Legal Officer at HAGURUKA

JOB ADVERTISEMENT

Background

HAGURUKA is a non-governmental organization registered under Rwandan Law. We work towards empowering women and children to claim their rights by improving their access to quality justice across the country. HAGURUKA was founded in 1991 and has since been at the forefront of the fight for the rights of women and children. HAGURUKA has its head office in Kigali (the capital city of Rwanda) with regional offices in the Northern, Eastern, Southern, and Western provinces of the country. We see our beneficiaries as of right holders who are empowered to claim their fundamental rights from duty bearers following relevant international and national legal instruments applicable in Rwanda.  HAGURUKA has a zero-tolerance approach towards sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment.

HAGURUKA implements programs that address the immediate human rights needs of vulnerable women and children while working towards combating Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and promoting gender equality. We apply a rights-based approach and a holistic vision of victims’ needs. We Use our shelters in the four provincial centers to provide legal and psychosocial support to women and girls who are victims of sexual and gender-based violence as part of the response.

Hence and more concretely, our focus is on:

• Legal aid and psychosocial counseling support ;
• Awareness-raising and social mobilization;
• Capacity building of partners and stakeholders;
• Research and advocacy.

From the above-mentioned background, HAGURUKA NGO seeks to hire a qualified national for the role of Legal Officer. The recruited Legal Officer will be based at HAGURUKA-NYAMASHEKE Offices in Western Province (Nyamasheke District) and reporting to the Programs Manager.

The major responsibilities include:

• Providing legal aid services to our beneficiaries (Legal advice/Mediation, legal information, /sensitization, Referral)
• Draft legal bailiff for beneficiaries and submit cases through IECMS system;
• Accompany clients to different institutions for legal and advocacy purposes;
• Maintain collaboration with the paralegals working under the area covered by Nyamasheke Regional Center;
• Prepare court submissions to clients and other administrative correspondences and legal writings as required by Management;
• Participate in meetings, workshops, seminars.

Required Skills and Qualifications:

• Holding a bachelor degree in law;
• At least 2 years of working experience in the domain;
• Able to prepare legal opinions and briefs;
• Excellent and strong in reporting;
• Demonstrated capacity in community mobilization;
• Self–motivated and able to work with minimum supervision;
• Excellent written and spoken Kinyarwanda and English;
• Ability to maintain effective working relations both as a team member and ability to establish priorities and to plan;
• Be passionate about legal aid services for the poor and vulnerable persons and access to justice in general;
• Flexibility and ability to perform any other task that is in his/her capacity as may be required by Haguruka management.

Duration: 1 Year renewable

Submission deadline

 Interested candidates with required skills and competencies are requested to submit their applications addressed to HAGURUKA Executive Secretary at info@haguruka.org.rw The applications include a motivation letter, CVs, Academic documents, and other certificates.

The applications will be accepted no later than January 31^st, 2022 at 17:00 (local time)

N.B:

• Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for written tests and interviews.
•  Female candidates are encouraged to apply