Human Rights Advocacy Officer - Ermelo at Anova Health Institute

Job Description

Anova is an NGO that empowers people and changes lives. Good health and quality of life is what motivates us to provide healthcare solutions and provide support to those who needs it most.

We are looking to appoint a Human Rights Advocacy Officer to coordinate, monitor and oversee the implementation of the Health4Men project in Mpumalanga/Limpopo Province. Foster an on-going relationship with the Department of Health's management on a provincial, district, sub-district and facility level. The Human Rights Advocacy Officer is required to lead and coordinate a team of Reactors.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Project coordination, Stakeholder engagement and management

• Maintain and support the human rights components of the Men who have sex with other men, and as Key Population in Global Fund/BZ supported districts.
• Play a vital role in ensuring functional integration of human rights interventions through systematic referral systems between communities, health facilities, law firms, SAPS, Thuthuzela Care Centres and local service providers.
• Engagement and awareness on core activities
• Lead on Human Rights and Advocacy priorities.
• Conduct Advocacy Issue identification events.
• Lead in the development and implementation of action plans to address prioritised advocacy issues.
• Conduct linkages and integration of the program to existing government initiatives.
• Support linkage to care of key and vulnerable populations, including the LGBTI community.
• Facilitate focus group discussions/creative spaces for key and vulnerable populations, including the MSM key population.
• Develop, strengthen, and sustain partnership with relevant key stakeholders.
• Training of community members, staff, and key stakeholders in human rights advocacy approaches to identify, analyse and report human rights violations to their local based structures such as the Human Rights Committees and law clinics.
• Provide case management and tracking for all reported human rights violation cases of MSM.
• Ensure a function linkage and referral systems between service providers.
• Monitor and report on successes including challenges of the referral system and problem solve as needed.
• Report on caseload on reported cases per age and gender breakdown and trend per key vulnerable populations.
• Document and provide feedback on reported cases.
• Identify priority interventions for challenging human rights issues raised through community mobilization approaches in the districts.
• Work with Monitoring and evaluation teams to support, monitor, document and report on advocacy and campaign activities conducted.
• Compile and submit Monthly /quarterly narrative and other relevant reports.
• Compile programme reports for stakeholder’s meetings.
• Manage communication with stakeholders.

Team and staff management

• Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new employees to meet organizational needs.
• Analyzing and assessing team performance
• Assigning tasks and projects to employees according to their strengths and weaknesses.
• Manage Technical Support Team - Provide support, supervise staff, and provide direction and mentorship.

Financial Management

• Clear understanding of financial management ACT (PFMA).
• Be able to manage the finances of the program.

Reporting and Administration

• Prepare and submit Weekly statistics reports and plans, detailed Monthly reports & detailed quarterly reports by deadline.
• Ensure that all registers are scanned and uploaded weekly, by Mondays.
• Ensure that all registers are filed accordingly.
• Ensure that the Competency Tracking tool is updated weekly.
• Submit own weekly plans to PM by deadline

Perform duties as assigned by line manager.

Minimum qualifications and experience:

• Matric
• Bachelors in Social Work or Bachelor of Law degree.
• Experience in working on Human Rights/Sexual Reproductive Health/TB and HIV/AIDS in the NGO or government sector.           
• Minimum of 3 years working experience in a similar role.
• Knowledge and exposure to a range of human rights issues including barriers to accessing legal and health services in Global Fund supported districts.
• Proficiency in speaking and writing, in English and any local language.
• Very high-level understanding of key populations especially MSM / WSW.
• Significant up-to-date knowledge of HIV and AIDS and TB and STIs and appropriate responses to them.
• Good verbal communication in the provincial languages
• Experience in working with MS Office package (Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet, PowerPoint)
• Effecting approaches to addressing complex and sensitive issues.
• Organising and negotiation skills.
• Taking a lead role in the resolution of issues.
• Ability to work with people of all backgrounds. Suitably experienced candidates will be persons openly living with HIV, adolescent and young people, sex workers, transgender persons, etc.
• Good interpersonal skills.
• Knowledge of the district and community resources in the district.
• Staying in the programme district.
• Driver’s license with clear evidence of safe and considerate driving.
• Organisation to work effectively.
• Driven to achieve results.
• Decision-making
• Conceptual thinking
• Developing others
• Facilitating change
• Influencing others