LGBTI Program Officer, Sierra Leone at Global Rights

Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone

Founded in 1978, Global Rights is an international human rights capacity-building organization that works side by side with local activists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to promote and protect the rights of marginalized populations. Through broad-based technical assistance and training, Global Rights strengthens partners to document and expose human rights abuses, conduct community outreach and mobilization, advocate for legal and policy reform, and provide legal and paralegal services.

Position Description:

Reporting to the Nigeria Country Director and the Director of Programs at Global Rights’ headquarters, the Program Officer works to build the capacity of LGBTI activists and organizations in Sierra Leone, and to promote the human rights of LGBTI individuals and communities. The Program Officer is responsible for designing, conducting, monitoring and evaluating local capacity building initiatives and ensuring their effectiveness.

Key duties will include:

• Overall responsibility to coordinate Global Rights’ LGBTI initiatives in Sierra Leone.

• Identifies potential partners.

• Organizes and facilitates workshops for LGBTI partners and broader community in human rights advocacy, capacity building, etc.

• Conducts training on documentation and monitoring of human rights abuses and the use of this data to advocate for LGBTI rights before regional and international human rights mechanisms.

• Provides technical and capacity-building assistance to Sierra Leone partners, as they conduct step-down trainings on sexual rights, advocacy, documentation and monitoring for 75 activists in communities throughout Sierra Leone, thereby expanding the reach of the nascent LGBTI movement outside the capital of Freetown.

• Integrates Global Rights’ Nigerian partners into key training roles in Sierra Leone in order to build their knowledge and experience, and help transfer that knowledge to Sierra Leone partners, while also facilitating South-South sharing.

• Provides support to partners in Sierra Leone as they document and report on trends and specific cases of human rights violations on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.

• Assists with fund-raising and proposal development.

• Researches and monitors newspapers and other media on the issue. Provides analysis on media coverage of issues affecting LGBTI in Sierra Leone.

Desired qualifications include:

Skills

• At least five years of progressive responsibility in human rights or development work, particularly in the areas of sexuality and human rights or increasing access to justice.

• Knowledge of the LGBTI civil society communities and groups in Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

• Demonstrated skills in workshop, meeting and event facilitation.

• Demonstrated skills in training, curriculum development and report writing.

• Degree in law, human rights, sexuality/gender studies or a related discipline preferred.

• Fluency in English.

Competencies

• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and use of the Internet.

• Capacity to work within a collaborative framework with other staff and partner groups within a multidisciplinary and multicultural setting.

• Ability to establish priorities and to develop, coordinate and monitor work plans.

• Strong conceptual leadership and project design skills.

• Demonstrated ability to work independently and take ownership to resolve problems.

• Tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty.

• Demonstrated good judgment.

• Capacity to work in hostile environments and to relate to individuals and communities who are exposed to rights abuses.

• Travel flexibility from Nigeria to Sierra Leone.

No calls please. Send a cover letter and curriculum vitae immediately, by email or mail to:

Sierra Leone Program Officer Search
Global Rights 
1200 18th Street NW, Suite 602
Washington, DC 20036

Email: jobs@globalrights.org

For more information, please visit www.globalrights.org.

Global Rights is an Equal Opportunity Employer