There is a crack in everything: that’s how the light gets in.
- Leonard Cohen

Notice the S.M.S. message in his hand—the tools of social networking, especially Facebook and Twitter, were useful for massing people and outwitting the police during the revolution.

Check out Wendell Steavenson’s New Yorker article on revolutionary graffiti in Cairo. There’s a really great slide show of the street art that has emerged all over Cairo. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Amid the cacophony of protest and debate since the revolution—which I wrote about for the magazine this week—there has been one method of expression that has regularly stopped me in the middle of Cairo traffic so that I can get out my iPhone camera: graffiti. (See the slide show above.) It’s suddenly all over Cairo, on schools, on telephone exchange boxes, on empty walls and corrugated fencing around building sites. Daubs of slogans, finely rendered panoramas of Tahrir Square, and, increasingly, the kind of biting satire and subversion that Banksy made famous.

Student Intern: Institute for Young Women Development
Deadline: 7 August 2011

The Institute for Young Women Development is a young-women development oriented organization working in Mashonaland Central with its head office in Bindura. The organization is inviting applications from suitably qualified individuals to assume internship within the organization. The successful individual will be based at the head office in Bindura.

Expectations:

The incumbent will be expected to contribute towards physical implementation of projects aimed at empowering young women around Mashonaland Central and will also be expected to carry out other assignments as may be delegated by the Director or management.

Qualifications and skills:

* Minimum of a diploma in the social sciences/related fields or students seeking attachment for social work/related fields
* Knowledge on facilitating sustainable community centered development projects with rural communities.
* Good communication and report writing skills.
* Strong organizing, planning and management skills.
* Computer proficiency
* Excellent oral and written communication skills

If you meet the above criteria, please forward your current CV and relevant certificates via e-mail to: youngwomeninstitute [at] gmail [dot] com or alternatively submit hard copies to Institute for Young Women Development, 9 Matuka Building, Chenjerai Hunzvi Street, Bindura.

Work in and for Zimbabwe. Help grow our nation. Check out the vacancies below. If you’d like to receive this sort of information, as well as civic and human rights updates, by email each week drop us a note saying “subscribe” to info [at] kubatana [dot] net

Please note that the job vacancies we carry are related to the NGO and civil society sectors only.

Twenty two (22) jobs: local NGO
Deadline: 5 August 2011

An NGO is looking for the following personnel:

6 posts: Assistant Field Officers
3-year project
District based (Chimanimani, Guruve, Lupane, Wedza, Zvimba)

10 posts: Assistant Field Officers
1-year project
District based (Chimanimani, Hwange, Lupane)

Qualifications: Degree or Diploma in Agriculture, Horticulture or Environmental Management

Duties:

Train communities, partners and staff on sustainable development and related themes. Provide technical advice to stakeholders and communities on beekeeping, nutrition gardening, conservation farming, cash transfers, ISALs, borehole rehabilitation and market linkages. Coordinate, promote and assist with implementation of community projects and utilization of resources. Liaise with stakeholders, communities and relevant authorities on programme activities. Report writing on project activities. Monitor and evaluate project implementation.

Relevant work experience:

-2 years work experience as a Field Assistant.
-Training experience with communities.
-Ability to ride a motorcycle mandatory.

3 posts: Field Officers
1-year project
District based (Harare, Lupane, Mutare)

3 posts: Field Officers
3-year project
District based (Lupane, Mutare, Victoria Falls)

Qualifications: Degree or Diploma in Agriculture, Horticulture or Environmental Management.

Duties:

Provide technical advice /guidance to stakeholders and communities in bee keeping, nutrition gardening, conservation farming, cash transfers, ISALs and borehole rehabilitation. Assist in project field activities. Organize and prepare community trainings and visits. Prepare training programmes, materials, facilitate trainings, meetings, workshops and information sharing forums. Provide technical guidance and support to target groups. Supervise Assistant Field Officers. Prepare monthly, quarterly and annual reports. Monitor project implementation. Liaise with stakeholders, communities and relevant authorities on programme activities.

Relevant work experience:

-2 years work experience as a Field Officer.
-Training experience with communities.
-Clean Class 4 driver’s licence mandatory.

If you qualify and are interested, please email Application letter, Motivation letter and CV, indicating district of interest, to jobs071.11 [at] gmail [dot] com

Information Technology Assistant: CARE
Deadline: 5 August 2011

Area of operation: Masvingo

Job summary:

Reporting to the IT Admin Manager, the IT Assistant will be responsible for the administration of IT systems and co-ordination of all IT related issues at the CARE Masvingo sub-office. S/he will be responsible for general systems analysis, integration and optimisation, configuration and maintenance of network equipment, monitoring of network usage and traffic patterns. Administration of Windows based server systems, Active Directory, Exchange and SQL server. In addition, the IT Assistant will ensure maintenance of network security, management of anti-malware systems, assessments of security risks, malware infection prevention and removal, maintenance of network OS update services. The IT Assistant will also train users on applications use (OSes, Office suite, Email and internet technologies), computer hardware handling and IT policies.

Minimum qualifications and experience:

-Diploma in computer science or equivalent
-Technical, network or system certification highly desirable
-3 years’ post qualification experience working with similar technologies preferably in NGO environment
-Must be bale to work under pressure with minimum supervision

Interested and well qualified candidates should submit applications and updated Curriculum Vitae to vacancies [at] carezimbabwe [dot] org or the HR and Legal Co-ordinator, 8 Ross Avenue, Belgravia, Harare.

Two (2) positions: Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project, Department Of Community Medicine, University of Zimbabwe
Deadline: 5 August 2011

Positions to start as soon as possible

The Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project, a Department of Community Medicine, University of Zimbabwe project has funding to conduct baseline research prior to expanding its National Sex Worker Programme. The Programme is aimed at reducing HIV acquisition among sex workers thereby reducing HIV transmission to their clients. Sex workers are one of the key populations currently targeted through the National Behaviour Change Strategy as part of the recommendations of the Zimbabwe National HIV Strategic Plan. The GIZ (formerly GTZ) has funded the programme to run a baseline survey whose overall goal is to describe the characteristics of sex work populations in Mutare, Hwange and Victoria Falls in order to determine the risk factors for HIV infection among the women and, in particular to explore how structural and contextual factors influence this risk.

We are therefore looking for the following positions to start working with the team immediately. The positions will be for two months based in Hwange and Victoria Falls. Candidates should be Ndebele speakers.

1. Outreach Worker

The post holder will be responsible for ensuring good communication with programme communities, and assisting with recruitment of sex workers to the research programme.  This will involve working closely with the communities, district and provincial officials to introduce the programme and keeping them well informed about the progress of the research.

Reporting to the Programme Coordinator, the Outreach Worker’s duties will include:

-Working with the sex worker peer educators to identify and recruit sex workers for inclusion in the baseline research according to GCP and Ethics guidelines.
-Working with sex worker peer educators to identify all the various communities working in a given geographic location.
-Assist in mobilization of sex workers to come for the survey.
-Dissemination of programme related information.
-Participate and represent the programme in related Provincial and Districts HIV forums

Qualifications and experience:

-A professional Diploma in a relevant field, preferably teaching, social sciences or nursing.
-Counselling diploma and experience in HIV/AIDS counselling and added advantage.
-Demonstrable experience and interest in community outreach work, ability to do community mobilization, create rapport with personnel from collaborating or associate institutions and work independently but within a team framework.
-Current and valid certificate in GCP and Ethics an advantage.
-Training experience an advantage.
-Experience working with vulnerable populations (sex workers) an added advantage.
-Fluency in English and Ndebele.

2. Assistant Social Scientist

Duties:

The post holder will be responsible for all qualitative data collection activities within the survey, transcription and translation of data in a timely fashion and data analysis and report writing of the final results. The assistant social scientist will be involved in writing up the results for peer-reviewed publication. The assistant social scientist will work closely with the lead social scientist to ensure that interview quality is maintained.

Reporting to the Programme Coordinator the following will be Assistant Social Scientist core duties:

-Conduct in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with sex workers according to GCP guidelines.
-Transcribing and translations of all data collected from focus group discussions and in-depth interviews.
-Data entry, coding and analysis using NVivo 8 (QSR International Ltd, Melbourne, Australia) and Stata 10 (Stata Corporation, Texas, USA).
-Report writing on the results

Applicants wishing to be considered for these positions should submit full curriculum vitae with a cover letter stating clearly which position you’d like to be considered for, copies of certificates and the names/contact information for three referees to:

The Programme Coordinator (Sex Worker Programme)
Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project (ZAPP)
21 Rowland Square
Milton Park
Harare

Email: admin.rds [at] gmail [dot] com

Only short listed applicants will be contacted.

Programme Officer – People & Culture
Deadline: 6 August 2011

Purpose of position:

Responsible for writing funding proposals and provision of technical oversight in planning, implementation, evaluation and reporting of respective programme operations.

Major accountabilities/responsibilities:

1.Identifying and soliciting for funding opportunities with the donor community (such as UN agencies, USAID, DFID, EC) and other support offices
2.Designing programme proposals, implementation frameworks that are in line with donor and other support offices requirements
3.Establishing and maintaining networking partnerships with like minded organisations
4.Conducting field visits, for the purpose of assessing if and ensuring that programmes are managed in accordance wit internal procedures and principles as well a sin a manner that will promote good practice and maximise programme impact
5.Ensuring good relationships with donor community and international support offices through ensuring that the organisation meets all contractual obligations and achieves high quality planning and implementation levels
6.Liaise with the M&E team and knowledge centre in conducting monitoring and evaluation, research and documentation
7.Developing monthly, quarterly progress and annual programme reports

Knowledge and skills:

-In depth knowledge and skill in project design and proposal writing
-At least three years experience working in an NGO sector
-Good understanding of the workings of major donors, such as USAID, UN, CIDA, AusAid, DFID, ECHO, WFP, etc
-Good understanding of Humanitarian Standards such as Sphere relief standards, Humanitarian Accountability Standards, Red Cross and NGO Code of Conduct
-Ability to pursue thoroughness and appropriate attention to detail under pressure

NB: Please indicate the position being applied for

All applications should be addressed to:

The Manager, People & Culture, No. 7 Birkenhead Road, Belmont, Bulawayo
Email to relief_recruitment [at] wvi [dot] org

Four (4) Programme Research Assistants: AFRODAD
Deadline: 8 August 2011

A Regional Research and Advocacy organisation is looking for career -minded Research Assistants who are self-motivated and results oriented.

The successful candidate will, among other duties, be responsible for the following:

-Assist the Programme Officer to initiate, commission, and analyse desk and field researches on debt and development related issues. This includes drafting research concepts, proposals for funding and drawing terms of references.
-Review existing material on the subject, such as books, newspapers and journal articles, Internet resources, published data and creating summarized reports.
-Analyse the data gathered and compile summarized reports, graphs and tables.
-Assist the Programme Officer to analyse, synthesise and disseminate research findings and other information from a range of sources on debt and development related issues.
-Assist the Programme Officer to plan and organize validation meetings and policy dialogue events with stakeholders such as workshops, conferences, meetings and seminars on related debt and development issues.
-Assist the Programme Officer to maintain up-to-date information and data systems on research themes.
-Perform any other duties assigned by superiors.

Skills and requirements:

-Have completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences with strong research abilities.
-In depth knowledge of economic, debt, aid, trade issues and how they affect development in Africa.
-Superior computer and data analysis skills.
-Analytical and reasoning skills are essential.
-Able to carry out research with competence in both qualitative and quantitative methods

Job Location:

AFRODAD Offices
31 Atkinson Drive, Hillside
Harare, Zimbabwe

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Email your applications to: afrodad [at] afrodad [dot] co [dot] zw

Office Clerk/ Driver: Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project
Deadline: 9 August 2011

Reporting to Administrative Assistant

Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention Project, a Department of Community Medicine, University of Zimbabwe project is looking for a suitably qualified and motivated individual to fill a position that has arisen in our Administration Department.

Duties and responsibilities:

-Compiling, copying, sorting and filing records of office activities, business transactions and human resources.
-Delivering messages and running errands.
-Banking duties.
-Ensuring vehicles are in good working condition.
-Controlling stock of stationery and other office consumables using the approved system.
-Providing clerical support for the Administrative Assistant.

Qualifications and experience:

-Must have Certificate in Accounting/Business Studies/ Human Resources.
-At least 2 years working experience.
-Clean class 4 driver’s licence.

Skills:

-Good interpersonal and communication skills.
-Computer literacy in Microsoft word and excel.

Deadline and Application Procedures:

Applications, quoting the position being applied for, including CV with three referees should be received at the address below:

The Administrative Assistant, ZAPP-UZ 92 Prince Edward Street, Milton Park, Harare or email: hr [at] zappuz [dot] co [dot] zw

Only short listed candidates will be notified.

Finance Assistant (HACT): UNICEF
Deadline: 14 August 2011

Vacancy Notice No. Zim/2011:19
GS6 Level based in Harare, Zimbabwe (Fixed Term Post)

UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s rights organization, has an opening for passionate and committed professionals who want to make a lasting difference for children in Zimbabwe. We are seeking people with a commitment for women and children, high drive for results, demonstrable embracing of diversity, integrity, demonstrable teamwork, good self-awareness and self-regulation.

Purpose of the Job:

Under the supervision of Finance Officer (HACT), the successful candidate will maintain financial records and monitoring systems to record and reconcile expenditures, balances, payments, statements and other data for day-to-day transactions and reports, vouchers, to ensure accuracy of computation and completeness of documents. Ensure that all payment requests for Cash Transfers to Implementing Partners are properly and correctly prepared including training to UNICEF staff and Implementing Partners.

The candidate will also ensure payment request, cash transfer requests and all supporting documents prepared by Programme Section and IPs are in accordance to the Programme Operations Guidelines. He or she will prepare necessary database to conduct the assessment of implementing partner’s financial management capacity. The role also involves proposing appropriate procedure for the provision of cash transfer to address the findings and risks management.

Qualifications and Competencies:

-Completion of secondary education. Additional commercial training in bookkeeping, business or accounting at diploma or degree level is desirable.
-Six years of general accounting clerical experience.
-Initiative, passion and commitment to UNICEF’s mission and professional values.
-Ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment

If you have experience of working in a similar capacity, meet the above profile and want to make an active and lasting contribution to build a better world for children, send your application quoting vacancy notice number to the following address.

HR Specialist
(Vacancy Notice No. 19: Zim-2011)
UNICEF, 6 Fairbridge Avenue,
P O Box 1250
Belgravia, Harare

Or email: hararevacancies [at] gmail [dot] com

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Finance Assistant: United Nations Children’s Fund
Deadline: 14 August 2011

Vacancy Notice No. Zim/2011:18
GS5 Level based in Harare, Zimbabwe (Fixed Term Post)

UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s rights organization, has an opening for passionate and committed professionals who want to make a lasting difference for children in Zimbabwe. We are seeking people with a commitment for women and children, high drive for results, demonstrable embracing of diversity, integrity, demonstrable teamwork, good self-awareness and self-regulation.

Purpose of the Job:

Under the supervision of Finance Officer, the successful candidate will perform moderately specialized tasks in the accounting and finance functions. The candidate will maintain financial records for projects or other office. The Finance Assistant will be responsible for codes and records receipts and payments whilst assuring accuracy of computation and completeness of documents, and maintains continuing status of allotments against obligations.

The Finance Assistant will prepare recurring reports on assigned accounts, noting problems resulting from excess cost or less-than-expected receipts.  This role also involves calculating and compiling cost estimates and projected budget requirements and assists in preparation of budget statements. They will also brief and assist newly arrived international staff, experts and consultants on basic financial procedures and requirements with respect to payments, entitlements, banking and currency provisions and other requirements relating to accounts and finance.

Qualifications and Competencies:

-Completion of secondary education. Additional commercial training in bookkeeping, business or accounting at diploma or degree level is desirable.
-Five years of general accounting clerical experience.
-Initiative, passion and commitment to UNICEF’s mission and professional values.
-Ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment

If you have experience of working in a similar capacity, meet the above profile and want to make an active and lasting contribution to build a better world for children, send your application quoting vacancy notice number to the following address.

HR Specialist
(Vacancy Notice No. 18: Zim-2011)
UNICEF, 6 Fairbridge Avenue,
P O Box 1250
Belgravia, Harare

Or email: hararevacancies [at] gmail [dot] com

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Operations Specialist (Quality Assurance): UNICEF
Deadline: 14 August 2011

Vacancy Notice No. Zim/2011:20
NOC Level based in Harare, Zimbabwe (Fixed Term Post)

UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s rights organization, has an opening for passionate and committed professionals who want to make a lasting difference for children in Zimbabwe. We are seeking people with a commitment for women and children, high drive for results, demonstrable embracing of diversity, integrity, demonstrable teamwork, good self-awareness and self-regulation.

Purpose of the Job:

The post holders will work closely with the Operations Chief to update office’s standard operating procedures, ensure staff understands them, and subsequently to test a sample of transactions to verify that the procedures are being properly implemented. They will support various office committees in reviewing relevant documentation against financial guidelines and work processes as well as provide assurance follow up in the implementation of recommendations.

This Quality Assurance role will have substantive scope, providing training and orientation to newly recruited and exiting staff on UNICEF’s policies and procedures, review of contracts etc, prior to the commitment of UNICEF’s funds. They will also manage various internal databases relating to contracts and agreements. They will assist in the follow-up on the implementation of the audit recommendations.

Qualifications and Competencies:

-Advanced University degree in accounting, business administration, economics or financial management and membership – or enrolled for membership – of recognized professional accountancy body
-At least five years of relevant professional work experience in office management, finance, accounting, ICT, human resources, supply and administration and/or other related fields.
-Initiative, passion and commitment to UNICEF’s mission and professional values.
-Ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment

If you have experience of working in a similar capacity, meet the above profile and want to make an active and lasting contribution to build a better world for children, send your application quoting vacancy notice number to the following address.

HR Specialist
(Vacancy Notice No. 20: Zim-2011)
UNICEF, 6 Fairbridge Avenue,
P O Box 1250
Belgravia, Harare

Or email: hararevacancies [at] gmail [dot] com

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Reports Officer: UNICEF
Deadline: 14 August 2011

Vacancy Notice No. Zim/2011:21
NOB Level based in Harare, Zimbabwe (Fixed Term Post)

UNICEF, the world’s leading children’s rights organization, has an opening for passionate and committed professionals who want to make a lasting difference for children in Zimbabwe. We are seeking people with a commitment for women and children, high drive for results, demonstrable embracing of diversity, integrity, demonstrable teamwork, good self-awareness and self-regulation.

Purpose of the Job:

The successful candidate will be under the supervision of the Reports Officer (L2), and will assist in the monitoring and writing of all Donor Reports for Programme funds. He or she will assist to ensure that all donor reports are submitted in a timely and accurate way as per donor and UNICEF reporting requirements. This includes gathering of information, writing, editing and production of interim and final reports. The person will also assist in updating and maintaining information on all the donor and programme reporting requirements. The role also ensures Section Heads and field offices are updated on these requirements and follow up as required.

In collaboration with the Reports Officer, the person will develop fundraising proposals for Harare Programme in line with the overall fundraising strategy. The role also ensures contribution to the compilation and editing of humanitarian and programmatic updates. This also involves compiling and editing monthly programmatic updates based on inputs from sections.

Qualifications and Competencies:

-An advanced university degree in social sciences or related technical field.
-Two years of progressively responsible professional work experience, preferably with a humanitarian organization.
-Initiative, passion and commitment to UNICEF’s mission and professional values.
-Ability to work effectively in a multicultural environment

If you have experience of working in a similar capacity, meet the above profile and want to make an active and lasting contribution to build a better world for children, send your application quoting vacancy notice number to the following address.

HR Specialist
(Vacancy Notice No. 21: Zim-2011)
UNICEF, 6 Fairbridge Avenue,
P O Box 1250
Belgravia, Harare

Or email: hararevacancies [at] gmail [dot] com

Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

Mentor Nurse Midwife: Clinton health Access Initiative
Find out more

Mentor Doctor: Clinton health Access Initiative
Find out more

Zimbabwe Country Director: International Medical Corps

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, non-political, non-sectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.

Program Background:

Since the start of its operations in 2009 in Zimbabwe, International Medical Corps has established a community-based emergency health and water and sanitation (WASH) program that benefits more than 220,000 people living in Mashonaland Central Province.

Job Summary:

The primary function of the Country Director is to source funding and ensure appropriate coordination of in-country activities and effective program implementation. S/he will spend a significant portion of time on business development and expansion. S/he will also act as the major liaison with donor organizations, other international and national coordination mechanisms, and government bodies.

Find out more

I recently attended Joburg Radio Days, a conference which brings together radio practitioners from across the continent to share ideas and their work with each other. One of the issues under discussion was the prospect of broadcasting reform in Zimbabwe, while another session was devoted to community radio.

The Zimbabwean speakers described the legislative framework, which based on the guarantee to freedom of expression as enunciated in clause 20 and amendment 19 of the current constitution should allow for a multiplicity of voices on the airwaves. Zenzele Ndebele from Radio Dialogue was passionate in making his case for the need for community radio. State media, he said, did not allow space for Zimbabwe’s cultural diversity; neither did it represent the interests of small communities. Rather ZBC gave a platform to political interests and because of its limited capacity to broadcast to all Zimbabweans left much of the population without any access to information.

Having attended several conferences and workshops with this theme, I am a little weary of talking about it. The inclusive government of which ZANU PF has the lion’s share of power has reneged on amendment 19 of the constitution and has failed to implement broadcasting reform. This is undeniable.  There is still much work to be done in creating an environment that is conducive to the creation of a free and independent media. I feel that we should spend more time figuring out either alternative ways to get information to those without access, or finding middle ground with ZANU PF policy makers in order to make media freedom a reality.

Not that the policymakers themselves are much help. Confronted with questions about why media freedom was so slow in coming to Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Media Commissions representative to the Forum, Ambassador Chris Mutsvangwa could not give a definitive answer. Instead he gave us his war credentials and insisted he was a highly educated Constitutional lawyer.

His response is typical of the party line; where supposedly educated policy makers sidestep the issue at hand and foaming at the mouth reiterate that they freed us from colonialism and we are an ungrateful lot for daring to question our elders. We as a nation are unable to move forward because they as leaders are caught in a time trap of justifying an untenable grip on power. It’s all very well to have liberated the country from Western imperialists, but that revolution, the creation of a successful and proud Zimbabwean nation, is not over yet.

Sisonke Msimang, is the Excutive Director of OSISA. Here she writes about the challenges of leading a large organisation.

True leadership has no gender

In 2008 I was appointed as the director of a fairly large funding and advocacy organisation. With a staff of 60 and a budget of about R180-million, I was more than a little intimidated. I was younger than my colleagues in senior management and had just had a baby. And, of course, I was a woman working in the notoriously male-dominated sector of human rights and governance.

I was a nervous wreck. How on Earth would I do this?

My instinct was to focus on what I was good at. I have been involved in work on gender and women’s rights since the beginning of my career. I thought I would make my mark by turning our workplace into a model for gender equity.

I imagined I could try out some ideas regarding flexitime and introduce more child-friendly policies. I had grand ideas about challenging people to appreciate that long hours in the office did not necessarily translate into higher productivity. And I wanted to ensure that female employees felt free from sexual harassment and that male employees understood the boundaries and were encouraged to contribute towards an organisation striving for gender equity.

I would make myself available to female staff members by listening to their problems and mentoring and coaching them through difficulties.

All this would be in addition to the daily work of driving strategic direction, keeping an eye on finances, managing a diverse and engaged board of trustees, monitoring the political temperature in our 10 countries of operation and responding to requests for analysis and information from colleagues in Budapest, London, Brussels and New York.

It became evident quite early on that (a) the gender utopia I thought I might achieve simply was not the most pressing organisational need of the moment; (b) given who I was (young, black, female) the pressure to be excellent was intense; and (c) once you are the boss, not many people are interested in sharing their problems. When they are, it’s usually with a view to wriggling out of some obligation. So I nixed the mentor idea.

I realised that if I focused all my time and energy on being a strong “woman” leader, I would not be making very strategic use of my time. I would also be sending a message that I was hired because I was a woman, not because I was a woman who could do the job.

So, much as I understood that relegating gender to the category of “soft” issues was problematic, there was no getting around the fact that others would read any preoccupation with gender as precisely that: an inability to deal with the core issues of the job.

The organisation did not need a gender warrior. It needed a higher degree of internal accountability. This required less of the kinder, gentler woman’s-touch approach and more of the hard-nosed tactics often associated with men. It required confronting people, paying close attention to detail on institutional policy, looking closely at the audit and it required me to say no – very often to men older and more educated than I am. It also demanded of me an ability to let people go if they were undermining the institution.

By the end of my first 18 months, I had had no cosy chats and certainly didn’t feel as though I was bringing any kind of feminine sensibility to the workplace. It was a tense time. I was not turning out to be the feminist leader I had hoped I would be.

Yet there were also clearly a number of ways in which I was acting out classic female leadership traits. I spent a lot of time in the office. The organisation needed a manager focused on in-house matters. In some ways I was playing into the classic gender binary: women spend time within the boundaries of the compound, as it were, whereas men go out there and conquer the world.

In time I learned to use every minute during regular working hours wisely. I cut lunches short, seldom lingered to chat in corridors and turned the BlackBerry on at about 8pm so that I could respond to my colleagues in New York, who began to send messages just as I was getting home at 5pm.

There is no question that a man in my position who had chosen to spend less time in the office might have been viewed as an underperformer. I was given more leeway and there was less pressure on me from my colleagues because they knew I had a small child. It is complicated to be a woman with children who chooses career and family. The costs of trying to juggle are high.

Today the institution I help to manage has grown. It has a staff of 87 and its budget is about R250-million. It operates on a range of human rights and governance issues, from monitoring the conduct of mining companies in poor communities and sensitive ecosystems to supporting litigation related to human rights abuses in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Swaziland and Malawi.

The organisation is no longer tension-filled. I have become a more relaxed leader.

Those early hard-nosed decisions have paid off. People understand that accountability is key and so there is far more peer monitoring. People have largely bought into the broad vision we have of a region in which change starts with us.

I have two children now. I still have not had time to sit down and have any of those mentorship conversations I thought I would. But I feel younger colleagues, both men and women, have learned a few things from me by watching.

We have no more women in leadership positions today than we did when I started the job. But I am proud to say that we have incredibly progressive maternity and paternity leave policies.

Women who have given birth are entitled to six months paid leave and men whose primary partner has had a child are entitled to three months paid leave, taken within the first year of the child’s life. Staff members who choose to adopt are similarly entitled. We have also paid careful attention to creating an environment that is free of sexual harassment.

I have learned an incredible amount in the past three years. In spite of all my misgivings and concern about whether or not I would be respected simply because of my age and my gender, I have been provided with the type of support many managers can only dream of. It wasn’t automatic and it should not have been. But I felt that as I learned, I began to earn respect.

You do not become a leader by virtue of the position you occupy. Every day in my job, I am reminded that you become a leader because those you work with for a common cause give you permission to lead.

In an organisation that is brimming with talent and intellect, I have been provided with the permission to lead. I have been allowed to make mistakes and to pick myself up and try again.

My dreams of turning the organisation into a gender experiment have given way to a more realistic but no less lofty set of goals: to ensure that we build a Southern African institution in which the values of hard work, integrity and authenticity are embodied by a team of women and men committed to a more transparent and accountable region.

That a woman happens to lead the team is both essential and completely incidental. I have learned to live with the contradictions that come with the territory.

Sisonke Msimang is the executive director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. This is an edited version of her essay that appears in the Mail & Guardian’s Book of South African Women