SIHA Background

The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) is a network of civil society organizations from Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Uganda. SIHA’s Secretariat in Kampala provides programme support, guidance to active country programmes in Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Somalia in additional to carrying out regional programming and advocacy work.

SIHA’s core mandate focuses on the following:

· Work to support women’s access to justice across the Horn of Africa in line with international and regional human rights mechanisms and to challenge the concepts and practices that promote violence against women through the application of militant religion and customary/traditional law;

· Engage with women community leaders, activists and women rights defenders and provide direct support to them and contribute to their skills development and promotion of their roles inside their countries and communities;

· Engage with women living in conflict situations, particularly in Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia and provide support that contributes to the elimination of all forms of SGBV and other forms of violence directed against them and support their participation and voices in their country’s peace and security processes;

· Recognize and support the human rights of women IDPs / migrants and racial / religious minorities through strengthening their self-reliance and access to services, enhancing their capacity for collective activism, reducing their vulnerability to violence, and promoting their social and economic well-being.

As a regional platform for activists on gender equality and women’s human rights in the Horn of Africa, we have a unique role of being one of the few indigenous networks run by Civil Society from across the region. At SIHA, we are very keen on further maintaining our work to support education on effective campaigning and lobbying to address regional and international platforms using collective and coordinated approaches to create both powerful and sustainable social change in the Horn of Africa.

II. Summary and Objectives of the Position

SIHA is currently recruiting for a Uganda Area coordinator (AC) who will be responsible for overall supervision of SIHA Uganda projects. The AC will be responsible for the planning, implementation, and quality assurance of all SIHA projects in Uganda. The AC will oversee expenditures and track project budgets and write and compile reports for donors. SIHA is a women’s right’s organisation and advocacy and coalition building are key components of our projects, the AC will be expected to plan and lead on advocacy activities, awareness and education. The AC will also identify programmatic priorities and funding opportunities, develop concept notes and proposals and develop positive relations with donors and government stakeholders and other relevant actors. SIHA is a growing organization and is seeking candidates capable of contributing to this growth and assisting SIHA to make important impacts on women and girls’ well-being in the Horn of Africa.

III. Key Responsibilities

SIHA anticipates that the Area Coordinator’s focus will be on meeting the following core responsibilities:

1. Ensure efficient and effective implementation of project tasks, Monitor activities implemented in the field, ensuring effective outputs suggesting modifications as necessary;
2. Identify relevant areas of programming and funding opportunities and build positive relations with donors and relevant stakeholders;
3. Provide financial management, ensuring transparency and accuracy in financial reporting;
4. Support on research on women rights and gender equality challenges within the region and suggest programs and initiatives for the SIHA program team;
5. Work closely with SIHA’s local-level partners in the project, supporting them in the implementation of the project or as otherwise requested by the SIHA Secretariat and ensure to feed this to the SIHA Advocacy and Communications;
6. Ensure adequate stakeholder connections are established in Uganda, and that project activities can be safely shared with these key figures;
7. Facilitate for the planning of all SIHA public and stakeholder events
8. Engage actively in fundraising , searching for fundraising opportunities for the region
9. To support in the development of policy papers , statements and briefing that would need to be produced by SIHA out of Uganda office;
10. To support in the development and implementation of internal office management systems that ensure compliance with SIHA policies and procedures;

IV. Candidate Key Competencies

In order to fulfill the role of Area Coordinator, SIHA envisions that the Area Coordinator will possess the following core competencies:

• Graduate-level degree focusing on International Human Rights, Law, International Relations, Humanitarian Aid, Development Studies, or a related field. Students currently enrolled in graduate programmes / dissertation writing can be considered;
• Familiarity, with aspects of proposal writing, project / programme management best practices, and the development of reporting templates;
• Understanding of current Horn of Africa context, particularly in references to challenges facing women and girls in terms of access to justice, human security, upholding of human rights, and social and economic well-being;
• Possessing of strong sense of initiative and ability to manage a significant work load;
• Experience with human rights instruments, State obligations in upholding human rights standards, and willingness to familiarize oneself with domestic law in horn Countries that either supports or counteracts the upholding of human rights standards;
• Sense of creativity and interest in exploring the links between grassroots activists (local scale) and broader human and women’s rights initiatives (international / global scale), with an ability to gauge how best the former can inform and guide the latter.

Interested Candidates are asked to provide their current CV and Cover Letter, expressing her/his motivation in applying and relevant experience/expertise, to SIHA’s Human Resources Department humanresourcesiha@gmail.com

Please enter “Application Materials: SIHA Network: UGANDA AREA COORDINATOR” in the subject line.

SIHA may, because of the immediate need of the recruitment, contact shortlisted candidates before 19TH May 2019. Due to the anticipated volume of applications, please note that SIHA will contact only shortlisted candidates. We thank you for your interest in joining SIHA!