Program Associate (Asia Pacific)

The Organization and Role

About Access Now

Access Now defends and extends the digital rights of people and communities at risk. As a grassroots-to-global organization, we partner with local actors to bring a human rights agenda to the use, development, and governance of digital technologies, and to intervene where technologies adversely impact our human rights. By combining direct technical support, strategic advocacy, grassroots grantmaking, and convenings such as RightsCon, we fight for human rights in the digital age.

About this role

The Program Associate aids the Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy Director and regional policy and international programmes staff in strategy setting and execution of our regional plan. The Program Associate helps to conceptualize and operationalise policy programmes in support of regional priorities, assists in coordination across organizational arms for the Asia Pacific policy and advocacy team, and assists with stakeholder communications and engagement. Our Asia Pacific advocacy and policy presence is divided into the following regions for day-to-day work: South Asia; South East Asia; East Asia; and Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

The Program Associate reports through the Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy Director and principally aids and further assists the Asia Pacific policy staff and members of other teams as necessary. The role will actively contribute to the regional team’s work in support of the organization of RightsCon in Asia in 2025, Access Now’s annual conference on human rights in the digital age, requiring extensive coordination with the RightsCon team, sub-regional staffers, and other stakeholders.

This position is a full-time, fixed term role that will extend from the date of hire to 06/30/2025.

What you will do

Regional programme coordination, strategy, and team assistance

• Assist members of the Asia Pacific advocacy team in day-to-day programmatic operations (not limited to internal team coordination, external partner communications, and calendering) working closely with Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy Director.
• Build outreach and engagement strategies to groups and stakeholders identified by the Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy Director and other regional staff in support of our regional plan.
• Support management and development of our regional policy plan and supporting strategies with the Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy Director.
• Assist with evaluation and regular reporting on our regional policy plan and metrics to other arms of the organization (including our Development team) and external partners as needed.
• Assist the Asia Pacific Director with the tracking and documentation of work plans, tasks, partner commitments, stakeholder requests coming to the regional policy team and aid the team in follow up, management of responsibilities.
• Ensure the Asia Pacific Director and regional policy team’s preparedness for meetings and other commitments, and assist in supporting next steps, anticipating and tracking tasks against achievable timelines.
• Manage all infrastructural, documentation and administrative matters for the team, and have a proactive approach to anticipating future requirements.
• Work closely with the Asia Pacific Director, the Senior East Asia Policy Analyst, RightsCon staff, and other relevant team members to drive, support and coordinate matters pertaining to the organization of RightsCon in the region in 2025.
• Support on global cybersecurity programmatic outreach, scheduling and calendaring assistance for the Director in their capacity as Global Cybersecurity lead.

Regional stakeholder engagement and outreach support

• Manage outreach and communications to key policy stakeholders as tasked by the Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy Director and act as the first point of contact for scheduling and logistical needs for the director and regional policy team.
• Manage reactive and proactive requests for regional policy staff regarding research assistance, briefings, and other engagements with policy-makers – including offices of legislators, government agencies, and regulators – in key priority countries in the region.
• Conduct research to scope new stakeholders whom our regional team should engage with in support of our annual plans and programmes.
• Set up and maintain resources for stakeholder relationship management for our regional programme work.
• Help our civil society allies, partners, and other stakeholders in connecting on requests for specific assistance with other arms of the organization (Helpline, Grants, RightsCon, and others) as needed and help in oversight and management of such assistance.
• Work with sub-regional staffers to drive RightsCon related outreach efforts amongst government, civil society, and tech sector actors from the Asia Pacific region, and maintain strong stakeholder relationships.

Workflow, Communications, and Documentation support

• Help document, compile, update, and disseminate our policy reports, external submissions, policy talking point memos, and other regional policy team authored resources to internal and external audiences.
• Drive operational efficiency by enabling channels for increased coordination and information flow with different arms / teams within the organization, including in particular Operations and SecOps (logistical, administrative support and compliance), Grants (regional team support on grantee references and communications) and the Digital Security Helpline.
• Assist the Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy director, and regional staff, with internal communications.
• As needed, draft blogs, reports, public statements, communications to partners and policy stakeholders, FAQs, press updates, and other materials that support our regional policy work.

Skills, education, and mindset you will bring

• Strong understanding of and appreciation for the key issues and challenges facing the internet, and its users, in the Asia Pacific region.
• Excellent project management skills, including demonstrated proficiency in collaborative project management utilising tools such as Notion, Trello, Google Workspace, Mattermost or Slack, showcasing a commitment to organised and efficient workflows.
• Ability to navigate and excel in a dynamic work environment, including agile multi-tasking to adeptly manage multiple work streams with flexibility and adaptability.
• Ability to drive processes and timelines to meet deadlines.
• Unwavering attention to detail and high levels of organization, ensuring precision and thoroughness in all tasks.
• Proven capability to drive process improvements, showcasing a proactive approach to refining and optimizing workflows.
• A high degree of professionalism and confidentiality
• Substantial experience with cross-border work, ideally in an international setting, showcasing a nuanced understanding of cultural dynamics.
• Excellent communication abilities, able to liaise with many people from various backgrounds.
• Proficient in working across different time zones, including asynchronous communications, highlighting effective collaboration and communication skills in a globally dispersed environment.
• Experience working with policymakers in the public and private sectors in the region is a plus.
• Candidates should be able to work in the UTC +5.5 time zone, and ideally co-located with our Asia Pacific Advocacy and Policy Director.

The Details

Location

This is a full-time, fixed term role that will extend from the date of hire to 06/30/2025, with preference for Delhi, India. The successful candidate must possess the right to work in the location in which they will be based. At this time most Access Now Team Members are working through hybrid office arrangements, combining remote at-home work with intermittent use of offices and/or co-working spaces.

Remuneration

Access Now offers competitive compensation and benefits packages that align competitively with locations and regions around the world. Placement within the salary range for this role begins at ₹163,200.00/month and will be determined by depth of experience.

Benefits for this specific role are tied to the location, and will vary. Regardless of location, all Team Members benefit from a strong global culture aligned around:

• Work-life balance…including a generous paid time-off program between 36 and 40 days annually
• Access to supplemental health care insurance policies
• Professional development and growth opportunities
• Extensive workplace flexibility
• Organizational resilience and support for all team members, including paid family leave and employee assistance programs
• Connection to a diverse, global team of passionate, principled professionals