Litigation / Legal Officer in Charge of the Access to Justice Programme

Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) is inviting applications from individuals for the following position:

Job Title: Litigation / Legal Officer in Charge of the Access to Justice Programme

Duty Station: Nairobi

CREAW is a non-governmental, non-partisan, membership organization whose Mission is to transform society by empowering women and expanding new frontiers for women's rights and freedoms.

Our Vision is a just and free society in which women and men have, exercise and enjoy equal and full rights and opportunities.

Job Purpose

Reporting to the Executive Director, the officer will provide programmatic, technical and implementation leadership of the Access to Justice programme/ projects in a professional, efficient and effective manner.

Key Roles & Responsibilities:

• Conceptualization, design, and implementation of innovative projects within the Access to Justice programme/ projects.
• Provide legal advice to women on matters concerning Women Human rights, Gender based violence and other areas of local and international law.
• Provide legal representation to women before various institution and platforms in courts of law, police stations, chiefs’ offices among others.
• Initiate partnership and liaise with state functionaries service providers and academia to assist women facing gender based violence /other forms of discrimination.
• Conceptualizing and heading all public interest litigation suites.
• Analyzing and critiquing of bills and legislation affecting women’s human rights
• Prepare /quarterly reports of the cases handled by the Access to Justice programme/ projects.
• Provide legal trainings and prepare training materials for partner organizations and other stakeholders. Plan and participate in the conduct of alternate dispute resolution mechanisms provided in law. Interact with a network of law enforcement authorities, government officials, service providers, activists in the women's movement etc.
• Prepare, in a timely manner, materials for both internal and external use including reports, action materials, and submissions to be made in different forums.
• Represent the organization in national and international forums as and when appropriate.
• Assigning duties and supervising the legal assistant and law students and ensuring duties are carried out effectively and efficiently.
• Coordination of research under the legal Advocacy programme/ projects.
• Ensuring timely and regular reporting on the project implementation to the immediate supervisor and the development partners.
• Monitoring and evaluating plans to ensure effective implementation of the projects under the Access to Justice program
• Advising the organization on any legal matter including but not limited to drafting of agreements and contracts and their registration.
• Any other duty that may be assigned from time to time to further the vision and mission of CREAW

Academic Qualifications, Experience, Skills and Personality Desired:-

• A degree in law (masters in law is preferable)
• At least 4 years proven litigation experience in Family law and Sexual & Gender Based Violence.
• Must be fluent in spoken and written English.
• Proven writing/ drafting, communication and analytical skills.
• A good understanding of women's human rights issues and a commitment to women's rights.
• Ability to organize, plan and prioritize activities.
• Proven ability to lead a team under program
• Demonstrate skills in computer applications and data entry

Essential Competencies

• Must have demonstrated interest in women matters and a good understanding and appreciation of the plight of women.
• Proficiency in Microsoft office skills.
• Excellent report writing skills.
• Working experience in project implementation and evaluation will be highly desirable.
• Must be able to work comfortably and effectively with people of different national and cultural backgrounds and to establish and maintain constructive working relations in multi –cultural environment.

Those who qualify and are interested should send (or deliver) an application letter, curriculum vitae (CV) providing details of three work related referees and copies of relevant certificates & testimonials to:

The Selection Committee
Centre for Rights Education and Awareness – CREAW
Email: vacancies@creawkenya.org
Tel/fax: +254-20-3860640/ 3861016/ 2378271/ 720357664
P.O. Box 11964 –00100 GPO
Nairobi – Kenya

Apply no later than 14th May 2012