Advocacy Coordinator

The Advocacy Coordinator role will lead in shaping and coordinating the implementation of Power Up!'s consortium's joint advocacy that amplifies our intersectional and political analysis positions and agendas related to bodies, voices, and resources. This is a consortium-level role with a specific focus on advancing LBQTI issues and agendas. Key to this role is to promote mutual capacity strengthening, relationship building, and political alliances with local partners/collectives and womxn human rights defenders who are marginalized, excluded, and discriminated against. In doing so, the Advocacy Coordinator adds value and supports the work of PU! members and local partners and advises and guides the PU! Working Groups in its profiling and influencing work including risk management. In order to be successful in this role, the candidate should have great coordination and communication skills and deep curiosity to learn about feminist movement building and movement-led approaches to advocacy.

About JASS

The Power Up! Consortium is an alliance of women's rights organisations including JASS (Just Associates), Yayasan Pemberdayaan Perempuan Kepala Keluarga (PEKKA), and Gender at Work.

Power Up! works in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands (MFA). Collaborating in a 5-year program, the Consortium engages with womxn human rights defenders (WHRD) and their organisations and networks to build, organise, mobilise, and transform power around three strategic agendas: bodies, voices, and resources. Our aims are the prevention and elimination of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls; strengthening womxn's strategies for economic resilience and stability including access to and control of resources and land.

Within this, the partnership focuses on amplifying the voices, agency, and leadership of constituencies that have been marginalized in their communities and social movements (LBQ women, HIV women, sex workers, women workers, and rural and indigenous womxn). Their capacity to sustain pressure and influence policies, resources, institutions, and social norms is essential to the advancement of gender equality and womxn's rights at all levels and to ensure womxn's greater safety in the face of increased backlash and violence.

The consortium's work is spread across 6 geographic regions (17 countries) and prioritises Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Key Responsibilities

Coordination of joint advocacy and influencing initiatives (60%)

• Facilitate joint conversations within PU! to promote an understanding of and learn from each of PU! members' approaches to advocacy and strategic engagement and identify joint strategies that demonstrate a clear added value of the consortium;
• Lead the development of a strategy and coordinate the implementation of the consortium's joint advocacy and strategic engagement work including supporting PU! members to ensure alignment and coherence of advocacy and communications plans;
• In coordination with the PU! Coordination Committee, prepare key messages/positions and contribute to policy debates and discussions related to the Strengthening Civil Society and Power of Women strategic partnerships of the Dutch MFA including the development of future policies and partnership frameworks;
• Proactively offer innovative ideas and proposed actions to the PU! Coordination Committee on policy actions and key messages which contribute to the influencing activities targeting the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch embassies, and other strategic donors and international actors;
• Actively advocate PU! and PU! partners' key messages in relevant knowledge and learning spaces and platforms that support LBQTI issues and agendas;
• Provide inputs in the development of PU! annual plans and reports and ensure that an intersectional lens is effectively integrated throughout advocacy and communication activities, work plans, reports, research, and analyses;
• Support the PU! Communications Working Group in developing communications products for external positioning and influencing;
• Together with the Knowledge and MEL Specialist, identify feminist approaches and synthesise best practices and lessons learnt directly linked to advocacy and strategic engagements and amplifying voices of womxn.

Support to LBQTI groups/collectives (40%)

• Support PU! members and local partners in the development of context and political analysis advocacy strategies and its implementation that concern LBTQI groups/collectives in pan Africa and MENA regions; lead/coordinate the development of key messages/positions;
• In coordination with PU! members and its partners, identify key local, national, regional, global, and international spaces for dialogue and influencing and support LBQTI partners in their participation in these spaces;
• Identify capacity strengthening (CS) advocacy opportunities for LBTQI groups/collectives and support/coordinate with PU! members and/or PU! Coordination Committee for the planning and implementation of CS activities;
• Support cross-movement organising efforts of PU! members and its partners (convenings, joint agenda development, articulations, networking, etc.);
• Provide the PU! Coordination Committee and, when relevant/necessary, the PU! Executive Committee with updates/progress including risks and issues.

Your Profile

An Advocacy Coordinator adds value and supports the work of PU! members and local partners and advises and guides the PU! Working Groups in its profiling and influencing work including risk management. In order to be successful in this role, the candidate should have great coordination and communication skills and deep curiosity to learn about feminist movement building and movement-led approaches to advocacy.

Your Qualifications

• A feminist advocate and/or activist with deep intersectional knowledge of gender and womxn's rights issues especially those affecting LBQT persons;
• Strong embeddedness in feminist social movements and LBQTI networks and platforms and alliances across Africa and internationally;
• Profound knowledge of the Pan African political and social movements context; desirable knowledge of broader feminist movements and the interlinkages with LBTQI struggles;
• Minimum 5 years of experience in advocacy and influencing and in supporting/accompanying grassroots feminist movements and LBQTI persons/groups/collectives in Africa and MENA regions;
• Ability to navigate spaces/contexts that are oppressive communities; States where colonial laws are held high and patriarchal systems dominate;
• Strong analytical skills, sound judgement, capacity to think strategically;
• Ability to produce high-quality policy and advocacy materials, high-level strategic documents, and advice;
• Proven process facilitation and coordination skills, sensitivity to language inequity, aptitude for building trust and addressing tensions and conflict in a way that strengthens partnerships;
• Ability to take initiative and leadership, contribute to quick decision making and problem solving;
• Strong ability to work both independently and as a member of a project team;
• Strong verbal and written communications (English preferred & French ideal), negotiation, and interpersonal skills;
• Interest and ability to travel occasionally; comfortable working across time zones;
• Ability to work independently, operate under pressure, manage multiple tasks, and deliver time-sensitive, high-quality work;
• Flexibility for learning different approaches to advocacy and strategic engagements in very diverse contexts.

Compensation

JASS is committed to equitable salary and benefits based on roles and responsibilities regardless of location. The salary range for the position is between USD 4083 to USD 4916 per month depending on relevant years of experience, knowledge, and skills. Benefits include employer-paid health insurance, generous vacation leave, national holidays, and sick leave.

The initial offer of employment is for 1 year (with a 3-month probationary period) with a possibility of renewal based on mutual satisfaction.

How To Contact Us

Send the following materials (in English)

• Full CV (detailing the nature, scope, and scale of responsibilities held)
• A letter of intent (maximum 2 pages) highlighting relevant skills and experience for this position (please note where you learned about the vacancy)
• Names and contact details of 2 professional references

The deadline for applications is 22 December 2023. Due to the volume of applicants, only candidates who advance to interviews will be contacted. Due to the large volume of applications, we are not able to answer/entertain queries. The successful candidate is expected to assume the role on 1st March 2023. Power Up! is not able to support visa or relocation costs.

About us

JASS is a feminist movement support organisation that strengthens the voice, visibility, leadership, and collective organising power of women for a just and sustainable world for all. We equip and strengthen the leadership and organising capacity of women leaders and their organisations in Mesoamerica, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa.

Our feminist movement building work supports marginalised women leaders (indigenous and rural land defenders, sex workers, garment workers, LBTQI, HIV, and young activists) in critically unpacking the power dynamics affecting their lives from the personal to the public, from the local to the global, as to change the systems, structures, and beliefs that perpetuate inequity, injustice, and violence. Our approach enables the conditions for women to organise, mobilise, and transform power in four areas of their lives: Bodies, Voice, Resources, and Safety.

Our commitment to transforming power in the world starts with how we organise and operate internally. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of who we are and how we were founded. We have an intersectional staff and shared leadership structure that represents diverse geographies, cultures, faiths, generations, races, abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities, and includes activists grounded in country-level organising and movements. We strive for internal structures, policies, and practices that value the range of knowledge held in this diversity and that reflect shared principles and accountability to our mission.