THE NEED

WITNESS’ United States Program supports activists, advocates and legal experts across the U.S. to better utilize digital video and technology to expose abuses, create counter-narratives, uphold human rights values, and advocate for change. Currently, our work is focused on (but not limited to) ending state violence through the thematic areas of police accountability, immigrant rights, Indigenous rights and decarceration.  To address these issues, we engage in partnerships, provide workshops and develop training resources that touch on everything from documenting human rights violations, to effective and ethical storytelling, to holistic digital security practices.

We are seeking a Senior Program Coordinator to support developing collaborations, assessing and responding to needs within communities and movements, coordinating online/in-person trainings, creating and distributing tailored resources, conducting rapid response initiatives, and sharing of lessons across interrelated movements in the U.S. and in WITNESS' programmatic work in Latin America, Middle East/North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia-Pacific.

THE ROLE & RESPONSIBILITIES

Trainings, Partnerships and Engagements

• Provide support and guidance to partners implementing strategies for enhancing the use of video and tech in their work, create feedback loops to learn from successes and challenges
• In collaboration with U.S. Senior Program Manager, develop strategies to foster and maintain key relationships and explore opportunities for deeper engagements and projects around using video and tech to end state violence in the U.S.
• Organize and facilitate (or co-facilitate) trainings and public events
• Identify opportunities and develop strategies for rapidly responding to moments of crisis with relevant resources and support (i.e. mass protests, mobilizations around Indigenous land rights)
• Monitor, assess and implement changes to the strategy based on learnings and reflections
• Help develop and maintain relationships with journalists and media outlets, add WITNESS’ perspective and expertise to media pieces

Resource Development and Sharing

• Identify gaps and needs in the field and support the creation and/or tailoring of relevant resources around the use of video and technology for advocacy and evidentiary purposes
• Seek opportunities to collaborate with peers and partner organization on resource development and distribution
• Help develop, execute and adapt creative online/social media strategies for broad distribution, engagement and analysis around training materials to networks of activists and civic witnesses on Twitter, Instagram, FB, YouTube, etc.
• Create and post content for U.S. newsletter (Mailchimp), the WITNESS blog and websites, keep relevant webpages up to date (Wordpress)
• Gather, assess and evaluate the and impact of resource creation and distribution campaigns (including metrics, anecdotes, etc.)

Support other regional and thematic programmatic work

• Provide input to overall programmatic direction and how regional trends in the human rights landscape inform overall WITNESS global strategy.
• Seek opportunities to collaborate and support work across thematic and regional programs (i.e. Video as Evidence, Archiving, Land Rights, War Crimes). Share feedback with the team on experiences and lessons learned in the use of video by U.S. communities and networks.

Organizational and Departmental Support:

• Administrative: Undertake necessary administrative functions with respect to the Program region, including updating contact database, processing expenses, and managing budgets.
• Evaluation: Help monitor, assess, and evaluate activities, partnerships, and plans. On an as needed basis, provide programmatic activity details, status, and progress measurements to Deputy Program Director for the annual report, case studies, and other organizational updates.
• Outreach and Communication: Participate in public presentations in connection with various WITNESS activities; Speak at events and provide input on WITNESS' promotional materials with respect to the US region; create and contribute to content for use on WITNESS' website(s), and social networking sites.
• Fundraising Support: Support raising funds for relevant projects by providing input on fundraising proposals, budgets, and reports with respect to programmatic activities and attending selective meetings with donors.
• Recruitment, training, and volunteer supervision: In coordination with the Program Associate and the Deputy Program Director, recruit, train, and directly supervise volunteers

POSITION REQUIREMENTS:

The ideal candidate will have a balance of experience in human rights, facilitation and digital communications.

• Work Experience: A minimum of 3-5 years experience working in human rights, advocacy, political activism, social justice, video for change, or other related fields, and with a demonstrated capacity to think creatively and effectively about engagement and advocacy.
• Human rights and Racial Justice: A demonstrated commitment to racial justice and human rights and understanding of how human rights operate in both domestic and international contexts
• Trainer: Experience working as an educator or workshop facilitator, and with creating learning materials
• Community Leader: Demonstrated experience building relationships with and working alongside communities directly affected by human rights violations in the United States, or already a leader in relevant movement(s) addressing critical and timely issues, such as racial inequality and climate justice.
• Education: You can tell us about your degrees, but we’re more interested in what your passions are and what you can do. If your degrees are part of that story, great! (But no formal education required).
• Characteristics: Demonstrated record of dynamism and self-starting action. Strong interpersonal skills and aptitude for cross-cultural communication. Team-minded. Is organized and follows through.
• Location: Preference for someone based in New York, but anywhere in U.S. is OK
• Other Important Skills:
  • Languages: Fluent spoken and written English required to work with global team who uses this as shared language. Additional languages a plus. Native speaker of English not required.
  • Video Producer & Storyteller: Experience with video production and multimedia storytelling are not required, but are a big plus.
  • Platforms: Proficiency w/Google work suite as Gdocs, sheets, forms are heavily used across WITNESS. Familiarity with design platforms is a big plus (i.e. Adobe Creative Suite, Canva, etc.)
  • Detail oriented: Highly organized and pays close attention to detail.
  • Social Media: Experience with using various social media platforms in a professional capacity

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply, send your cover letter, resume, and contact information for 3 references to usajob@witness.org with the subject line “Senior Program Coordinator - U.S” [Your name]”.

Please include a cover letter. We are interested in hearing about what you’ve done, what you can do, and what you want to do at WITNESS.

Thank you.

http://www.witness.org

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  Applications accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled. Please note that due to the volume anticipated, we will not be able to respond individually to each applicant.  We kindly ask that you do not send duplicate applications via mail or email, and no phone calls.

WITNESS is an equal opportunity employer. People of all ages, races, ethnicities, national origins, religions, genders, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, and individuals protected by any other statuses under federal, state or local laws, including but not limited to, disability, marital, domestic partnership, familial, caregiver, transgender, military or veteran statuses, are encouraged to apply. Authorization to work in the U.S. is required.

*Other categories may be relevant and may be added.

The position description is a guide to the critical duties and essential functions of the job, not an all-inclusive list of responsibilities, qualifications, physical demands and work environment conditions.  Position descriptions are reviewed and revised to meet the changing needs of WITNESS at the sole discretion of the management.