Vacancies at FEW Forum for the empowerment of women

FORUM FOR THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
[FEW]

VACANCIES – CURRENT AND FUTURE
Monday 9th February 2009

FEW is an organisation of and for black lesbian women, established in 2002 to create social space for our constituency and to defend the rights of black lesbian women enshrined in the constitution of South Africa.
FEW has over the years established ourselves as a strong activist organisation, living and able to understand the realities of black lesbian women. In the last two years we have refined and begun to focus our programming so that we prioritise advocacy and building activism and leadership and develop and implement a research, documentation and memory project to serve our advocacy work.
We have also strengthened our systems and structures to enable us to deliver on our mandate of defending women and advancing rights in a more efficient and effective way.
We are now able to advertise and call for expressions of interest for five positions to enable us to move towards more effective programming in pursuit of this mandate. 

• Director
• Office Manager
• General Assistant
• Advocacy Coordinator
• Research Coordinator

Advertisement: Vacancies

The Forum for the Empowerment of Women invites applications for the positions detailed below. For all positions, please submit a covering letter, including salary expectation, CV and the full names and contact details of 3 [three] referees.

CLOSING DATE FOR ALL APPLICATIONS
and
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST:
March 13th 2009 midday

PLEASE EMAIL APPLICATIONS TO
The Director
Forum for the Empowerment of Women
dawnc@few.org.za

 
DIRECTOR
FEW seeks a skilled and experienced individual to take forward the directorship of FEW.
The successful applicant will be capable of taking forward the work of the organisation from our successful process of change and transition towards the full implementation of Programmes, whilst sustaining and further developing the organisational capacity to deliver on its mandate with vision, effectiveness and efficiency.
The successful applicant will be a black lesbian woman, an activist, feminist and passionate about women’s and LGBTI movement building. She will be a team player, have a sound understanding of organisational culture and organisational development. The Director will have strong people skills and be able to support a growing team on a learning curve. She will be able to work with people from diverse ideologies, institutions, organisations and movements. She will bring her strong track record, experience and skill to move the organisation into its next phase, taking along with her the membership, Board and staff.

REQUIREMENTS

• A minimum of four [4] years experience in management
• Excellent analysis of the South African, African and global political, social and economic context and how this impacts on our activism and advocacy
• Strategic thinker with strong conceptual and analytical skills
• Deep understanding of women’s human rights and human rights in general as well as the issues facing the LGBTI sector
• Strong planning, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Programme design and development
• People development skills – personal and professional
• Organisational development experience and track record
•  Writing skills to a professional standard
• Ability to raise funds
• Skills in people management, support and mentoring
• Excellent communication skills
• Able to represent the organisation, to articulate the mandate and positions of the organisation and represent the organisation in a range of fora locally and internationally

REPORTING TO Board
 
OFFICE MANAGER

FEW seeks an Office Manager to manage and coordinate the institutional development arrangements at FEW.
The successful applicant will be a black lesbian woman, an activist, feminist, passionate about excellence in women’s organisation.
She will be highly efficient, organised and have the ability to establish and maintain the necessary systems to ensure FEW further develops its current institutional capacity.
She will have strong management skills and be able to oversee the work of staff and consultants on all technical, logistical and financial and human resource process.
She will be practical, proactive, consultative and also decisive in improving systems and process. The Office Manager will be a team player, have excellent people skills and have a strong vision for developing the internal organisational culture.  She will demonstrate the ability to strike a balance between regulating systems and processes and being able to think on her feet and be creative, responsive and flexible in an organisation which is fast growing and where the pace is often fast and pressure of work great.
REQUIREMENTS
• Have strong track record as a senior administrator or manager
• Oversee logistics, office systems and procedures
• Understand and have skills to manage information and record keeping
• Be able to coordinate and manage basic human resource functions with the support of the Director and Human resource consultants
• Be able to oversee the financial management together with the Financial Officer and Financial Consultant
• Manage the administration team
• Communicate well with and between all individuals and structures of FEW to ensure strong coordination

REPORTING TO Director
GENERAL ASSISTANT

FEW seeks a General Assistant to maintain the FEW offices and provide back up and support the Assistant Administrator in basic administrative duties.

The General Assistant will be an activist, a feminist, a black lesbian woman passionate about the rights of black lesbian women and women in general.
She will be organised, practical and thorough, with attention to detail.
The General Assistant will be a team player. She will be proactive and be willing to work across projects and programmes and functions when needed.

REQUIREMENTS
• Maintenance and cleaning skills
• Able to perform messenger duties in and around Johannesburg
• Identifying faults and problems in the office space and with the FEW technical resources and exploring ways to solve these
• Purchasing of office materials and supplies
• Assisting with a range of administrative tasks as agreed

REPORTING TO Office Manager

 
ADVOCACY COORDINATOR

FEW seek a black lesbian woman who is both feminist and activist to manage and coordinate the Advocacy Programme of the organisation.
The Advocacy Coordinator will have the skills and experience to manage the advocacy work of FEW both in terms of FEW Campaigns – the Rose Has Thorns Campaign, Sexual Rights Campaign and the Keep Us In Campaign – as well as the Solidarity work of FEW – 070707 Campaign, 1 in 9 Campaign and the Women Human Rights Defenders Campaign. 
The Advocacy coordinator will be a strategic thinker with strong analytical and conceptual skills, rooted in feminist ideology and practice and able to work with diverse people in various institutions within state machinery, in the social sphere and amongst other organs of civil society and social movements.
She will have strong writing skills, be articulate and confident with the media, with all role players and have the ability to think on her feet. She will work to plan as well as ensure that FEW can respond to events as they unfold in the national and international political, social and economic context from a feminist and black lesbian women perspective.

REQUIREMENTS

• Planning, monitoring and evaluation
• Programme design and development
• Excellent communication skills – written and oral
• An understanding of the political, social and economic contexts globally and locally
• The ability to work across movements and build solidarity with different struggles, whilst advancing FEW’s own advocacy agenda
• The ability to inspire others, both the staff and members of the organisation so that the advocacy work is empowering and participatory, owned by the members and constituency of FEW

 
RESEARCH COORDINATOR

FEW seek a black lesbian woman who is both feminist and activist to manage and coordinate the Research Programme of the organisation.
The Research Coordinator will have the skills and experience to manage the research, documentation and knowledge production work of FEW which entails the Black Lesbian Memory Project, ongoing and specific, time bound research projects and conducting research in partnership with partners in the local and international LGBTI and women’s movements in particular.  
The Research Coordinator will have vision for developing and implementing a research agenda which is feminist, develops the capability of other black lesbian women to do research and which is geared towards helping to shape our advocacy and activism. She must have a good understanding of the politics of knowledge and representation and strong conceptual and analytical skills.
She will have a sound understanding of the local, regional and global issues in the LGBTI and women’s movements and be able to ensure that FEW contributes knowledge and research to these movements and to locate our own research agenda within global and local realities.

REQUIREMENTS

• The ability to develop in a participatory way, a research agenda for FEW and to manage the implementation of this agenda
• Research design and development
• Manage research projects
• Building capability in others to engage with confidence in documentation and research that advances the rights of black lesbian women
• An understanding of the political, social and economic contexts globally and locally
• The ability to work across movements and build solidarity with different struggles, whilst advancing FEW’s own research agenda
• The ability to inspire others, both the staff and members of the organisation so that the research work of FEW is empowering and participatory, owned by the members and constituency of FEW