Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is the global organization’s presence in the United States. We engage people in the U.S. to fight injustice all around the world, while we also work to protect people’s human rights here in the U.S. AIUSA has more than a million members and activists in all 50 states and the District of Colombia, who are part of a larger global movement of 10 million people in 150 countries. We are a non-partisan, democratically governed, grassroots membership organization, which means that our members vote on key governance and policy issues, elect our Board of Directors, and serve in various leadership roles throughout the organization. Members work together with our staff, deployed across six departments to deliver on our mission.

Job Summary

Amnesty’s work on individuals at risk (IAR) focuses on individuals, families, communities, and organizations around the world who have had their human rights violated or are under threat of human rights violations.

Led by the Casework Program, networks of members and supporters sign up to lead in ongoing advocacy and undertake actions to do everything possible to highlight the abuse and bring about change. This Program is centered on ethical campaigning and developing and sustaining relationships with rights holders and their families.

Working closely with AIUSA volunteer leaders the Individuals at Risk Member Engagement Director (IARMED) will develop and implement a strategy to grow the number, depth, age, and racial diversity of members engaging in grassroots activism and advocacy who support the Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) and IAR cases. The IARMED will coordinate strategy and planned activities to support HRDs and IARs with staff in AIUSA’s Human Rights Education Unit (who support training of member groups), Programs, Government Relations, Campaigns and Marketing and Communications and Development Teams.

The position will manage/collaborate with the IAR Member Center Analyst who supports our online member-only digital platform. It will coordinate AIUSA’s Urgent Action Network on emergency cases and the Case Commitment Initiative, in which AIUSA’s student and local groups are trained to effectively campaign on a long-term case of their choice. The position will also coordinate incentive funds to strengthen member-led work on Urgent Actions, Case Commitments, and Individuals at Risk cases.

This is a two-year full-time role.  

Essential Job Functions

• Manage AIUSA’s IAR Casework Program, which includes maintaining all casefiles, coordinating casefile assignments, maintaining up-to-date information on casefile holders
• Establish a system for tracking and reporting on advocacy efforts and actions, and support monitoring evaluation, and learning
• Support and facilitate experiments to build and scale grassroots engagement in AIUSA’ through the Casework Program, with a focus on building diversity in casefile holders and participants
• Cultivate and foster connections between casefile holders and member leaders and staff who will support ongoing advocacy efforts
• Respond to casefile holder email queries and needs for support

• In collaboration with IAR-Human Rights Education and Training Program staff, AIUSA’s Member Center staff and member leaders, develop and facilitate webinars, skill building training for both in-person and online engagement, and orientations to casework for activists
• Create effective grassroots actions and materials to educate and engage the public and facilitate new ideas and initiatives from members
• In partnership with key staff and member leaders, build support for grassroots lobby efforts focused on IAR cases (Defend Freedoms Project)
• Support outreach and engagement in AIUSA’s Urgent Action Network and in AIUSA’s Annual Write for Rights letter-writing campaign
• This is a two-year full-time role

Education and Experience

• BA/BS and at least 10 years relevant experience or MA/MS and 8 years relevant experience and/or sufficient relevant work experience; substantial technical knowledge of area of work
• Extensive experience working cross-organizationally to achieve shared goals
• Strong track record working with advocacy-oriented research and analysis

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities

• A collaborative partner who is a strategic decision-maker, agile, and able to respond to fast changing external events; able to identify opportunities for impact; mobilize support, action, and work effectively with partners and allies
• Proven ability to lead innovation and creative approaches to effective campaigning; experience of using online and offline activism techniques to achieve campaign objectives
• Data driven mindset with knowledge of how to use technology to advance data gathering and organizing
• Ability to direct, motivate and collaborate with volunteers in standing with AI’s Shared Leadership values and best practices
• Exercises commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility
• Ability to independently manage multiple concurrent projects to success
• Demonstrated ability to work across teams, departments, and other structures to achieve goals
• Experience developing training materials and facilitating workshops based on identified needs of stakeholder groups
• Strong written communication ability, including experience with blogs, email, newsletters, toolkits, and/or promotional materials
• Excellent interpersonal and diplomatic skills, with demonstrated ability to independently resolve conflict
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and manage time effectively

We recognize the valuable skills that can be gained through internships, fellowships, volunteer work, and non-traditional work experience. This experience helps build competencies and knowledge that may translate to our job openings. We seek a diversity of experience and skills for our workplace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply to our openings.

OUR COMMITTMENT AS AN ANTI-RACIST ORGANIZATION AND TO INCLUSION, DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY (IDEA)

Dismantling white supremacy is central to the fight for human rights in the United States and around the world. As we mobilize staff and activists and work with partners to help transform the multiple systems where oppression operates in the world around us as part of our human rights mandate, anti-racism must be integral to our work. What does that mean for Amnesty International in the United States? It means using our people power to fight injustice and centering the voices and experiences of those most impacted by racist structures, beliefs, and laws. Fundamentally, it means doing our human rights work differently than it has been done before, because we know that who we work with, how we work, the work we do, and ultimately who we are, are all interconnected.

As an international, intercultural, intergenerational, and intersectional movement of activists committed to protecting and advancing human rights for all, Amnesty is deeply committed to Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility (IDEA). To learn more about how we integrate these concepts into our work and workplace visit: https://www.amnestyusa.org/idea/

COVID-19 Consideration

Because the health and safety of our employees and candidates are a top priority, we are currently conducting our hiring process virtually. We are currently starting our positions as fully remote but will transition to a hybrid work environment when our offices re-open, expected to be in January 2023.