protocols, monitoring activities to ensure the safety of participants, especially vulnerable groups. • Risk Identification: Alert the Conflict Advisor of any conflict-related, reputational, or operational risks, recommending feasible mitigation steps. • Responsive Action: Support the rapid response team in implementing agreed-upon risk management measures, coordinating closely with stakeholders to prevent escalation.
KEY RELATIONSHIPS
The post holder will need to develop successful relationships with • Conflict Advisor: for overall guidance, strategic alignment, and reporting on social cohesion activities. • Team Lead Aawaz II for programme alignment and oversight. • Provincial and Downstream Partners: to provide technical support and ensure coordinated delivery of programme interventions at the local level. • M&E Team: to align social cohesion objectives with monitoring frameworks, collect relevant data, and capture lessons learned. • Communications Team: to share stories of change, successes, and challenges in implementing social cohesion interventions. • Aawaz II Programme Management Unit for the collection of relevant M&E information
OTHER IMPORTANT REQUIREMENTS OF THE JOB
The post holder is required to travel occasionally and work unsocial hours.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Essential Education:
This is a manager role, which requires a Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Conflict and Peace Studies, or a related discipline, reflecting a strong foundational understanding of conflict dynamics and community social cohesion principles.
Professional Experience:
At least five years of experience designing, implementing, or managing programmes focused on social cohesion, conflict sensitivity, conflict analysis, with local communities in development contexts. Extensive experience engaging with grassroots communities and vulnerable groups to promote social cohesion.
Capacity Building:
Demonstrated success in training and mentoring local partners or community stakeholders, with evidence of having strengthened institutional or grassroots capacities. Cross-Cutting Competencies: A solid grasp of inclusive development, gender equality, and safeguarding principles, ensuring programme strategies are both equitable and protective of vulnerable groups. Communication and Stakeholder Engagement: Excellent written and verbal communication, in English and one other language used in Pakistan, coupled with strong interpersonal skills, to effectively liaise with diverse stakeholders—ranging from community leaders to donors—and to foster collaborative relationships.
Desirable
• Experience in mainstreaming social cohesion approaches across multiple sectors (e.g., education, governance, civil society). • Proficiency in local languages beyond Urdu (e.g., Punjabi, Pashto) is an advantage. Women and individuals from vulnerable groups are encouraged to apply. 4 of 5
APPLICATION SUBMISSION
Please submit your Curriculum Vitae (in the format attached) and a brief cover letter stating your experience and interest in undertaking this assignment by email to To: Urooj.Ejaz@britishcouncil.org at the latest by 26 May 2025 (11:53 PM PST).
Please use the subject “Manager Social Cohesion (Technical)- Your Name” in the subject line of email you may send. Please make sure the CV is submitted on the attached format at the end of this document (page 4). NAME Profile: (BRIEF OVERVIEW OF PROFILE, EXPERIENCE AND STRENGTHS) Current position Nationality Pakistani Qualifications Languages English Fluent Urdu Mother Tongue Key skills (highlight technical/management and soft skills)