Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa)

Deadline: 29 January 2021 (11pm)

Position Location: Any African country

Reporting to: Head Partnerships & Development

Contract Type: 3 Year Fixed Term

Organisational profile

Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa) is a feminist, pan-African, Rapid Response Fund committed to transforming power relations through resourcing African feminists and women human rights defenders and their formations as an act of solidarity. Recognising the need to move resources rapidly on a continent where opportunities and threats arise and decline quickly, UAF-Africa uses a Rapid Response Grantmaking mechanism to support unanticipated, time-sensitive, innovative and unique initiatives that promote women's agency in peace and political participation, social and economic power building as well as natural resources governance and stewardship. The Fund works to support African Women Human Rights Defenders (AWHRDs), particularly in the feminist and women’s rights movements, in their actions, which enable them to support and sustain themselves, each other and their work before, during and after urgent situations.

UAF-Africa mobilises resources from a broad base of international and increasingly local funders committed to protecting and advancing women’s rights and feminist agendas in Africa. Our primary purpose is to provide funding to AWHRDs and their groups, organisations and the movements to help them prepare for and navigate urgent situations with appropriate actions.

UAF-Africa is registered in Kenya and Zimbabwe. Operating as a virtual organisation, the Fund boasts of strategic physical presence in East Africa: Nairobi, Kenya and Kampala, Uganda; North Africa: Cairo, Egypt; Central Africa: Bujumbura, Burundi and Yaoundé, Cameroon; Southern Africa: Harare, Zimbabwe, Antananarivo, Madagascar and West Africa: Abuja, Nigeria, Cotonou, Benin and Dakar, Senegal.

Position overview

The Content Developer will support the Partnerships & Development programme to ensure effective solidarity and support to African Women Human Rights Defenders (AWHRDs) and women's human rights formations to protect and advance women's rights agendas. The commitment to an active demonstration of solidarity and support means that a large part of the Fund’s work is steeped in relationships. The form of these relationships includes partnerships of varying kinds; funders, organisational and activist networks, alliances and coalitions. The primary role of this position is content development, requiring a good analytical understanding of UAF-Africa strategic plan through the lens of feminism, human rights, social justice and philanthropy. For this position, technical expertise in feminist critical analysis and activism, funding proposal writing and reporting, women’s rights programming and philanthropic advocacy are prerequisite. The candidate reports directly to the Head- Partnerships & Development.

Specific responsibilities

Develop content to support implementation of UAF-Africa’s donor engagement and resource mobilisation strategic goals; Collaborate with the Knowledge Leadership Manager to support trends analysis of AWHRDs’ lived realities and African feminist activism (from the work of the Fund) to generate content supporting the Fund’s philanthropic advocacy and partner engagement work; Collaborate with the Knowledge Leadership and Communication & Media programmes to create specific and general content (for distribution across diverse channels) in line with the Fund’s strategic priorities; Weave together the Fund’s work and collaboratively engage other staff within the Fund to prepare funder proposals, programming reports and any such publications used to showcase the work of the Fund; Receive, synthesise and develop content from diverse programmes for timely delivery and targeted dissemination to select partners; Establish and maintain UAF-Africa’s partnership map based on the partnership categories within the Fund (Core Partners, Community Partners, Complementary Partners and Contributing Partners); Ensure that the values and guiding principles of UAF-Africa are adhered to throughout UAF-Africa’s partnership activities; Perform other duties as may be required.

Qualifications

Master’s Degree in Social Sciences, Women/Gender Studies, Law, Human rights, or other relevant fields.

Skills and experience

Minimum of 7 years’ relevant work experience working in women’s rights, social justice and or development-related programmes at the national, regional or international level, preferably with women’s rights or philanthropic organisations; A feminist activist or practitioner with politically sound writing and linguistic expertise and knowledgeable about philanthropic engagement involving structurally excluded women; Demonstrated proficiency in written and spoken English communication skills. Fluency in written and spoken French is a plus; High levels of creativity and thought leadership in resource mobilization and philanthropic advocacy desired; Proven commitment to feminism, social justice and power shift within the philanthropic and women’s rights ecosystems; Responsive, thoughtful, politically attuned, culturally humble, and able to convey complex pan-African women’s realities in clear ways to a range of audiences; Passionate about UAF-Africa’s mission, committed to teamwork, and achieving results; Detail-oriented with the ability to manage and track big picture data and deadlines across multiple partners; A self-aware and strategic thinker who thrives in complexity and ambiguity-possessing strong content organisational skills; Self-starter, proactive teammate who thinks creatively, ambitiously, nimbly and can make decisions under conditions of uncertainty; Strong initiative with ability to work independently as well as collaboratively in a cross-cultural and virtual team; Flexible and willing to perform other tasks as assigned, in a fast-paced, team-oriented work environment; UAF-Africa is part of a global UAF-Sisterhood network and staff are expected to occasionally work collaboratively with the UAF-Sister Funds.

Work environment

This is a regional position that involves some national, regional and international travel. UAF-Africa is an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate in its hiring practices. In order to build the strongest possible workforce, UAF-Africa actively seeks a diverse applicant pool. The Fund is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. This position will be based on the successful candidates’ African country of residence.