Feminist Alliance for International Action

We are hiring! FAFIA is currently searching for a Senior Human Rights Advocate. See below for details:

Under the supervision of the FAFIA Steering Committee, the Senior Human Rights Advocate works to ensure that women’s rights guaranteed in international and regional human rights treaties are realized in Canada. The role includes designing and leading projects that:

1. Use United Nations and Inter-American mechanisms and procedures to advance the rights of women in Canada; and assist Canadian women’s organizations, experts and individuals to participate in these processes;

2. Ensure that there are effective domestic mechanisms and procedures for monitoring and implementing Canada’s compliance with international and regional human rights standards;

3. Advocate for policies and programs that advance women’s substantive equality and implement Canada’s human rights obligations;

4. Assist women to be present at decision-making tables as new intergovernmental procedures for reporting and responding to recommendations from international and regional human rights bodies are implemented;

5. Enhance the capacity of women’s organizations at the provincial, territorial, and national levels to engage with mechanisms and procedures for monitoring and implementing Canada’s international human rights obligations to women.

This position works in high collaboration with staff and Steering Committee to continuously build FAFIA’s relationships with grassroots and other partners in all parts of Canada. It is expected that the successful candidate can thrive working independently and working collaboratively with FAFIA’s Steering Committee.

This position is expected to run until March 31st 2027 and is fully remote within Canada. Who We Are The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) is an alliance of Canadian women's equality-seeking and related organizations. The Alliance was formed after the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995. FAFIA is the leading national feminist and women’s rights organization in Canada that participates in United Nations treaty body reviews of Canada and reports on the domestic implementation of Canada’s human rights obligations as they relate to the protection and promotion of women’s rights. Since 1999, FAFIA has made over 40 submissions to United Nations treaty bodies regarding Canada’s compliance with its international human rights obligations. FAFIA also engages with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and its procedures.

To learn more about our work, please visit our website: http://fafia-afai.org/en/

FAFIA's culture is driven by respect, transparency and collaboration. FAFIA is committed to a collaborative, feminist approach to the development and implementation of the organization’s activities.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

Project Management
• Oversee the efficient and effective operation of FAFIA’s human rights projects, reports and interventions.
• Work with the Steering Committee to develop a work plan for FAFIA’s human rights reporting and advocacy work.
• Implement the human rights work plan and ensure it is kept up to date.
• Identify, assess, and advise the Steering Committee on domestic and international issues that affect FAFIA’s human rights work.
• Foster effective teamwork between the members of FAFIA.
• Oversee the human rights content of work produced.
• Oversee the development, implementation and evaluation of FAFIA programs and projects relating to the promotion of women’s human rights.
• Oversee the development, implementation and evaluation of domestic advocacy strategies that employ international and regional human rights laws to advance women’s equality.
• Ensure compliance with funders’ project and reporting requirements relating to FAFIA’s WAGE project.
• Support the operation and decision-making of the Steering Committee, including by ensuring that meeting agendas and supporting materials are prepared.

Community Relations/Advocacy

• Oversee the planning, writing and submission of FAFIA’s reports to United Nations and Inter-American bodies.
• Work with the Steering Committee to identify advocacy opportunities and to develop advocacy strategies.
• Establish good working relationships and collaborative arrangements with partners, politicians, and other organizations to promote the use of international and regional human rights law and procedures to advance women’s human rights in Canada.
• Keep up to date on women’s movement actions and campaigns within Canada and internationally and look for opportunities for FAFIA to assist/intervene.
• Act as one of FAFIA’s spokeswomen on issues relating to women’s human rights.
• Represent FAFIA at meetings and events that relate to FAFIA’s human rights work.
• Provide information on FAFIA’s human rights work to other staff and Steering Committee members for dissemination to members, stakeholders and the public.
• Build and maintain networks of support for human rights.
• Work jointly with FAFIA’s Senior Manager of Projects & Community Collaboration and FAFIA’s Financial staff in project planning and fiscal matters
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

To succeed in the role, you should have:
• strong human rights expertise and knowledge of international and regional human rights treaties, standards, frameworks, guidelines, and existing and upcoming human rights legislation
• knowledge on how to manage human rights projects and how to mobilize the needed support from various stakeholder groups
• experience with strategic orientation that allows you to identify human rights trends and stakeholder expectations, translating them into operational priorities and short term actions
• strong skills related to managing and reporting on human rights issues
• superior communication skills in oral and written English and ability to develop convincing analyses, positions, and briefing materials, and to adjust your style of communication to the audience. Knowledge, skills, and abilities
• Demonstrated commitment to women’s rights, human rights, feminist issues, group collaboration and the values of FAFIA
• Strong knowledge of international human rights law and mechanisms, human rights-related Canadian law and policy, and intersectional analysis
• Strong commitment to intersectional feminism and knowledge of key intersectional feminist human rights issues in Canada
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are required; fluency in French is an asset
• Experience in partnership building with Canadian non-profit organizations/charities
• Demonstrated experience in conflict resolution between multiple stakeholders is strongly preferred
• Must be self-motivated, patient, able to handle multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment, have outstanding organizational abilities, good judgment, and strong ethics Experience
• Minimum 3 years’ experience working on projects related to implementing international human rights standards in Canada is required
• 3 years plus experience in partnership building with Canadian non-profit organizations/charities is strongly preferred
• Solid working knowledge of Microsoft Office and web-based platforms.
• Ability to handle confidential materials and situations with professionalism, sensitivity, and discretion.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with others
• Self-directed and independent, with a proven track record of working effectively as part of an interdisciplinary team and collaborating with other community professionals.
• Must be qualified to work in Canada.
• Bilingual in English and French is considered a strong asset.
• Familiarity with issues affecting Indigenous women is considered an asset.

Maybe you’ve read the above and can see you have some transferable skills, even though they don’t quite match all the points. If you think you can bring something to the team and to this position, we still encourage you to apply. Please send resumes to: [email protected] by Aug 31st 2024. Only those selected for an interview will be contacted.

FAFIA is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities. If you would like someone from our team to contact you for individualized support, email us at [email protected].

FAFIA-AFAI Our mandate is to advance women’s equality in Canada by working for the full implementation of the international human rights treaties and agreements that Canada has ratified.