Head of Middle East and North Africa
Role Summary
Join Front Line Defenders as the Head of Middle East and North Africa, leading efforts to protect human rights defenders in the region.
About the Organisation
Front Line Defenders is an international organisation based in Ireland that works exclusively for the protection of human rights defenders at risk. Human rights defenders are people who are persecuted because of their peaceful work for the rights of others. Front Line Defenders provides practical help through protection grants, physical and digital protection training, lobbying, advocacy and campaigning.
Key Responsibilities
- Nurture an inclusive, values-driven, supportive team culture with a focus on delivering impact for human rights defenders in line with the organisation’s vision, values and mission.
- Lead the regional team to develop, monitor, and implement work plans to ensure the delivery of regional strategies. The Head of Region will provide spaces for learning, analysis and strategic planing, as well as convene and chair regular meetings for team coordination and collaboration in the implementation of work plans.
- Work with the regional team across the different areas of response to HRDs, sustaining core workflows while leading initiatives to optimize underperforming processes.
- Support Protection Coordinators’ to spearhead the identification of emerging trends and regional strategic prioritisation, amplifying their voice to inform organisational strategy, and set priorities for coordination with programmes (Resilience and Well being, Protection Grants, Advocacy, Development, Comms&Events, ME).
- In cooperation with the Operations team, contribute to organisational operations systems, procedures and policies to support the efficient functioning of the organisation in their region.
- In close cooperation with respective team members, assess key financial, legal, operational and reputation issues and risks involving the staff and FLD work in the region, and feed into organisation risk management systems.
- Foster healthy behaviour at work, ensuring regular check-ins with staff, spotting early warning signs of stress and burnout, making supportive adjustments at work, and nurturing positive relationships.
- Contributing to active risk management to identify, analyse and mitigate against risks that may impact staff and the delivery of programmes.
- Supporting FLD to be a learning organisation, which continually measures, evaluates, reviews and learns in order to improve and enhance our delivery and responsiveness to HRD’s by anticipating, identifying and solving problems and that we share learning to ensure continuous improvements across teams.
- Plan, manage and monitor the regional annual budget, ensuring strong financial stewardship and effective delivery within agreed parameters.
- Maintain and develop relationships with key partners, supporters, funders, and potential funders.
Eligibility Criteria
Open to applicants with relevant experience in human rights protection; specific eligibility information not provided.
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