Accelerator and Learning Platform Manager – citiesRISE

About citiesRISE 

citiesRISE was founded in 2017 in response to the need to increase access to mental health support and drive fundamental paradigm shifts in how mental health is conceptualized and addressed. citiesRISE is a collaborative platform rooted in diverse local city research and innovation hubs in Bogotá, Chennai, Nairobi, Sacramento, and Seattle, with a global reach through an Accelerator and Learning Platform and movement of Mental Health Friendly Cities (MHFC). The approach enables highly contextualized local work linked via a global network and results framework. 

citiesRISE’s vision is to improve mental health and well-being for millions of young people in their different developmental stages and ecological settings. Its mission is to transform mental health globally through local social innovation, coalition building, and youth-driven action. Alongside improving the lives of millions of young people, citiesRISE aims to drive a shift: from clinical care alone to integration with promotion and prevention of wellbeing; from mental health siloed in the health sector to intersectional and mainstreamed across sectors; from expert-driven interventions to embracing non-traditional actors; from youth as beneficiaries to youth at the center of transformation; and, from communities as passive entities (recipients) to communities being the places of transformation and driving change. The citiesRISE platform accelerates and influences innovations in global mental health and challenges cities to become more mental health friendly. 

Learn more at cities-rise.org 

Position Summary 

We are looking for someone to join our dynamic and growing global team to coordinate and deliver the program of activities on the citiesRISE Accelerator and Learning Platform – a multi-funder platform supporting communities of innovators, cities, and young people themselves toward paradigm shifts in youth mental health. On this platform, innovators collaborate with one another as well as expert practitioners, academics, and researchers to enhance the impact of their innovations, contribute to a growing body of knowledge in mental health, and build capabilities related to measurement, evaluation and learning, scale, and best practices in meaningful youth engagement. The platform supports both innovators and cities to make progress toward improved mental health outcomes and paradigm shifts in mental health, and also links innovators (supply of innovations) and cities (demand for innovations) together. This role combines the opportunity to provide hands-on support for some of the most promising innovator organizations and other constituents around the world, with the chance to distill and share insights from the wider sector to influence the field. 

The ideal candidate will have strong strategic thinking and synthesis skills, an ability to manage complex projects to completion that involve multiple stakeholders, experience scaling innovations in global health or related areas across multiple countries, and be passionate about citiesRISE’s mission to transform the state of mental health policy and practice in cities and beyond. 

Responsibilities 

Program Design and Delivery (50%) 

• Contribute to and facilitate the implementation of the long-term strategy for building out citiesRISE’s Accelerator and Learning Platform for different constituents (primarily social innovators, cities, and youth) towards paradigm shifts in youth mental health
• Conduct and synthesize results from needs assessments for different constituents to inform program design
• Partner with citiesRISE’s research and innovation hubs to set up Accelerator support to work with a targeted set of social innovations in priority cities to support the advancement of the Mental Health Friendly Cities (MHFC) framework
• Facilitate the design of platform offerings and infrastructure to support the creation of the Accelerator support to be distinct from the Learning Platform support, and in alignment with the needs of the constituents as well as citiesRISE’s broader strategy and goals
• Coordinate logistics and undertake project planning and resourcing for various aspects of platform operations, including overseeing delivery by a team of citiesRISE staff and project teams, external faculty, and other partners in delivery
• For select areas (e.g., meaningful youth engagement, cross-boundary/transdisciplinary partnerships, path-to-market/scale, monitoring, evaluation, and learning) directly lead on the development and delivery of offerings (as opposed to just coordinating)
• Coordinate platform evaluation efforts and the use of evaluation data to improve programming
• Ensure timely and accurate financial monitoring and reporting

Partnerships and Innovative Financing (25%) 

• Manage relationships with a growing roster of innovators, faculty, and other partners involved in delivering services via the platform
• Manage relationships and ensure timely and high-quality delivery with multiple funders supporting the platform
• Support the development and implementation of a longer-term business model to ensure long-term growth and sustainability of the platform
• Support the mobilization of new types of financing mechanisms for the Accelerator and support the development of the MHFC Fund
• Support the cultivation of strategic relationships with current and new anchor partners and funders to grow the platform

Field Building (25%) 

• Coordinate marketing activities to raise awareness in the field about the work of the platform and how the platform is helping drive paradigm shifts in youth mental health
• Identify and work to strengthen additional ways for the platform to support citiesRISE’s other areas of work, e.g., on-the-ground R&D work in city research and innovation hubs, youth-led campaigns in support of the global movement of Mental Health Friendly Cities
• Develop a learning agenda for the work of the platform and coordinate the production of a range of learning products such as reports, briefs, and workshops

Candidate requirements 

• Experience scaling innovations in global health or related areas across multiple countries
•  Experience and knowledge in one or more of the following areas: global mental health; youth programming; youth leadership development; social innovation; innovative financing
• Experience working to develop accelerator and/or learning platform programs for social innovators and/or other stakeholders, or analogous experience 
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders to develop shared goals and ability to steward collaborative work that requires the ability to cut across sectors and cultures 
• Program and project management experience, managing multiple work streams that contribute to long-term objectives 
• Experience supporting senior leaders to address challenges, particularly through designing and delivering convenings or workshop offerings 
• Working in a team, having distinct roles and responsibilities, and contributing to a broader objective 
• Managing multiple deadlines and activities simultaneously 
• Working within a global, virtual team environment across time zones 
• Strong synthesis skills and exceptional communication – written and verbal 
• Financial monitoring and reporting experience (preferred but not required)
• Experience commissioning other organizations and managing contracts with suppliers (preferred but not required) 
• Facilitation skills, e.g., workshops, convenings (preferred but not required) 
• Spanish or French fluency would be a plus 

To Apply 

Please send a cover letter and CV to hello@cities-rise.org. 

Equal Opportunity Employer 

citiesRISE is an equal opportunity employer and champions diversity on its team and in its movement. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply.