Democracy, Human and Civic Rights Programme Officer

About the role

Oxfam Kenya's Accountable Governance Pillar is looking for a Democracy, Human and Civic Rights Programme Officer. The postholder leads day-to-day delivery, coordination and quality assurance of the democracy, human-rights and civic-space portfolio, working with CSOs, CBOs, women's rights organisations, youth-led movements, journalists, oversight institutions, Parliament and county governments. The role covers programme management, partnership building, research and policy influencing, and connects with domestic resource mobilisation, gender justice, climate justice and economic democracy.

Key responsibilities

• Implement projects according to theories of change, results frameworks, budgets and donor requirements, and prepare implementation, monitoring and learning plans.
• Monitor progress, expenditure, risks and safeguarding issues, and produce narrative, financial, management and donor reports.
• Exercise delegated budget oversight, including forecasting, expenditure tracking and compliance with procurement and grant-management rules.
• Manage grants and budgets, accompany partners and coalitions, and support inclusive governance and local leadership.
• Oversee monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning, and deliver timely donor and management reporting.
• Build relationships with partners, coalitions, parliament, county assemblies, oversight institutions and justice-sector actors, and strengthen protection pathways for civic actors and human rights defenders.
• Lead analysis and dissemination of reports, briefs and alerts, commission research, and turn evidence into policy asks and campaigns.
• Support strategic litigation, fact-checking, ethical reporting and digital/physical security, and represent Oxfam in policy forums and media engagements where delegated.
• Manage consultants, researchers and short-term personnel, and coach project personnel, interns and volunteers.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in law, human rights, political science, governance, public policy, international relations, development studies or a related field; a postgraduate qualification in a related discipline is an advantage.
• At least five years' progressively responsible experience designing, managing and delivering democracy, governance, human-rights, civic-space, access-to-justice or media-freedom programmes in an NGO, civil-society or human-rights institution.
• Proven partner and coalition management, research, policy analysis, advocacy and campaigning, and experience managing grants, budgets and consultant reporting.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Kiswahili.
• Desirable: experience in strategic litigation, election-period programming, digital rights, fact-checking, civic-tech or HRD protection, and existing relationships with Kenyan civic-space coalitions and oversight institutions.

Required skills

• Design and manage democracy, human-rights and civic-space programmes using theory of change, results-based management and participatory MEAL.
• Advanced policy and legal analysis, and strong security risk management for civic actors.
• Strong research, evidence synthesis, advocacy, coalition strategy, campaign and media engagement skills.
• Project, budget, grant and partner management, and knowledge of Kenyan constitutional and human-rights frameworks.