ASHOKA

Ashoka is the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs with over 3,200 leading changemakers—Ashoka Fellows—in over 90 countries. Through its 40 country offices, Ashoka has access to tens of thousands of other social innovators creating change across the world.

Ashoka builds and cultivates a community of change leaders who see that the world requires everyone to be a changemaker. Together, they collaborate to transform institutions and cultures worldwide, so they support changemaking for the good of society.

Ashoka Legal Support for Entrepreneurs (ASE) Coordinator

GREATER WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA
Supervisor: Global Legal Director
Job Theme: Social Innovation, Legal Services, Program Development


JOB DESCRIPTION

There exists a significant gap in the availability of experiential learning for law students interested in law and social innovation. Concurrently, social entrepreneurial organizations often lack sufficient capacity to carry out projects. Ashoka is currently designing and implementing an internship program that addresses these needs by providing shortterm support to Ashoka Fellows while providing law students practical experience and exposure to the social entrepreneurship space. The ultimate goal is to multiply the number of changemaker lawyers exponentially, provide increased capacity for the Ashoka Fellows, and strengthen bonds between social entrepreneurs, big law, and legal education networks.

This program is currently in the rollout phase, with the first class scheduled for summer 2021. The project involves the design and facilitation of an Ashoka Summer Legal Internship Program that places current law students with social ventures and organizations led by Ashoka Fellows. Current law students will be matched with Ashoka Fellows and other legal service organizations globally for summer internship opportunities in an effort to not only benefit the social ventures through the delivery of services by a legal intern, but also increase the number of lawyers with professional social entrepreneurial experience.

The Innovator will help support administration and coordinate the rollout of the second class of legal interns – communicating and strengthening partnerships, promoting the program, assisting with and screening and interviewing of candidates, mapping and identifying funding resources, assisting with the screening and interviewing, and organizing virtual and/or in-person events.

The Innovator will also work on the Ashoka Security Program. Ashoka prides itself on the transformational goals of its Fellows; however, their work at times put them at increased risk, whether it be digital, physical, and/or emotional. As Ashoka’s network and office locations expand, they seek to put a process in place to both proactively address and react to the security needs of their Fellows, youth changemakers, and Ashoka staff across the globe. The Innovator will assist on active cases, program administration, partner relationship maintenance, and communication between the Ashoka teams, local point persons, and Ashoka country offices.

Finally, the Innovator will hold responsibilities in the Ashoka Legal Support for Entrepreneurs (ASE) Program. Once a social entrepreneur becomes an Ashoka Fellow, they have several avenues of support available to them for life (Ashoka considers its Fellowship to be a life-long commitment). The Legal Team offers pro bono support to Fellows by connecting them to a network of pro bono partners and provides information, learning opportunities, and news on its Legal Engagement webpage. The Innovator will assist with pro bono support, managing the online ticketing/tracking systems, updating and maintaining the webpage, reaching out to partners, organizing law-oriented workshops and events, and maintaining the Legal Team’s online document drive.

DESIRED SKILLS

  • Ashoka seeks a self-motived applicant who flourishes in creative work environments.
  • The ideal candidate will be well organized and able to manage their own time as different tasks arise.
  • Requirements for the position include proficiency in Microsoft office applications (Excel, Word, etc.), superb research and writing skills, and the ability to communicate effectively with professional and educational networks.