Associate, Environmental, Social Responsibility and Governance Team

The Global Innovation Fund (GIF) is a non-profit innovation fund created by government agencies to support projects that benefit the World’s poor. We invest in the piloting, rigorous testing and scaling of innovations targeted at improving the lives of people in developing countries earning less than $5 a day.

GIF offers grants, loans, equity and hybrid investments ranging from $200,000 to $15 million to support a range of innovations with strong potential for social impact at a large scale. We define ‘innovation’ broadly to include new business models, policy practices, technologies, behavioural insights, or ways of delivering products and services. We support innovators at different phases of development, ranging from early start-up and pilot-testing to rigorous experiments and larger scale implementation. The innovations GIF supports can be located in any developing country and may focus on any sector relevant to international development (see our current investments at www.globalinnovation.fund/investments). We have offices in London and Washington DC.

Environmental, Social Responsibility and Governance (ESG) considerations are a crucial part of our due diligence in determining which projects to invest in, as well as a positive framework to consider in building sustainable enterprises after investment. Our ESG team plays an important role in ensuring GIF invests responsibly, with close interactions with our Investment Team. The ESG team is situated within our Legal and ESG Team, headed by GIF’s General Counsel.

We are seeking an Associate for our ESG Team, based in either London or Washington DC.

The Associate will report to the ESG Director.

Responsibilities:

• Work with the ESG Director to ensure GIF’s ESG policies and procedures for identifying, managing and monitoring ESG risks in investee companies are implemented;

• Conduct Business Integrity Screening;

• Conduct ESG review of proposed investments, providing helpful assessments of ESG risks and proposed remedial steps;

• Support the ESG Director by conducting research and composing briefing notes and diligence questions;

• Preparing diligence checklists to send out;

• Review diligence responses and ensure organisations have adequate policies and processes for their stage of development and sector in which they operate;

• Work with deal teams and potential investees to create and implement ESG action plans for investments including administrative support for ensuring they are adhered to and diarizing key dates;

• Support in conducting investigations, creating an audit trail and drafting internal file notes;

• Maintaining the ESG deal pipeline and assisting the team by tracking deals by stage of approval and completion;

• Help with portfolio management including reviewing Board packs, reports and deliverables;

• Assist with data collection and analysis; and,

• Support with other discrete tasks as required.

Person Requirements

The successful candidate will have a passion for responsible investing and ESG issues and be an effective advocate for them within the company.

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate the following:

Background:

• University degree in relevant discipline,

• Post graduate qualification optional;

• Relevant experience in ESG, responsible investing or sustainability, preferably in emerging markets particularly Western and Southern Africa and South and Southeast Asia;

• Knowledge of ESG issues particularly in the context of emerging markets. Familiarity with IFC Performance Standards preferred;

• Language skills preferred;

• Willingness to travel internationally; and

• Must have current authorisation to work in the United Kingdom or in the United States.

Personal:

• Strong communication skills both oral and written with the ability to engage effectively with stakeholders at all levels both internal and external;

• A passion for international development and improving the lives of the world’s poor;

• Demonstrated ability to independently manage and prioritise a high and diverse workload with deliverables toward many stakeholders.

• A love of learning;

• Good analytical skills coupled with good judgment;

• Ability to work well in a team and work independently as required; and,

• High attention to detail.