We are in an expansion phase, which has opened up many exciting job opportunities. Do you have experience in working for human rights in Latin America? Do you want to use your project management skills to support political prisoners and their families? Do you want to contribute to the advocacy work of Civil Rights Defenders in Latin America and internationally? Then you might be the one we are looking for.

About the role

As Programme Officer you will be responsible for building and managing the Latin America department’s new political prisoner project. The project will start by building a methodology for the support and then implementing the support. The work will also include building an advocacy campaign to release the prisoners.

The role offers a variety of tasks, including :

• Building the project from scratch, defining what group of prisoners to work with, how to deliver the support, and how to advocate for their release internationally.
• Maintaining daily contact with families to prisoners who live under very much stress and sorrow, and in economically complicated situations.
• Internal administration as writing annual plans of action and reports, as well as delivering requested information to donors.
• Contributing to Civil Rights Defender’s general work in Latin America.

About you

As a person, you prefer to collaborate, lead, motivate, and empower others to reach common goals effectively. You see the long-term significance and further consequences of things and act accordingly. Furthermore, you like to engage in teamwork and contribute constructively, and through clear communication, you ensure that messages are reached and that expectations are clear to all parties involved.

We assume that you share our values.

To be suitable for this role you have:

• Master’s degree in Law, Political Science, International Relations, Social Work, Psychology or similar;
• Five years of working with human rights and/or civil society in Latin America.
• Working and travelling in complex environments;
• Project management from the NGO sector;
• Advocacy work in favour of human rights;
• Strong written and verbal communication skills in English and Spanish;
• Administrative skills when it comes to project management;
• Experience in project design and strategic planning.

It is a merit if you have:

• Expertise in tools to improve wellbeing and reduce stress
• Expertise in international Human Rights Mechanisms;
• Expertise in advocacy and campaign;
• Strong network in the human rights world of Latin America;
• Strong network among human rights donors;
• Expertise in digital and physical security.

About the employment

This is a full-time permanent employment with 2 months probation period starting in March 2024 or according to agreement. As an organisation, we strive for diversity, and we see your background, experience and personality as a contribution to the organisation. You will be based in Bogotá, Colombia, and you will have a Colombian employee contract.

Please apply as soon as possible as we recruit on an ongoing basis, but no later than 7 of January 2024.

If you have any questions on the recruitment process, please contact Human Resources Partner Mirjam Warne, mirjam.warne@crd.org.

About us

Civil Rights Defenders is a politically and religiously independent international human rights organisation. We defend people’s civil and political rights in some of the world’s most repressive regions. We partner with and support human rights defenders in more than 300 organisations in 50 countries on four continents. Together with our partners, we hold those in power accountable when people’s civil or political rights are violated. We also act as Sweden’s civil rights watchdog.

Civil Rights Defenders has around 100 staff members working in various functions towards our vision – a world of democratic societies in which we all enjoy our civil and political rights. Our headquarters is located in Stockholm, and we have eight branch offices around the world. Learn more about our work at crd.org.