Program Manager, Defending Human Rights – Kenya

Who is Natural Justice?

Natural Justice is an African non-profit organization specializing in environmental justice. As a team of pioneering lawyers and legal experts, we specialize in human rights, climate law and environmental law to pursue social, climate and environmental justice.

Natural Justice has been working with communities, NGOs, and government agencies in Kenya since 2009. Natural Justice strives to enhance people’s collective rights and protect the sacred relationships indigenous peoples, and local communities have with nature. Our work is informed by the values, knowledge, and self-determination of the communities with whom we stand in solidarity. Through legal empowerment, research, policy influencing and litigation, and as part of coalitions and campaigns, we support communities to know the law, use the law and shape the law. Natural Justice has three main programs: the Affirming Rights Program, Defending Rights Program and Standing with Communities Program.

To learn more about the work of Natural Justice, please refer to www.naturaljustice.org

What we’re looking for

Natural Justice seeks a full-time program manager to implement and further develop the work of the Defending Rights program in the East Africa Hub. Working under the guidance of the Hub Director and working closely with the Head of the Defending Rights and Litigation Program, the Program Manager will engage in strategic advocacy, including environmental and climate litigation, secure partnership development for movement building and advocacy, support community legal empowerment approaches, provide technical and legal advice to local communities affected by extractive, infrastructure, and other large-scale projects, and support the development and implementation of key participatory action research documents on community, public and trust land and other environmental decision-making processes, laws and policies. The successful candidate will be based in Nairobi, with frequent local travel and occasional regional and international travel and will be expected to begin work as soon as possible.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and supervision of the Hub Director, and working closely with the Head of the Defending Rights and Litigation Program, the Program Manager shall perform the following duties:

Leadership

• Provide effective leadership to the staff within the program including mentorship, coaching, team building, on-the-job training to enhance employee performance and other leadership interventions.
• Provide oversight and support to the program on matters concerning program activities and deliverables.
• Strategic planning, project development and work planning
• Work with the Hub Director and the Head of the Defending Rights and Litigation Program to develop the organization’s overall program strategy.
• Develop a litigation strategy for the hub, including supporting and building environmental and climate litigation cases with partner communities.
• Develop and supervise the implementation of the Defending Rights program of work in the hub, including its projects, deliverables, and annual plans, ensuring their alignment with Natural Justice’s overall program strategy.

Technical Advice

• Provide technical and legal advice to partners, affected communities and other relevant stakeholders.
• Lead and assist with drafting legal documents (letters, drafting of pleadings etc.) to advance strategic litigation on behalf of Natural Justice and/or with key partners within the environmental, climate, indigenous and local peoples, and land justice focus areas.
• Support community training on laws, policies and processes that impact communities’ rights and access to land and the environment.
• Respond to inquiries from partners and relevant stakeholders.
• Deliver presentations, organize and conduct workshops/meetings.

Policy and Legal Reform

• Identify and engage with key policy issues and key collaborators.
• Provide comments and make submissions on relevant law and policy.
• Develop and implement a strategic advocacy policy for Defending Rights

Legal Empowerment

• With the other Hub Program Managers, oversee the paralegal projects and provide direct advice and assistance.
• Develop, improve and deliver community training on laws and legal empowerment methodologies.
• Link litigation to advocacy campaigns

Research and MERL

• With the research team, develop the program’s research, monitoring, evaluation and learning tools.
• Write collaborative research reports, concept documents, academic papers, and organizational reports.
• Work with Natural Justice’s Defending Rights team to lead strategy planning and progress meetings and facilitate updates and learnings from across the region.

Partnerships, Networks and Communication

• Identify, build and maintain networks and/or partnerships with relevant stakeholders from government, civil society groups, community-based organizations, the private sector and academia.
• Support the development of partnership documents (MOUs, etc.) where relevant.
• In coordination with the communications team, write articles, comments, statements, articles, blogs and reports relevant to the program for public distribution, including on the Natural Justice website, social media, legal media, etc.
• Contribute to the communications and campaign strategies and outputs of the Hub.

Finance and Administration, Fundraising and Reporting

• Manage the financial, administrative and procurement processes of the projects within the program.
• Manage individual budgets from funders and provide financial guidance to junior staff.
• Assist the Hub Director to identify funding sources, prepare grant applications, and develop and manage relationships with funders.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Law, Environmental sciences, Human Rights, International Relations, Social Sciences or related field from a recognized university.
• A post-graduate degree in law, political science or other relevant social science discipline is desirable.
• Knowledge of Kenya’s constitutional and administrative law, including human rights, land & environmental law.
• Minimum of 5 years relevant work experience in environmental and/or climate change law, including natural resource and/or land law, and administrative law or human rights litigation.
• Understanding of and proficiency in Kenyan and regional legal systems and institutional arrangements.
• Computer literacy- Understanding of data entry, basic computer skills and knowledge of databases.
• Excellent knowledge of spoken and written English and Kiswahili.
• Keen interest in and commitment to advancing the rights of marginalized communities, particularly in relation to their environments.
• Conviction in and commitment to constitutionalism and principles of environmental justice.
• Good legal research skills in law, policy and social issues.
• Experience in conducting fieldwork and working with marginalized communities.
• Experience communicating complex legal issues in an accessible way to communities.
• Experience relating research or project experiences to policy advocacy.
• Experience conducting primary and/or desktop research and preparing clear and analytical reports (with proof of published work).
• Experience writing applications and reporting to donors.
• Experience in program management, including budgeting, project planning, contract drafting, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting.
• Experience in managing and supervising teams.
• An understanding of and experience in the socio-political environment and civil society work in the region.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Citizen of Kenya or authorized to work in Kenya.

Competencies

The desirable traits and attributes include:

• A person of high integrity that will model Natural Justice’s core values.
• Highly motivated, pro-active individual able to work under minimal supervision.
• Ability to prioritize, act on initiative and meet deadlines.
• Ability to think critically and problem solve.
• Reliability and attention to detail.
• Ability to work with the team and to develop and maintain good relationships with community-based or other grassroots groups and partners.
• Demonstrated awareness of and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals from diverse cultures, backgrounds and orientations.
• Professionalism, strong work ethic, and personal initiative (“a self-starter”).
• Critical and analytical thinking.
• Ability to mobilize communities.
• Ability to grasp quickly and accurately new and complex concepts.
• Ability to work under pressure and as part of a team.
• Ability to balance priorities and co-ordinate work effectively in order to meet deadlines and deal with high workloads.
• Willingness and ability to travel often in Kenya and regionally as necessary.