Asia Department Director to Civil Rights Defenders in Stockholm

We are in an expansion phase, which has opened up many interesting job opportunities. Are you an expert on the political and human rights situation in Asia? Do you want to use your strategical and leadership skills to contribute to the human rights work of Civil Rights Defenders? Then you might be the one we are looking for.

About the role
As Asia Department Director your mission is to lead and develop the Asia Department, together with a growing team of currently two program officers. Together you will work with human rights defenders and to actively pressure duty bearers and states to take responsibility for the fulfilment of human rights in the Asia region, with a focus on the countries where Civil Rights Defenders has established programmatic work.

You will also have the overall responsibility to carry out and follow up on the programme and long-term partnerships with human rights organisations in the region, implement and follow projects in accordance with our grant management routines and monitor and evaluate assigned programmes with support from the Asia Programme Officers.

As Asia Department Director you are part of the Management Team and Leadership Forum and report directly to the Global Department Director.

The role offers great variety, including work tasks such as:

- Development of annual department Plans of Action and budgets
- Execute and follow up on annual department Plans of Action and budgets
- Raise funds to deliver results, mainly through grants but also by supporting efforts to raise unrestricted funds
- Ensure that the programmes and activities in the Departments deliver results according to targets and within budget
- Talent management; attract, develop and retain talent and expertise through coaching and developing staff members
- Ensure a good working environment in line with delegated responsibility
- Through quarterly follow-ups continuous assessment of Department’s efficiency
- Support to the Global Programme Director when needed.




About you
As a person you prefer to set high goals for yourself as well as for the organisation and tend to work hard to achieve them. In the past, you have achieved these goals through collaborating with others in a responsive and smooth way, but also by leading, motivating, and empowering others to effectively reach common goals.

Furthermore you have strong self-awareness, an ability for self-regulation, and are able to see working relationships in a proper perspective, where you distinguish between the personal and the professional. You also have well-founded and clear values and are guided by these in all aspects of your work.

If you also have a record of building long-lasting and productive networks, we definitely believe that you will be successful in this position.

We assume that you share our values.

To be suitable for this position you have:

- A minimum of Bachelor’s degree in Law, Political Science, International Relations or similar, including education on international human rights mechanisms
- At least 3 years of relevant working experience within human rights, preferably more
- At least 3 years of documented experience of being part of and working in a management team or in a managerial position with broader strategic role
- At least 3 years working experience from the region and extensive knowledge of the human rights situation in the Asia region
- Strong leadership skills in the role of manager with direct reports or as a project/operative manager
- Documented experience of NGO-work or work in development/human rights institutions, project management and advocacy work
- Documented experience in successful grant raising and grant management from institutional donors
- Ability to use the English language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes and to produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects.
- Strong IT skills, including good knowledge of Microsoft 365 (Teams, Outlook, Excel, PPT, Word)


Proficiency in any language spoken in the Asia region, as well as Swedish or another UN languages, is considered a strong merit. Field experience is highly preferable.

About the employment
This is a full-time permanent employment with 6 months probationary employment, starting in February 2022 or as soon as possible. As an organisation, we strive for diversity, and we see your background, experience and personality as a contribution to the organisation. You will be based in our headquarters in Stockholm.

Please apply as soon as possible, as we recruit on an ongoing basis, but no later than 31 December.

About us
Civil Rights Defenders is a politically and religiously independent international human rights organisation. We defend people’s civil and political rights in some of the world’s most repressive regions. We partner with and support human rights defenders in more than 300 organisations in 50 countries on four continents. Together with our partners, we hold those in power accountable when people’s civil or political rights are violated. We also act as Sweden’s civil rights watchdog.

Civil Rights Defenders has around 100 staff members working in various functions towards our vision - a world of democratic societies in which we all enjoy our civil and political rights. Our headquarter is located in Stockholm, and we have eight branch-offices around the world. Learn more about our work at crd.org (https://app.teamtailor.com/companies/quKUlp2-vJo/jobs/1031785/edit/www.crd.org).