Call for viEUw board members

What is viEUw? 

Visibility Watch EU (viEUw) is a new campaign advocating for better representation in European debates. It does so by actively raising awareness of the lack of diversity in the media or at events in Brussels.

The campaign is: 

• hosted by The Brussels Binder a database of women experts based in Europe, 
• inspired and supported by the EU Panel Watch initiative which conducted a successful campaign on the lack of representation in EU panels between 2015 and 2019, 
• funded by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation for the period 2021-2022. 

The campaign aims at: 

• producing a yearly public research report, monitoring EU events and taking stock of the composition of panels in Brussels.
• developing an advocacy campaign demanding and defending inclusive panels and better representation at Brussels events.  

What is planned for 2022? 

This year (2021-2022) is the first year of the project:

• We’re focusing on gender: it’s a huge and ambitious undertaking already. We want to take panels’ analyses beyond what’s been done until now; and look at who is visible on panels, who is invited to speak and how are the speakers’ gender identities acknowledged and respected. We aim to do gender-sensitive data collection, going beyond the gender binary. 
• The yearly public research report is a thematic one: it focuses on gender-sensitive and trans-inclusive data collection. In 2021-22, we are building the first block for inclusive and diverse data collection; and in future years we’ll build further blocks of expertise to widen the data collection exercise so as to include other critical aspects of visibility (e.g. racial justice, accessibility to people with disabilities, inclusiveness/safe space with regards to sexual orientation, etc.). 

For more details about the project, you can browse this page.

What is the role of the board? 

The Board has a strategic role and decision-making powers. It is a body that meets regularly (at least quarterly) and makes key decisions on communication (campaigning strategy and language), finances (funding strategy, major expenses…), governance (change of project coordinator or consultant, change in host organisation…), etc. 

ViEUw is supported by a project coordinator and a research & methodology consultant. It is also composed of:

• A team of 10+ active volunteers, which undertake regular advocacy and monitoring activities. 
• An enlarged group of allies, in a mailing list called “Visibility Watch EU Allies”, which holds an advisory and multiplier role and is invited to openly contribute, give feedback, engage with the activities, etc.
• A (future) Board. 

The Board is also responsible for ensuring effective project planning, supporting the partnership strategy for the campaign, adopting the yearly report’s methodology and contributing to its content. 

For an in-depth description of the Board’s mandate, please read this (draft) document. 

The call for expressions of interest in details

The role of the Board is critical to the success of our campaign for inclusive panels in the EU. This is why we are opening up expressions of interests to invite 5-10 experts to join the Board of viEUw.

Board members will represent their own views and expertise, not that of any organisation. Collectively, the board should have good knowledge on equality and inclusion, as well as expertise and/or experience in advocacy, campaigning and equality data collection. 

Board members can receive a compensation of minimum 100 euros per month, for a maximum of 8 hours of work per month. The initial period for board members’ involvement in the campaign is February - June 2022.

If you are interested to join the Board of viEUw, please send your CV and an expression of interest by email (1 page) to Pauline (the project coordinator) at pauline.chetail@brusselsbinder.org by 19 January 2022.

Expressions of interest will be considered by the project coordinator and the research and methodology consultant. Based on their assessment (and if needed, video call to get acquainted), they will then propose/nominate the board. The board will eventually be confirmed by the funder (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung) and host organisation (The Brussels Binder).

If you have any questions, get in touch with Pauline!

Photo by Damir Kopezhanov