Job Description

The Organization and Role

About Us

Access Now is a growing international human rights organization dedicated to defending and extending the digital rights of users at risk around the world, including issues of privacy, security, freedom of expression, and transparency. Our Policy, Advocacy, Helpline, RightsCon, Grants, and Operations teams have staff presences in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East/North Africa (MENA), North America, and South/Southeast Asia, to provide global support to our mission.

About the Role

The Africa Policy Manager leads Access Now’s work, bringing an international perspective to achieve the Organization’s mission by ensuring that legislation and policies around the Region respect and extend human rights in the digital age. Managing projects and relationships across borders and time zones, the Policy Manager works side-by-side with Access Now’s global team of policy, advocacy, law, operations, development, granting and technology professionals in advancing digital rights for users at risk.

The Policy Manager is responsible for designing and deploying strategy in the Region to achieve the Organization’s objectives, and reports through the global Policy Director. In the future, the Manager will oversee a regionally-focused policy staff.

What You Will Do

• Build and execute a strategy for our work in the region, including:
  • Outlining ways for Access Now to meaningfully advance digital rights in Africa
  • Prioritizing areas of work, within our global priorities
  • Determining countries and regional institutions with which to engage
  • Evaluating partnerships with regional and international organizations

• Analyse, evaluate and recommend digital policies, particularly in the fields of digital ID, free expression, internet shutdowns, surveillance, data protection and connectivity
• Identify, examine, and track new and emerging issues in tech law and policy through a human rights lens
• Engage in research and analysis to formulate and build out evidence-based positions and craft strategies, including identifying short- and long-term benchmarks and opportunities for engagement

• Pursue implementation of our policies by engaging with relevant regional stakeholders across the spectrum of effective paths which might involve taking meetings with legislative and political staff, writing comments to ministerial agencies, collaborating with partners and building coalitions, reaching out to experts in inter-governmental bodies – and is open for many other approaches
• Manage regional policy staff and support their professional development
• Represent Access Now in coalitions at meetings or events — or build your own – which may include representatives from other organizations or companies as well as experts and academics, depending on the issue

• Adapt our work, and the underlying issues, to our target audiences, as our policies are nothing if we can’t communicate them to the right people! This can mean researching and writing policy briefs, reports, blog posts, position papers, briefing memos, comments to public or private consultations, and talking at events and to the media. You will need to be open to international travel.

• Engage and build important relationships with members of regional and national legislative bodies, coalition partners, journalists, government representatives, and others
• Coordinate internally with other Access Now teams, such as the Advocacy, Legal, Helpline, RightsCon, Grants, Development and Operations teams
• Interact and coordinate work with key global campaigns and their internal leads, such as the KeepItOn and WhyID campaigns
• Contribute to our global policy positioning and engage with international organizations, companies and governments outside the region regularly

About You

As a top candidate you will bring:

• 4+ years of practical experience, to allow you to manage dedicated staff and contribute to regional and international policy development, in particular on the policy areas listed above
• Passion for mission-driven work and senior educational or practical background in tech, policy, human rights, and/or regional legislative affairs
• Experience engaging national governments, legislatures, human rights institutions, and industry bodies/companies in the continent. Specific experience on regional institutions – like the African Union – is a plus.
• Comfort communicating with people from different backgrounds and with different levels of expertise
• Respect for and desire to work with a dynamic, diverse and international team
• Capacity to work in a fast-paced and challenging environment. This means an ability to prioritize and juggle multiple deadlines with the help of your colleagues and manager.
• Creative and decisive leadership, to consider the best ways to pursue and implement goals in policy areas related to regional priorities.
• Clear understanding of the internet and technologies related to the mentioned policy priority areas
• Fluency in English; other languages are a plus

The Details

Location

This is a full-time role, ideally located on the African continent, with ability to attend occasional in-person meetings. At this time Access Now Team Members are working remotely full-time, and we anticipate this role to continue accordingly. The successful candidate must have the legal right to engage in work in the location in which they will be based. We are unable to sponsor visas or relocations for this role.

Remuneration

Access Now offers competitive compensation – commensurate with experience – and benefits that align with the regional locations of its Team Members. Hourly contracted service fees will be dependent on depth of experience and preparation, and will be the result of a negotiation between both parties. All Team Members benefit from a strong global culture aligned around:

• Work-life balance…including a generous paid time-off program
• Professional development and growth opportunities
• Extensive workplace flexibility
• Connection to a diverse, global team of passionate, principled professionals
• Organizational resilience and support for all team members
• Opportunities to recharge (including one month of paid refresher leave after 4 years)

How to Apply

• Résumé/CV (removing all personally identifying information such as age, gender, marital status, address, and photo)
• Cover letter outlining your specific interest and suitability for this role

Job Categories: LGBT. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 60,000 - 80,000.

557 total views, 0 today

Apply for this Job