Are you an expert on the political and human rights situation in Eurasia? 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 Eurasia Department Director you will lead the regional department human rights work of CRD and act as CRD spokesperson and formal representative in the regional context. 

You will lead and develop the Eurasia Department, together with a team of colleagues based in Stockholm and in the region. Together you will work with human rights defenders and human rights networks to actively pressure duty bearers and states to take responsibility for the fulfilment of human rights in the Eurasia region, with a focus on the countries where Civil Rights Defenders has established programmatic work. 

As Department Director you are the primary responsible for the department funding, including managing and maintaining donor funding, application processes, grant information and other relevant fundraising.

You will also have the overall responsibility to carry out and follow up on the Eurasia programmes at Civil Rights Defenders with partnerships with human rights organisations and networks in the region and ensure the implementation and follow-up of projects in accordance with our grant management routines. As Eurasia Department Director you are part of the Global Department and the Leadership Forum and reports directly to the Global Department Director.

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

• Maintain and/or expand staff field presence in the region. 
• Explore expanding programmes in new contexts or countries in the region. 
• Act as a resource for partners and HRDs and develop relationships based on mutual respect and shared values. 
• Coordinate Civil Rights Defenders work with Human Rights Defenders in the region as well as with relevant regional and international bodies in order to maintain our status as a relevant actor in the region for the purpose of increasing the collective strength of the human rights movement.
• Maintain and develop relations with regional donors and oversee grant management to ensure quality control. Maintain and develop expertise allowing for informed decisions and together with the Director for Communications, develop strategies and positions and engage in strategic advocacy initiatives together with partners to national and international audiences.
• Conduct regular security and risk assessments related to Civil Rights Defenders work in region together with Chief Security Officer.

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 Master´s degree in Law, Political Science, International Relations or similar, including education on international human rights mechanisms or other for the employer relevant master, or equivalent work experience.
• At least 5 years of relevant working experience within human rights.
• Extensive experience from human rights work in the region, including external engagements with donors and human rights organisations and stakeholders. 
• Extensive work and/or living experience in the region.
• Experience from working with complex contexts - affected by war, political repression and severe human rights abuses.
• Experience from coordination work in complex environments, preferably with international organization/s.
• Strong leadership skills in the role of manager with direct reports or as a project/operative manager, preferably experience from managing international team/s with staff members in different geographical locations.
• Fluency in English and in a major language spoken in the Eurasia region. 
• Strong IT skills, including good knowledge of Microsoft 365 (Teams, Outlook, Excel, PPT, Word).

Experience from living and travelling in and/or working based in complex security environments and/or in the Eurasia region is highly preferable. Proficiency in Swedish is considered a merit.

About the employment

This is a full-time permanent employment with 6 months probationary employment, starting in March 2025 or according to agreement. 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 10 January 2025. 

Local union representative: joanna.hellstrom@crd.org (Unionen).

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 110 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.