This is an opportunity to work with an Ashoka Fellow
Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs that have been taken through a rigorous selection process, testing the quality of their ideas and character, to become part of the Ashoka Fellowship and Network. Ashoka Fellows take on the challenges of building innovative system change ideas to make and spread social impact in a world wrought with challenges. They refuse to let the ‘impossible’ stand in their way to creating a better world.
This is an unpaid, volunteer opportunity
About The Affiliated Organization
Ecological Balance Cameroon was founded in 2016 out of a recognition that communities living closest to biodiversity-rich ecosystems are often highly dependent on nature but are rarely given the knowledge, resources, opportunities, or ownership needed to protect it. Growing up in a community closely connected to nature, our founder witnessed firsthand both people's dependence on forests, water, wildlife, and natural resources and the increasing pressures threatening these ecosystems. We work primarily with biodiversity rich and nature dependent communities. We place particular emphasis on women and youths. We empower communities with the knowledge, skills, tools, systems and opportunities to independently protect and restore their environments while improving their livelihoods. Our work is important because the future of biodiversity cannot be secured without the people who live closest to it. Communities are often the first to experience deforestation, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, wildfires, and climate change, but they can also be the most powerful agents of restoration and protection. By investing in their capacity and leadership, we create conservation solutions that can continue beyond individual projects and funding cycles.
For more information, please visit https://ecologicalbalancecameroon.org/
Job Description
Eco Balance is entering a new stage of organizational growth. As the organization expands its programmes, projects, staff, funding sources and partnerships, informal management methods become increasingly difficult to sustain. Systems that work when an organization was small such as following up manually, relying on individual memory, maintaining separate spreadsheets and personally checking every activity have become bottlenecks as operations grow. The volunteer would therefore help Eco Balance transition from a person-dependent organization to a systems-driven organization. We are looking for a volunteer who could help with the following:
- Map and Improve Organizational Systems
Deliverable: Eco Balance Systems Map and SOP Library. Tasks:
- Map existing workflows and processes. Identify gaps, duplication and bottlenecks.
- Document key organizational systems.
- Develop simple process maps.
- Help standardize workflows across programmes.
- Support the development of SOPs and checklists.
- Define clear responsibilities and approval pathways.
- For instance, currently, our processes are very manual following sequence; Staff → Sends document → ED follows up → Correction → Resubmission. This makes efficiency and effectiveness. We look forward to a possible improved system like the one illustrated below; Staff Submission ↓ Automatic Completeness Check ↓ Supervisor Review ↓ Quality Control ↓ Approval ↓ Dashboard Updated → More follow-up → Approval
- Build Performance and Accountability Systems
Deliverable: Staff Performance & Accountability Framework. Tasks:
- Develop staff performance indicators.
- Create task tracking systems.
- Support daily, weekly and monthly work tracking.
- Integrate attendance and punctuality.
- Develop submission and deadline trackers.
- Create quality-control checklists.
- Track task completion and overdue work.
- Develop staff performance scorecards.
- Key questions the system should answer: What was planned? What was completed?Was it completed on time? Was the work good enough? What evidence exists? What needs management attention?
- Develop Management Dashboards; Executive Dashboard
A high-level overview of the organization.
Deliverable: Integrated Eco Balance Management Dashboard Prototype. Tasks:
- Programme & Project Dashboard: Tracks targets, activities, outputs and progress.
- Staff Performance Dashboard: Tracks attendance, tasks, quality and productivity.
- Finance Dashboard: Tracks budget performance, expenditure and financial controls.
- Reporting & Compliance Dashboard: Tracks required submissions, deadlines and approvals.
- M&E Dashboard: Tracks organizational impact indicators.
- Support Digital Transformation and Automation
- The volunteer would identify repetitive processes that can be digitized or automated. Tasks:
- Review current digital tools.
- Recommend affordable tools.
- Digitize forms and registers.
- Create automated reminders.
- Connect forms to databases.
- Automate dashboard updates.
- Develop simple approval workflows.
- Support document management.
- Explore appropriate AI tools.
- Strengthen Data Management and Decision-Making
Eco Balance already collects significant amounts of programme, financial, HR and impact data. The challenge is ensuring that information is organized and useful for management decisions.
Deliverable: Organizational Data Management Framework. Tasks:
- Identify key organizational datasets.
- Develop standardized data structures.
- Improve data storage and accessibility.
- Establish a single source of truth for key indicators.
- Define reporting frequencies.
- Support data quality checks.
- Develop management alerts.
Volunteer Logistics
Estimated hours required per week: >5
The estimated duration of the project is: 1-3 months
This position is Virtual (Remote)
Language Requirements
English
Desired Skills And Experience
Our ideal volunteer would be someone who can understand how our organization works, identify inefficiencies, and turn them into simple digital systems, dashboards and automated workflows.
Essential Skills
- Systems thinking
- Process mapping
- Dashboard development
- Data management
- Automation
- Performance management
- Problem solving
- Documentation
- Training & communication
Education And Expertise
- Postgraduate training or professional certification in digital transformation, data analytics, business process management, organizational systems, project management, performance management, or a related area.
- Candidates with relevant practical experience and demonstrated skills in organizational systems, dashboard development, data management, workflow automation or digital transformation may be considered in lieu of a directly related academic qualification.