Research and Advocacy Associate

Organization: Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

Location: Tunis office

Position: Research and Advocacy Associate

Reporting to: Operations and Activities Coordinator

Starting Date: January 2025

Job type: Full-time

Contract Duration: 12 months with the possibility of extension

Salary: Commensurate with experience.

About the Organization

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) was established in 1993 as a regional NGO dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights. Its mission is to strengthen the human rights movement within the Arab region. For 30 years, CIHRS has played a unique and central role in identifying and responding to the challenges and needs of this movement and helping to shape its development. CIHRS enjoys consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC and observer status with the African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights. CIHRS has received numerous awards for its work, including the French Republic Award for Human Rights in December (2007), and an award from the Library of Alexandria (2010).

Job Description and Purpose:

The Research and Advocacy Associate (RAA) plays a key support role within the Research Unit and Arab Region Advocacy Program (ARAP) at CIHRS. The RAA will assist in managing the day-to-day coordination and provide logistical support to ensure smooth operational workflow and activity implementation, facilitate communication across units, and deliver high-quality outputs that align with CIHRS’s mission.

RAA will collaborate closely with other programmatic and operational teams and shall report directly to the Operations and Activities Coordinator. 

Tasks

• Develop and update a filing system and database to maintain program memory
• Facilitate coordination of research and Advocacy efforts
• Collaborate with researchers and advocates through regular check-ins and updates to identify and provide necessary support and resources
• Coordinating meetings and activities; updating programs’ calendars; writing minutes of meetings and following up on meetings outcomes with concerned parties;
• Facilitate the communication and coordination between the ARAP, Research, and Media units, ensuring that all teams are well informed about each other’s upcoming activities and priorities.
• Organizing online meetings and events using Zoom and other communication tools;
• Manage the publications’ tracker and coordinate the production desk including but not limited to, translating, editing, and approval.
• Track the organization’s subscriptions and memberships
• Ensuring proper translation of materials, including translating, matching, and reviewing if needed;
• Manage all administrative and logistical aspects of program activities, meetings, training courses, lectures, and conferences, including but not limited to, reservations, transportation, participant coordination, and preparation of materials.
• Monitor activity spending and ensure expenses align with budgets and CIHRS policies in consultation with finance and admin colleagues.
• Liaise with the finance department to ensure staff compliance with CIHRS financial policies
• Maintain a record of planned and implemented staff missions
• Collecting data and performing limited research tasks as needed to support the work of the Research and ARAP units.

Requirements

• Excellent English and Arabic language skills. knowledge of French is a strong asset;
• A university degree. An academic background in human rights is an asset;
• A minimum of one year experience working in the civil society sector, ideally in a human rights setting
• Demonstrable interest in the human rights context in the Arab region
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative and work independently with minimal supervision;
• Excellent communication skills; Ability to effectively communicate information and ideas in written and verbal format, and build and maintain relationships;
• Excellent ability to work as part of a team;
• Ability to work well under pressure, to adapt to emerging issues and changing priorities;
• Willingness and ability to travel;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment;
• Creative, diplomatic, and good interpersonal skills;
• Detail oriented;
• Computer skills using a variety of software packages, such as Google Suite, Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, etc., to produce correspondence and documents and maintain presentations, records, spreadsheets and databases;
• Familiarity with online communication tools mainly Zoom, and Google Meet.

Commitment to Equality

CIHRS is committed to ensuring equality and non-discrimination on grounds of sex, race, religion, or belief in its hiring process. CIHRS is a multicultural environment that celebrates diversity. All employees are expected to promote and act in a manner that ensures a non-discriminatory, open, and sensitive approach to others from different backgrounds and cultures.

Benefits

Paid vacation allowance of 20 days per year plus national holidays, sick leave allowance according to CIHRS internal policies. Compensation days if required to work outside of contracted hours.

How to Apply

All applicants must submit the following documents by midnight (CET) on 23 December 2024:

• Updated CV including details of language skills.
• Cover letter; responding to the above criteria.

Applications should be submitted to recruitments@cihrs.org with the subject title “Research and Advocacy Associate”.

Only applicants who have been shortlisted for an interview will be contacted.