Legal Officer – Female only

Position Title: Legal Officer- Female Only

Position Type: Part Time  

Location: Baghdad/ Baghdad City with frequent travel to Basra, Sulaymaniyah, and other Iraqi governorates when required

Closing of Application Date: 31 March 2024

About Heartland Alliance International

Heartland Alliance International’s (HAI) mission is to secure the rights and well-being of marginalized people and communities. HAI envisions a world in which those whose rights have been violated are safe and empowered to actively engage in their communities and be at the forefront of social change.  In Iraq, HAI provides holistic services focusing on psychosocial support, legal aid, violence prevention, livelihoods strengthening, and social cohesion to diverse vulnerable populations.

Position Summary

Justice for All is 18-month project implemented by HAI in Iraq and seeks to strengthen key systems for identifying and responding to persons experiencing violence, and to foster greater collaboration between civil society organizations, law enforcement, health system, and government social services. The project aims to promote the reintegration, empowerment, and protection of human rights survivors through direct provision of comprehensive protection and specialized mental health services, and foster trust between those marginalized groups and the state through improving the state’s protection and judicial systems and processes in line with international standards. It will apply a context-specific approach to improve the quality and effectiveness of governmental and non-governmental level services, adopt a survivor-centered approach to address systematic and cultural barriers to mitigate violence, advocate for women and children rights, and ensure peaceful coexistence of marginalized groups in Iraq.   

HAI is seeking to hire a female legal officer to provide legal support, technical oversight, and ensuring that all legal activities implemented in line with the project work plan and in accordance with the country rules, regulations, HAI standards and requirements.

The legal officer will be based in Baghdad-Iraq with frequent travel to Basra, Sulaymaniyah and other Iraqi governorates when required.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

The legal officer will work under the direct supervision of the Project Coordinator and Access to Justice Technical Advisor to follow up provided legal services by project local partners. The Duties will include but are not limited to the following:

• Maintain regular contact with project’s partners in Baghdad, Basra and Sulaymaniyah via phones (or field visits whenever needed) to ensure the smooth workflow in receiving and handling legal cases,
• Follow up the provided legal services by project partners’ lawyers to vulnerable women, obtain cases update and address any issues they might have,
• Assess provided legal services by project’s partners’ lawyers to ensure compliance with project’s objectives in terms of the location, targeted participants and types of intake cases,
• Assess the quality of provided legal services to guarantee adherence with HAI’s SOPs, including legal manual, using legal forms, update activity info software and follow-up legal casework flow,  
• Identify gaps and challenges and in consultation with line managers set performance plan to overcome them,
• Prepare and send weekly reports to project coordinator, including gaps, challenges and recommendations,
• Follow up, including providing legal consultation and representation, any pending cases during the transition periods of the project, especially in the last quarterly of the project,
• Perform other duties, as required by the line supervisor and the project manager.

Languages

Arabic Proficiency Level Required: Native

English Proficiency Level Required: Intermediate

Kurdish Proficiency Level Required: Intermediate

·       A bachelor’s degree in law.

• Minimum 6 years’ experience in providing legal aid services in humanitarian settings (minimum Level C).
• Active member of the Iraqi Lawyers’ Syndicate.
• Strong analytical skills.
• A broad network of contacts and ability to navigate within the legislative and judicial fields and across various ministries.
• A strong commitment to human rights and to the implementation of international law.
• Demonstrated understanding of protection and ethical principles in humanitarian programming.
• Belief in human rights including justice between two sexes.
• Experience working with people from different backgrounds.
• Practical understanding of Microsoft office applications.

• Report writing skills, meeting the monthly and quarterly reports deadlines.
• Experience with Windows platform, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Commcare System etc.
• Excellent oral communication skills.
• Excellent negotiation and relationship management skills, with the ability to proactively solve problems and find solutions.
• Proven ability to calmly, professionally, and successfully manage multiple priorities

Work conditions

Work Environment:

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• The employee may be required to travel frequently to insecure and limited-resource environments.

Sometimes the candidate may be required to work for extra hours to deliver emerging unprecedented priorities

Please send your CV through the link below:

https://heartlandalliance.bamboohr.com/careers/1070

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear back from us within 2 weeks, please consider your application unsuccessful.

Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions without regard to race, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, sexual identity, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief, ex-offender status (depending on the offense and position to be filled), unfavorable military discharge, membership in an organization whose primary purpose is the protection of civil rights or improvement of living conditions and human relations, or HIV infection, in accord with the Organization’s AIDS Policy Statement of September, 1987. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodation should contact the Human Resources and Administration Office at (312) 660-1431.