International Project Manager / Executive Assistant

Terms of Reference

International Project Manager / Executive Assistant

Label STEP

Label STEP is the fair trade non-profit organization committed to the well-being of weavers and workers in the handmade carpet industry. Founded in 1995 in Bern, Switzerland, STEP has offices in all major handmade rug producing countries, including Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Türkiye, and Morocco. STEP’s teams work to audit, monitor, and validate fair trade standards—such as workplace health and safety, fair wages, labour rights, and environmentally sound production—across the complete supply chain of carpets produced by STEP Certified Partners (licensees/importers). Label STEP also conducts betterment initiatives such as its comprehensive Weaver Community Empowerment Program, which aims to build weavers’ skillsets and improve their quality of life via education and training.

About the role:

Label STEP is currently seeking a dedicated and experienced project manager for the newly established position of ‘International Project Manager / Executive Assistant’ based in Nepal. The candidate will play a key role in supporting and improving collaboration and communication between all STEP offices as well as in strengthening relationship and service quality between STEP and its key stakeholders, the license holders (carpet trade companies). 

The candidate will be highly involved with STEP’s interactive digital database, STEP Web, which streamlines the verification process, enables the sharing of audit reports throughout the international supply chains, organizes the implementation of corrective actions, and provides data and insight for quantitative evaluation and statistical reports. The associated IT tools are used in all of Label STEP country offices as well as by the STEP Head Office in Switzerland and the STEP affiliated industry and trade stakeholders in the European and North American markets. 

The International Project Manager will work closely with the Managing Director and support him as an Executive Assistant, and will serve as a daily link between the Managing Director and the Vice Director in Kathmandu.

Main responsibilities include:

Manage and supervise Label STEP’s relations with its licensees (industry partners mainly in Europe and North America) in the following areas:

• Coordinate reporting and self-declarations (of trade data and supply chain information)
• Manage billing of license fees
• Coordinate marketing information updates (for STEP’s website directory, trade show communication etc.)

Manage and support communication and cooperation between Label STEP’s country offices (Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Morocco), the head office (Switzerland), freelancers (field auditors, bookkeepers, PR agents), project partners, and other stakeholders:

• Coordinate agenda, schedules and deadlines
• International project management support (audit/verification related; Weaver Empowerment programs; third party funded development projects)
• Support fundraising, seeking grant opportunities, contributing to proposals and concept notes
• Organise international events (meetings and visits)

Support international information and data management:

• Cloud Server administration
• Report writing and compilation 
• Knowledge database development and administration
• Online tools (stepweb) and communication platform (Google Chat etc.) support

Executive assistance

• Secretary and administrative assistance to the Managing Director 
• Supporting collaboration between the Managing Director and the Vice Director

Key qualifications include:

• Strong project management and communication skills
• Excellent knowledge of IT tools including cloud communication and cooperation, project management and office applications.
• Highly proficient in spoken and written English
• University degree, MBA or similar
• Experience in working in an international environment
• High level of independence, efficiency, and reliability

Place of work is Kathmandu. It’s a full-time position. The International Project Manager reports to the Nepal-based STEP Vice Director and collaborates very closely with the Managing Director at the Head Office.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are requested to submit their CV along with the motivation letter before 20th July 2024, email address: nepal@label-step.org

Estimated start date: As soon as possible.