About Free to be Me

Free to Be Me is an ambitious, daring and innovative program that will help build and maintain a vibrant LGBTIQ+ movement that is confident and capable to lobby and advocate for their human and economic rights. The program is led by an alliance of three consortium members – Hivos (the lead party), ILGA World and Positive Vibes. Together the alliance will coach, accompany, fund and train LGBTIQ+ persons and organizations to influence norms and attitudes, generate (public) support, and promote laws, policies and regulations that recognize, respect and protect LGBTIQ+ people’s human and economic rights.

The program is being implemented in 12 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It started in April 2021 and is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the Power of Voices program, which is part of the Strengthening Civil Society subsidy framework. The five-year program has a budget of EUR 37 million.

Main goal of the position

Mutual capacity exchange is a core element of the Free to be Me program, aiming for it to contribute to stronger, coordinated, LGBTIQ+ -led lobby and advocacy. Free to be Me considers capacity strengthening as a reciprocal process, in which each of the participants both has things to offer and to learn. Capacity strengthening will take place both through workshops and trainings, and through exchange of experiences between organizations and persons, accompaniment and coaching. We are looking for a person to coordinate, design, implement and guide capacity strengthening efforts. Organizing and realizing on- and offline cross-learning events is part of the job.

The capacity strengthening officer will support and carry out activities in all program countries across Africa, the MENA region and Southeast Asia. They will be part of the global team, and will report to the global program manager, who is based in Hivos’ regional office in Nairobi.

Responsibilities

Leadership and management of capacity strengthening efforts

• Makes connections between relevant persons and organizations, to enhance capacity strengthening and learning within Free to be Me.
• Designs, implements and evaluates capacity strengthening efforts, with an emphasis on mutual learning.
• Implements the Free to be Me capacity strengthening strategy and provides ongoing support to utilize existing relevant partners’ resources and tools.
• Supports and convenes the national-level Communities of Action in organizing locally relevant, innovative, inspiring events that facilitate capacity exchange and linking and learning within the Right Holders communities, as well as with outside actors, such as artists, technologists, etc.
• Takes a leading role in organizing regional and/or international level capacity strengthening sessions, building on local experiences, and in close collaboration with local organizations and Alliance partners.
• Provides guidance and support to build upon the tools and processes that have been co-designed during early phases of the program. The Capacity Strengthening Officer ensures a focus not only on implementation, but also analyses adaptation to continue to accelerate understanding of capacity strengthening needs within the F2BM ecosystem.

Increased capacities and knowledge of all involved in the partnership

• Guides the overall assessment of capacity needs and develops training tools as needed and applies existing training tools to strengthen country level advocacy efforts.
• Ensures insights, results, and lessons from capacity strengthening efforts are fed back to and considered in the Communities of Action, within the alliance and in the overarching management team, and vice versa.
• Ensures and strengthens the meaningful and inclusive intersectional participation as a core value of the program.
• Motivates, trains, supports and guides communities of action in capacity strengthening efforts. Enables effective teamwork towards agreed objectives.
• Maintains and updates learning across the program and the partnership, stimulates internal and external knowledge exchange and integrates learning into practice.
• Contributes to the Free to be Me learning agenda as a program team and Hivos organizational function.
• Provide technical leadership on knowledge management to support the implementation and iteration of tools and processes for more effective analysis and response to the country contexts and capacity strengthening needs.
• Contributes to overarching plans, monitoring and reports.

Requirements

• At least 5 years of knowledge/experience in designing and implementing capacity strengthening programs.
• Believes in/embodies what Free to be Me stands for, acknowledges LGBTIQ+ leadership and local ownership, and is inspired by and willing to be accountable to its values and principles.
• Relevant international work experience, with a focus on Africa, the MENA region, and Southeast Asia.
• Professional expertise and up-to-date knowledge on online and offline capacity strengthening strategies and methodologies, that go beyond workshops, and include, but are not limited to mutual exchange and peer-to-peer learning, coaching, learning events.
• Experience in working with LGBTIQ+, including with groups marginalized within that community, and having a demonstrable strong commitment to work towards gender equality and inclusion, and the fulfillment of human rights.
• Affinity with and knowledgeable on LGBTIQ+ rights, social inclusion, marginalization, economic development and/or lobby and advocacy strategies.
• Innovative and strategic thinker, able to link capacity strengthening and learning to wider program outcomes.
• Collaborative personality and participatory way of working, able to build trust and inspire people to share ideas and experiences, and work together.
• Sense of humor, takes initiative, brings good energies and positive vibes, dynamic.
• Imaginative, able to make unorthodox connections to solve challenging problems.
• Academic level of working and thinking, acquired through either a relevant degree, for example in educational sciences, psychology, social sciences or through equivalent work experience.
• Full professional proficiency in English, fluency in written and spoken Arabic, French, Bahasa or Portuguese are desirable.
• Lived experience as an LGBTIQ+ person is an asset.
• Able and willing to travel internationally on a regular basis.

Want to apply

We particularly welcome applications from right holders, LGBTIQ+ in the broadest sense of each of these terms. We offer a contract based on Hivos East Africa’s local labor conditions, with a remuneration commensurate with the experience and expertise requested.

You are welcome to submit your application on the apply button by July 21, 2024.

APPLY HERE