Social Justice Lead

DUE: 13 JULY 2023

ARASA seeks to recruit a competent, committed and dynamic individual to join its regional team.

The position is based in Namibia, South Africa, Uganda or Zimbabwe, and the incumbent must have legal rights to work in these countries with extensive travel across the region.

Reports to: Head of Programme Quality and Funding

DUTIES

• Within delegated authority, the Social Justice Lead will be responsible for the following duties:
• Using the human rights-based approach, identifies, designs, and delivers a range of training and awareness raising activities to build understanding of human rights, empower interlocutors, and improve respect for human rights in practice.
• Undertaking research and analysis, and preparing reports and publications, in relation to matters relevant to human rights defenders and human rights systems.
• Working closely with international, regional, national and local civil society organisations and activists through formal and informal coalitions.
• Monitoring key developments in relation to human rights defenders and systems, and preparing and publishing timely commentaries on such developments.
• Contributing to the writing, editing and publication of ARASA’s publications, including the Human Rights Monitor and the Human Rights Council Monitor.
• Assisting in the preparation and submission of funding proposals and preparing and reporting against project and programme-based budgets.
• Based on consultations, and analysis of monitoring information, design appropriate, relevant training and awareness raising projects for a variety of audiences.
• Conducts, alone or in collaboration with others, training and awareness raising projects and programmes on human rights to targeted groups.
• Working with appropriate partners, research, monitor and analyse the human rights situation in the geographic area of operation to create baseline data for effective interventions, and evaluative data to ensure that interventions including capacity building are having a positive impact.
• By continually assessing the social, political, and legal context, and through extensive contacts with a wide range of interlocutors, identify critical human rights issues and civil society groups in the area of responsibility.
• Develop close and professional working relationship with county partners in order to advocate for better protection of human rights, address current violations and strengthen compliance with human rights standards to empower civil society actors to take responsibility in ending violations of human rights especially for women, girls, key populations in their diversities.
• Through ongoing monitoring and analysis, assess whether the interventions conducted including capacity building, awareness and engagements have had a positive impact on respect of human rights in the area of ensuring prevention and accountability for SGBV crimes, abuses and human rights violations.
• Write clear and objective regular and analytical reports with recommendations (weekly, monthly) relating to ending violence against women, girls, young people, and key populations.
• Provide independent status reports on the status of implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan, in various countries, as relevant to the geographic area of responsibilities.
• Lead and/or participate in various research and linking and learning activities with relevant regional stakeholders on human rights issues.
• Perform other responsibilities as required.
• Programming
• Assists in developing operational approaches to mainstream human rights and implement a human rights-based approach to programming.
• Designs and maintains database to track project progress.
• Supports knowledge building and the dissemination of lessons learned on human rights and protection.
• Capacity and institution building
• Identify target groups in need of capacity development in human rights and the rule of law, including institutions, and civil society organizations, among others, to strengthen regional capacity in the area of human rights.
• Design training programmes and tools for civil society organizations, and other stakeholders which should include a component on monitoring and evaluation of the results of these programmes.
• Provide technical and operational support in implementing programmes related activities.
• Advise and mentor national and regional counterparts on taking ownership to promote and protect human rights.
• Engage with civil society councils and protection-related taskforces and working groups on human rights, including SGBV.
• Identify priority human rights and protection areas of intervention for the organisation’s activities through consultations with stakeholders, including civil society organizations and communities.
• Undertake any other activities as designated by the Head of Programme Quality and Funding. Required Skills and Experience

Core Competencies:

PROFESSIONALISM: Comprehensive knowledge of and exposure to a range of human rights issues, including approaches and techniques to address sensitive and complex issues; very good knowledge of institutional mandates, policies and guidelines related to human rights including the human rights mechanisms and treaties; operational activities for development, peace and security and humanitarian affairs and good knowledge of and experience in development programming. Comprehensive knowledge of the region, including its human rights and political situation, as well as its culture, history and traditions; demonstrated ability to complete in-depth analysis and reach conclusions on possible causes and solutions to human rights issues; good political judgment and advocacy skills and the ability to understand and respond to sensitive and complex political and social events; ability to describe human rights issues and perspectives, including gender issues. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines, and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.

COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

TEAMWORK: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

LEADERSHIP: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow; empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvement; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.

JUDGEMENT / DECISION-MAKING: Identifies the key issues in a complex situation, and comes to the heart of the problem quickly; Gathers relevant information before making a decision; Considers positive and negative impacts of decisions prior to making them; Takes decisions with an eye to the impact on others and on the Organization ; Proposes a course of action or makes a recommendation based on all available information; Checks assumptions against facts; Determines that the actions proposed will satisfy the expressed and underlying needs for the decision; Makes tough decisions when necessary.

KNOWLEDGE: Sound knowledge of fundamental human rights principles and international mechanism systems; Basic knowledge of institutional mandates related to the position and of the regional legal and policy frameworks; Capacity to monitor human rights-related matters and to propose possible means for their resolution, including assisting in advocacy efforts; Ability to identify information relevant to human rights, synthesize significant amounts of information and produce human rights analysis drawing on all available sources of information, including open sources; Maximum understanding of the relevance of information and data management and its applicability to human rights work.

Attributes

Innovation
Leadership
People Management
Communication
Delivery
Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity
Respect for diversity
Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
Self-development, initiative-taking
Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork
Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
Creating synergies through self-control
Managing conflict
Learning and sharing knowledge and encouraging the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing.
Informed and transparent decision making.

Education:

Master’s degree in Law, International Relations, Political Science or related studies.
1st Degree with a minimum of 7 years progressive experience in Human Rights work will be considered in lieu of a Master’s Degree
Relevant experience working on justice sector, access to justice and human rights at high level state institutions, including working with Civil Society entities.
Proven experience of working with high-level national counterparts and capacity to deliver strategic advice.
Proven record and experience in drafting of analytical research reports and think pieces.

Language Requirement:

Fluency in English both written and spoken.
Fluency in Portuguese or French is an added advantage.

TO APPLY

We are a community that welcomes diversity in all forms and encourage applications from anyone who’s passionate about ARASA work. To start exploring if you might become our colleague: Please send your application by 13 July 2023. Interview will be held on the 18 and 20th July 2023.

Interested and qualified candidates who match the profile are invited to submit their CV and letter of interest, to recruitment@arasa.info with the ROLE they are applying for in the Subject Line.

Incomplete applications or those submitted after the closing date will not be considered. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.