Consultant Opportunities

About Polaris
Named after the North Star, a historical symbol of freedom, Polaris works to reshape the systems that make sex and labor trafficking possible and profitable in North America. For more than a decade, Polaris has assisted thousands of victims and survivors through the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline and built the largest known U.S. data set on the crime. With the guidance of survivors, and working with public and private-sector partners, we use that data to understand and improve the way trafficking is identified, how victims and survivors are assisted, and how we can prevent this abuse at the scale of the problem – 28 million people worldwide robbed of the fundamental right to choose how they live and work.

About the Opportunity
Polaris is integrating a complex systems approach into our work. Our goal is to tackle the structures, attitudes, and power dynamics that make hundreds of thousands of people vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking to enable us to shift the energy of the anti-trafficking movement to begin to prevent victimization before it happens. 

Polaris is seeking a consultant with experience developing and implementing organizational monitoring and evaluation (M&E) plans to contribute to the implementation of a new system to collect monitoring data. Polaris collects data from the operation of the Trafficking Hotline which includes operational and narrative data that holds extensive opportunities for informing programmatic work. In addition, we are in the process of generating and sharing new insights from the First National Survivor Study, which concluded data collection in 2022. Finally, we routinely conduct a variety of data collection activities as part of project implementation or routine monitoring and evaluation of these projects.  The consultant will support the Learning, Innovation and Data Systems (LIDS) team in taking our impact framework to the next level through a user-friendly, accessible system which compiles routine monitoring data into an organization-wide data collection system.

Responsibilities

  • Review background information, current theory of change, proposed indicators, and impact framework and offer recommendations for phased implementation with concrete outcomes defined for each phase 
  • In consultation with the Learning, Innovation, and Data Systems team and the Technology team, develop an implementation plan for a phase I project to develop a new data collection & management system aligned with our organization impact framework within the contracted available time.
  • Propose options for the tools needed to implement the phase I project (software, web-based platform, staff time, etc.)
  • Be a key player in implementing the phase I project and generating participation from stakeholders, collecting data, and determining lessons learned
  • Develop process documentation and recommendations for scale-up based on lessons learned from the first phase
  • Other tasks as required.

This position does not authorize/require the consultant to have decision-making authority on the final work product.

Requirements

  • Minimum seven to ten (7-10) years of progressively responsible professional work experience in monitoring and evaluation and especially developing M&E plans and implementation as a consultant;
  • Demonstrated systems thinking perspective and application of complexity-aware tools
  • Demonstrated project management experience. 
  • Clear and concise written and verbal communication skills.
  • Emotional maturity and demonstrated discretion in handling sensitive and confidential information. 
  • BA/BS degree, with a focus in Social Science, Anthropology, Psychology, or related field

Preferred Qualifications

  • Candidates having lived experience with human trafficking strongly preferred. 
  • Academic or professional knowledge of human trafficking, labor rights, international development, or related social issues; 
  • Experience in participatory research methodologies as well as trauma informed research strategies
  • Lead in developing multiple monitoring and evaluation systems for different organizations, especially in small non-profit organizations;
  • Masters degree in relevant field

Contract Duration
This position requires approximately 8-10 days of Level of Effort (LOE), from February through June 2024. The period of performance may be extended, depending on the need. The consultant can work remotely from his/her location. If conditions allow, occasional short-term travel may be required to Polaris’s office in Washington DC.

Rate
This short-term position is budgeted at $85 per hour.  

To Apply
Please submit a resume, cover letter, and an example written product to LIDS@polarisproject.org 

Values Statement
The work of Polaris is grounded in a set of values and organizational beliefs that provide a common starting point for all of our activities. At Polaris, we look for talented individuals who are passionate about combating all forms of human trafficking and who will strive to embody and model these values within the Polaris community and in the anti-trafficking field. Please take a moment to make yourself familiar with these values and our mission statement before submitting your application. You can find a full description of our values here.

Diversity Statement
Polaris designs and implements data-driven strategies to prevent and disrupt human trafficking and restore freedom to survivors.  Achieving this ambitious goal requires both trafficking-specific systemic interventions and broader cultural and structural shifts that reduce the inequities that lead to human trafficking. While Polaris alone cannot build a more diverse, just, equitable, and inclusive society, both the success of our work and our organizational values require modeling in the workplace the change we want to see in the world.

This means cultivating a workforce, organizational culture, and priorities that respect and celebrate a dynamic, multi-disciplinary team made up of individuals with different identities, lived experiences, and backgrounds. Within both our team and across every part of our work, we strive to integrate and elevate the full range of survivor voices.

This is a living commitment.  Diversity, equity, and inclusion are values to be manifested daily, in the work we do, the decisions we make, and the way that we treat each other and the people we seek to serve.  This means creating space where staff can be included, heard, valued, and set up for success, and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, best selves to work. We will not check boxes and consider it done. We will push new innovations and different ways of thinking, and treasure the community built and strengthened by each of our contributions.

 

Need help? Polaris operates the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline.