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As Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, you will play a key leadership role in the Southern Africa Regional Office of Amnesty International. You understand campaigning trends and innovations and can guide and lead your team members to deliver high quality and impactful campaigns for human rights. You are strategic, resilient and creative, and uphold the high standards that underpin the credibility of Amnesty International.

About Amnesty International Southern Africa Regional Office

The Southern Africa Regional Office plays a critical role in the Amnesty International Secretariat, gathering and communicating accurate and action-oriented human rights information and delivering on the vision to end grave human rights abuses and build societies respectful of human rights. In Southern Africa, Amnesty International campaigns for meaningful change, enables effective activism and works to persuade governments and other actors to uphold universal human rights standards. The office also provides strategic leadership and support and advice to the Amnesty International movement globally, fostering its contribution, presence and public accountability throughout the world.

About the role

The DRDC will be part of the senior management team and will deputize as agreed or nominated, for the Regional Director in his or her absence. As such, the DRDC will represent AI in high-level meetings with various stakeholders.

The DRDC will manage the development and implementation of human rights campaigns and advocacy action plans for countries within the office’s remit, in line with globally agreed priorities and strategies.

The DRDC will ensure compliance with globally developed quality assurance and impact assessment methodologies to ensure consistency and impartiality and measure human rights impact within the region.

The DRDC will be required to use his or her political judgement and expertise to advise and support the Regional Director and broader management group on AI’s substantive human rights work in the region, including emerging issues, trends and crisis situations.

Purpose of the role

• Manage and coordinate action, support, and expert advice for campaigns in the regional office, the wider AI movement, and outside networks to ensure maximum campaign impact.
• Lead strategic planning and implementation of the regional office’s annual work plans, learning, monitoring and evaluating to demonstrate the impact of human rights work.
• Represent AI at the highest levels, including with government and inter-governmental officials as well as civil society groups and media to enhance the impact of the regional office’s campaigns agenda.
• Serve as a member of the regional office senior management team and deputise for the Regional Director as needed.
• Provide strategic management and supervision of campaign staff and financial resources.
• Work closely with the Deputy Regional Director Research to ensure integrated ways of working between campaigns and research staff.
• Work with others in the Campaigns Directorate to advance learning, integrated ways of working and achieve rights impact work in the regional office.

Duties and responsibilities

Management

• With the Regional Director, recruit and manage campaigns staff, including those working remotely, and ensure performance is managed, talent is nurtured and skills are developed.
• Set, monitor, manage and report on budget and expenditure for the work undertaken by their team.
• Manage risk assessments and oversee the implementation of security procedures for regional office staff, staff undertaking missions and travel, and other instances of high risk.
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with AI’s sections and structures in order to identify and exploit opportunities for co-operation, information-sharing and problem-solving.

Campaigns Management and strategic oversight

• Lead and/or manage the Regional Office’s campaigns fieldwork to ensure that political, strategic, technical and security concerns are reviewed and adequately mitigated.
• Ensure integration of campaigns and research in order to provide an effective, coherent programme of work which delivers tangible outcomes for human rights in conformity with AI’s mission and consistent with its priorities, strategies and standards.

Quality Assurance

• Be responsible for overall quality of campaign plans and campaigning output from the regional office, coordinating with or seeking input from continental or global teams as required.
• Ensure all outputs go through appropriate quality assurance frameworks including, but not limited to, research, law and policy review.

Skills and experience

• Extensive experience of leading campaigns at the national & international level through a campaign’s lifecycle (issue identification, strategy development, campaign delivery, monitoring & evaluation, campaign exit and impact assessment), and using strategic campaign methodologies & tools.
• Knowledge of the Southern Africa sub-region in which the post operates as well as global issues and trends; and the ability to work effectively within a varied and changing set of focus issues or countries.
• Experience of managing people and teams, of successfully coaching and mentoring people, and encouraging integrated and new ways of working; possess the ability to identify and address skills gaps and experience of capacity building and training.
• Experience of working in a key leadership role in a complex organisation, ideally based outside the organisation’s global head office, preferably with experience of maintaining a successful operation during times of organisational change.
• Ability to matrix manage cross-functional, multi-cultural, and distance project teams.
• Experience of working with colleagues, partners and/or rights-holders based around the world, including the global North and global South; knowledge of participatory methodologies desirable.
• Experience of managing conflicting demands, meeting deadlines, managing budgets and adjusting priorities.
• Willingness to be accountable for decisions and actions; possesses the ability to develop long-term plans and to adapt to fast-changing political situations in an international environment.
• Excellent political judgment, and the ability to spot and address both risks and opportunities.
• Able to negotiate, challenge and confront conflict, brokering solutions to achieve goals.
• Experience leading innovative and creative approaches to campaigning including online and offline activism techniques and a range of digital channels to achieve campaign objectives.
• Able to inspire and motivate a wide range of people, and experience creating campaign materials for a diverse range of target audiences.  
• Understands the organisational needs of a membership-based organisation and the implications of this for developing and implementing campaigns internationally.
• Excellent written and verbal communications skills in English. Working knowledge of additional languages an advantage.