Special Advisor, Health and Human Rights At Human Rights Watch

FIXED-TERM, FULL-TIME JOB VACANCY
Special Advisor, Health and Human Rights
Program Office
Multiple Locations Considered
Application Deadline: 10 January 2022

The Opportunity

Human Rights Watch (HRW) seeks an experienced public health expert to steer our health and human rights work. This is a two-year fixed term position, reporting to a Deputy Program Director. The position may be based in multiple locations; New York, Washington DC, Geneva, Brussels, Nairobi, or Berlin are preferred.

Key Responsibilities

1. Build on the findings of a completed scoping project to develop and initiate a strategic plan for the next 3 years for HRW’s research, reporting, and advocacy on global health and human rights issues;
2. Work with colleagues in research, advocacy, and communications roles to develop strategies on priority issues related to the right to health and global health; Advise and support other programs on work that includes a health component;
3. Offer technical expertise on questions related to health and human rights; Advise on data and sources to include in our reporting;
4. Advise on research methods, including experts HRW can approach for interviews, consultation, partnership, and expert review, where needed;
5. Steer HRW’s development of health-related policies, particularly those responding to the Covid-19 pandemic;
6. Develop and advise on organization strategic plans to enhance HRW’s productivity, efficiency, and impact in the global health space;
7. Anticipate and lead the organizational response to relevant events;
8. Interact regularly with the Chief Programs Officer, their deputies, and other HRW senior managers to consult on how HRW’s health strategies and priorities are aligned with the organization’s focus;
9. Coordinate with key colleagues within HRW and externally with allied organizations and NGOs;
10. Lead the review of all health-related documents and establish criteria and guidelines, when needed, to guide staff writing about health issues; Guide staff working on health-related issues on pursuing research and advocacy, when appropriate, in accordance with organizational strategic plans;
11. Ensure organization-wide coordination and complementarity as well as maintaining good working relationships with external partners;
12. Work with the Development department to edit health-related fundraising materials and develop a fundraising strategy in line with HRW’s local, regional, and global presence;
13. Provide technical inputs into security and operational policies and practice to ensure consistency and alignment with the programmatic and policy positions; and
14. Develop briefings and perform other tasks as may be required.

Qualifications
Education: Academic training in public health, epidemiology, or substantial experience in the field is required.

Experience: Minimum 10 years of extensive, varied experience in global health, public health, or health and human rights work including strategy related to research, and advocacy.
Skills and Knowledge:

1. Extensive knowledge of global health institutions and issues is required.
2. Relevant international experience and familiarity with health and human rights research methodologies are required.
3. Demonstrated ability to think strategically is required.
4. Excellent oral and written communication skills in English are required; proficiency in another language is highly desirable.
5. Strong interpersonal skills to work collaboratively across different departments and divisions in HRW as well as with partners and government officials are required.
6. Experience managing or supporting teams is preferred

Salary and Benefits: HRW seeks exceptional applicants and offers competitive compensation and employer-paid benefits. HRW offers a relocation assistance package and will assist employees in obtaining necessary work authorization, if required; citizens of all nationalities are encouraged to apply.

Human Rights Watch is strong because it is diverse. We actively seek a diverse applicant pool and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. Human Rights Watch does not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. We welcome all kinds of diversity. Our employees include people who are parents and nonparents, the self-taught and university educated, and from a wide span of socio-economic backgrounds and perspectives on the world. Human Rights Watch is an equal opportunity employer.

Human Rights Watch is an international human rights monitoring and advocacy organization known for its in-depth investigations, its incisive and timely reporting, its innovative and high-profile advocacy campaigns, and its success in changing the human rights-related policies and practices of influential governments and international institutions.