1. Summary of the organisation

MDAC is an international human rights organisation which uses the law to secure equality, inclusion and justice for people with mental disabilities worldwide.

Its vision is a world of equality – where emotional, mental and learning differences are valued equally; where the inherent autonomy and dignity of each person is fully respected; and where human rights are realised for all persons without discrimination of any form.

MDAC has participatory status with the Council of Europe and is entitled to lodge collective complaints under the Revised European Social Charter. It has special constultiative status with ECOSOC. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe long-listed MDAC for the 2013 Vaclav Havel European Human Rights Prize.

MDAC has headquarters staff presence in Budapest (Hungary) and London (UK).

People with disabilities worldwide are denied an education, stripped of their personhood, and excluded from our societies. To this end, MDAC’s Strategic Framework 2014-19 sets out three goals: Securing justice, promoting inclusion and mobilising solidarity. We achieve these three goals within three intersecting campaigns:

Schools for All          We seek inclusive education, a proven benefit not only for children with disabilities but for all children who grow up to create diverse and inclusive societies.

I’m a Person         We seek support for people to author their own lives, rather than having their right to decide stripped from them.

My Home              We call for the right to live in the community, with choices equal to others, and person-centred supports. We hold States accountable for exploitation and abuses inside residential institutions.

MDAC currently works in partnership with local NGOs across Europe, in east Africa, and India.

2. Job Description

Title

Advocacy Officer/Manager
Salary: Commensurate to experience
Location: Budapest, Hungary
Reports to: Advocacy and Communications Director

Summary of the role

The Advocacy Officer/Manager ensures MDAC promotes inclusion by monitoring human rights, holding States to account and developing and advocating policy options. Guided by senior staff, the post-holder conducts these activities across MDAC’s three campaigns in a range of countries and at the international level.

Liaises with:

Internal

  • Programme staff
  • Development and external relations staff
  • Communications staff

External

  • NGO representatives
  • Researchers, lawyers and consultants
  • Representatives of governments and Ombuds bodies
  • Intergovernmental bodies, including at the United Nations, European Union and African Union

Monitoring human rights

  • Stays abreast of domestic and international policy developments in areas relevant to MDAC’s strategic priorities;
  • Produces outputs which frames the lived reality of beneficiaries through the lens of international human rights law, accurately identifies and identifies change-makers;
  • Coordinates a portfolio of advocacy projects to ensure maximum impact in line with MDAC’s strategic objectives across our three campaigns and set out in our annual operational plan.

Holding States to account

  • In conjunction with local organisations, carries out advocacy to ensure the implementation of test-cases which MDAC has won in international courts;
  • Develops of a range of targeted and high-quality advocacy outputs, including shadow reports to UN treaty bodies, human rights monitoring briefings, policy papers etc;
  • Produces from these formal reports digestible digital outputs for communications team to use for press releases, infographics, web content, Facebook updates, and so on;
  • Produces briefings or speaking notes for senior staff;
  • Represents MDAC at external meetings, as instructed.

Developing policy options

  • Ensures that MDAC is promoting policy options which are both grounded in human rights, and which are feasible for policy-makers to implement;
  • Seeks out promising practices within each of the campaign areas for MDAC to promote to NGOs and governments;
  • Develops MDAC’s thought leadership position within each of the campaign areas.

Project management

  • Manages teams of staff, interns and volunteers to ensure outputs are produced and effectively communicated to target audiences, using Basecamp (online project management software) to do this;
  • Prepares reports on work achieved, and challenges encountered, to supervisor;
  • Uses Twitter to personally engage with supporters online;
  • Develops working relationships with partner organisations in target countries;
  • Provides input into fundraising proposals;
  • Complies with MDAC’s human resources, finance and other policies;
  • Carries out other relevant tasks as requested by the supervisor.

3. Person specification

A. Essential

  • Undergraduate degree in law, public policy or a related field;
  • For the officer role minimum one year (for the manager role, four years) work experience on human rights issues;
  • The post is based in Budapest. For work and resident permits, MDAC only accepts applicants who are willing to relocate to Budapest and who are citizens of a Member State of the European Union;
  • Native or excellent level of written and spoken English.

B. Desirable

  • Postgraduate qualification in law, human rights, public policy or a related field;
  • Experience of working with (or advocating for the rights of) people with mental health disabilities or intellectual disabilities;
  • Experience of working for a fast-paced human rights NGO;
  • Experience of working with people from different cultures.

C. Personal attributes and skills

The ideal candidate will have the following attributes and skills:

  • The highest commitment to MDAC’s mission, vision and goals ;
  • The experience to manage a variety of competing priorities successfully;
  • The flexibility to operate proactively and pragmatically when challenges arise;
  • The ability to make sense of imperfect and ambiguous information;
  • The flair to deal with messy external environments; 
  • The writing skills to produce high quality policy papers;
  • The tact of a diplomat;
  • The ability to transform policy analysis and discussion into impactful advocacy outputs;
  • The curiosity to engage in dialogue with a variety of stakeholders;
  • The capacity to seek linkages between people and themes;
  • The vigour of working independently and who is comfortable being part of a team;
  • The willingness to be based in Budapest, Hungary, and to undertake regular travel in Europe and worldwide, and occasional work out of normal working hours.

5. To apply

Please send your CV and a cover letter by email by 6pm CET, Friday 6 June 2014 to JoinTheTeam@mdac.org with the subject line “Advocacy Officer/Manager”. Interviews will take place in June 2014. MDAC aims to have the successful candidate in post as soon as possible.

If you would like to set up an informational telephone discussion with MDAC’s Advocacy and Communications Director, please contact our finance and administration assistant Agnes Vari agnes@mdac.org.

MDAC is an equal opportunities employer and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The position is based in Budapest and is subject to a three-month probationary period.