Myanmar: Junior Program Officer/Program Officer - Myanmar

Junior Program Officer/Program Officer - Myanmar

Namati: Innovations in Legal Empowerment

About the Position

We are seeking an organized, self-starting Junior Program Officer/Program Officer (depending on experience and fit for the position) to support the land rights component of Namati’s Myanmar Program. Responsibilities include programmatic support to Namati’s Myanmar Program Lead, technical assistance to national partner organizations, research, writing and editing in Burmese and English, and special projects. A particular focus of this position will be building the capacity of the Namati team, its partners, and our paralegals to understand and resolve complex land rights issues. The Officer will also assist in the development of policy change proposals and advocacy strategy.

The Junior Program Officer/Program Officer will be expected to take initiative, provide strategic insight, pay careful attention to detail, and establish systems where needed to meet the needs of a growing organization and country program.

Namati is a close-knit yet decentralized organization. While staff are based all over the world, we are committed to maintaining a strong team culture. Candidates should be technologically savvy and capable of flourishing in a virtual working environment with colleagues from diverse cultures and backgrounds.

Responsibilities

Research and Writing:

· Conduct academic and legal research on legal empowerment, legal aid, land tenure, land grabs, land and natural resource rights, environmental justice, and all relevant, related topics.

· Create a range of documents, including articles, issue briefs, reports, internal memoranda, OpEds, blog posts, and other written and electronic content on these issues.

· Write and edit various drafts of policy papers and research reports.

· Support national partner organizations in their research and writing needs.

Programmatic Support:

· Provide on-going programmatic support to Namati’s Myanmar based Program Lead and national partner organizations.

· Provide technical expertise, training, and oversight to national partner organizations and paralegals, as requested.

· Work with partners to analyze data from grassroots programs, use that learning to develop policy change proposals, and advocate for reform.

· Assist with the preparation of budgets and work plans.

· Support program monitoring and evaluation.

· Represent Namati at meetings and conferences, as requested.

· Provide translation support (written and oral) from Burmese to English and English to Burmese.

· Organize and participate in program-sponsored events.

· Draft/edit routine correspondence and memoranda in Burmese and English.

· Develop communication materials to share project methods, challenges and successes.

· Organize logistics of calls, meetings, and workshops (travel arrangements, materials, minutes, coordination with conference organizers), as required.

· Perform other duties as assigned.

Here's what you might have tackled last week –

· Conducting a training on Myanmar’s land law with paralegals in Tachiliek or The Delta.

· Carrying out research for a policy brief on Land Grabs.

· Interviewing farmers about land tenure.

· Advising one of our partners on how to guide paralegals in their work.

· Helping write a budget for and planned an advocacy event held in Yangon.

· Speaking on an expert panel on reforming Myanmar’s land law.

· Representing Namati at a meeting at the United Nations.

Qualifications/Must-Haves for the Position

Education/Experience:

· Master’s Degree or Bachelor’s Degree from a three-year college or university.

· Minimum of 3 to 5 years’ relevant work experience.

· Significant field experience in Myanmar and/or other developing nation(s).

Skills/Characteristics:

· Native Burmese language skills. Excellent written and spoken English. Other local language capabilities a plus.

· Experience in fieldwork, community organizing, training, and/or technical assistance. Program and financial management experience a plus.

· Expertise in land issues, natural resource management, and/or environmental justice.

· Ability to navigate government systems and experience engaging with national policy makers strongly preferred.

· Exceptional research, analytical, and writing skills.

· A “problem-solver” - highly motivated, self-directed, capable of identifying needs and taking productive action; able to take personal initiative and follow tasks through to success.

· Flexible, adaptive, willing to work simultaneously on a wide range of tasks, able to thoughtfully prioritize.

· Committed to excellence in all work products.

· Strong organizational skills, with attention to detail and quality control.

· Excellent computer skills, highly proficient in the Microsoft Office suite (particularly Excel and Word), web applications, and database software.

· Strong global perspective, experience and values.

· Strong commitment to legal empowerment principles.

· Discretion and ability to handle confidential issues.

· Able and willing to spend significant time at program sites within Myanmar, as needed.

Location

Yangon, Myanmar.

To Apply

Please complete our online application form. We will begin reviewing applications on 5 February 2016, on a rolling basis.

Start Date

1 March 2016.

Compensation

Commensurate with experience.

About Namati

In a world where billions of people live outside the protection of the law, Namati is dedicated to putting the law in people’s hands. We’re building a global movement of grassroots legal advocates who work with communities to advance justice. These advocates are fighting on the front lines to ensure that people can protect their land, access essential services, and take part in the decisions that govern their lives.

We draw on that grassroots experience to seek large-scale structural changes – we have already achieved policy changes that affect millions of people in multiple countries. And our ambitions don’t end at the national level – our global campaign for internationally agreed justice targets has been endorsed by 260 organizations and four former Heads of State.

As we move into our next phase of development we’re growing a global team of passionate, results-oriented, and big-hearted advocates. We are united by a common mission and a strong culture. And we have some hefty supporters, including an advisory board with leaders like Amartya Sen, Mo Ibrahim, Fazle Abed, and Madeleine Albright.

We’re just beginning. Please consider joining us.

For more information about Namati, please visit www.namati.org/about.

About Namati’s Myanmar Program

Myanmar is undergoing a major transition, opening space for significant change for the first time in decades. In this climate, legal empowerment can pursue two aims simultaneously: (1) working directly with people to exercise rights and (2) collecting and analyzing data on those grassroots efforts – mapping the character of grievances, revealing where the system is failing, and identifying achievable reforms – to build an information base for policy advocacy.

In Myanmar Namati partners with civil society groups and law firms to implement community-based paralegal programs and push for change related to land, natural resource rights, and environmental justice. With a local partner, we are supporting grassroots legal advocates in five divisions/states to empower farmers to register land, resolve land disputes, and secure the return of grabbed land under a new legal framework. We are testing new methods, data collection tools, and technologies to continually improve the reach and effectiveness of our paralegals’ work. We will use data from this effort to recommend specific improvements to land policy and practice.

Namati also strengthens existing legal empowerment efforts by sharing methods and other practical tools gleaned from our legal empowerment experience around the globe.