Researcher & Organizational Development Consultant @ COCo

About COCo:

The Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) is a provincial non-profit that works to nurture an inclusive, social-justice oriented Quebec community sector where grassroots organizations can thrive. We believe that is an important part of creating a more just and equitable society overall. To this end, COCo provides training, accompaniment, and technological support to small, ground-up, and social-justice focused organizations. We also use our research to steward dialogue and change on issues of inclusion and diversity in the Quebec non-profit sector.

The project:

This “lab” style research project aims to revisit and redefine the concept of learning organizations, originally developed by Peter Senge and deployed in diverse global contexts since, for Montreal community organizations in 2018. We want to ask questions like: how does the concept of learning organizations apply to small scale organizations? What innovative ideas from the private sector could nourish our community sector practices? How could we bring together the concept of a learning organizations, and issues and practices of inclusion and diversity, to make our ideas about learning organizations stronger and more relevant? And lastly, what kind of support would be most useful for community organizations to increase their capacity for learning and change?

This lab will be led by the Centre for Community Organizations (COCo) in partnership with Centraide du Grand Montreal.

The offer :

This is a 22/hour a week position that would begin in early February and last for 11 months. The hourly rate is $29.29/hour, and the position comes with the advantages of working in a flexible, creative and non-traditional workplace. The position has the possibility of renewal.  

COCo’s offices and bathrooms are wheelchair accessible.

Tasks and Responsibilities :

• Lead a collaborative research project including a literature review and interviews with people in the community, private and academic sectors. The project would potentially also include focus groups and surveys with the community sector.
• Produce a report on the findings of the research project
• Evaluate and present the different kinds of support that could be offered to community organizations to improve their abilities to learn and change
• Participate in COCo’s collective office management and administration through its horizontal and consensus-based decision making structures;
• Support fulfilling COCo’s commitment to amplifying marginalised voices in the community sector
• This position would potentially also include offering direct support to community organizations as a facilitator/consultant

Successful candidates will possess the following:

• A passion for training, facilitation, capacity building, adult education, and building networks of support between non-profits, with the ultimate goal of increasing the impact of community organizations in Montreal;  
• Commitment to the principles of COCo’s social justice mandate;
• Anti-oppression analysis and proficiency in applying this to one’s work and responsibilities;
• Ability to work with a broad range of people and perspectives;
• Ability to work both autonomously and with others in a highly collaborative work environment;
• Ability to be organised, creative, prioritise tasks and be flexible.

Qualifications:

At COCo, we recognize the value of both paid and unpaid work. We encourage applications from candidates who meet some or all of the following qualifications:

• Familiar with the concept of learning organizations
• Experience in organizational development and organizational change
• Experience in Quebec’s nonprofit sector, including an understanding of the organizational development, approaches used in this context;
• Project management experience
• Strong oral and written communication abilities in French. Functional spoken English.  

To Apply :

All candidates are asked to fill out this form, in English or in French, instead of a cover letter. The form will also ask you to include your resume in a PDF format. You can edit your responses after they have been submitted until the deadline of 11:59 pm, January 10th, 2018. If you have any problems with the form, please email hiring@coco-net.org.

Our Hiring Process:

We evaluate all applications anonymously, to ensure a higher degree of objectivity in our selection process. Only candidates chosen for an interview will be contacted, in mid-January. Interviews will be held bilingual, in English and in French.  

If you wish to be considered for employment equity:

COCo values the contributions that individuals who identify as members of marginalized communities bring to our organization. We encourage, among others, Indigenous people, people of colour, people with disabilities, people identifying as LGBTQI, women, formerly incarcerated or institutionalized people, immigrants and people from working class backgrounds to apply. We also understand that applicants may experience a number of these identities simultaneously in ways that reinforce and nuance their experience. We are committed to creating an organization as diverse as the communities we serve.

If you wish to be considered or employment equity, you can let us know in the application form. Please note that it is not required that candidates explain why they would like to be considered for employment equity.

Deadline:

Please fill in the form by 11:59 pm, on Wednesday, January 10th. We thank you for your application, and will only be contacting people who have been chosen for an interview.