Women's Empowerment Coordinator - Bahia, Brazil

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Description

ETIV do Brasil is looking for a Women’s Empowerment Coordinator who will actually take the lead on helping us build and manage a new women’s empowerment project from the ground up. The Coordinator will be working with the support of the Director and/or the Operations Manager, and will receive ongoing supervision and training.

Most likely, the women will be interested in participating in training and skill building activities that will help them earn more money so that they can provide a better living standard for themselves and their families. This may include anything that truly interests them, from arts and crafts like greeting cards, to sewing and creating candles, purses or bags. In addition, it would be amazing if we could connect the women more closely with our environmental work, and we would love to work with the women to help them create natural products or healthy organic food. This could include things like: natural candles, soaps or cleaning supplies to growing organic lettuces, making natural yogurt, coconut oil or anything else the women might be interested in. We want to be open to support the interests and passions of both the women and our volunteers, but we must also be environmentally sustainable and ensure that all the projects we support are also eco-friendly. For example, it would also be fantastic to make profitable products out of reused or natural and sustainable materials.

Beyond focusing on activities to help the women become more economically independent, we also want to work with the women to focus on their shared concerns and the community issues they all care about. This way, the women will be able to mobilize themselves to build a force capable of creating greater social justice, equality and positive community change. Domestic abuse is a very serious issue among women in Bahia that often results in death. However, when women are more economically independent and have more support structures in place, they are more likely to leave abusive relationships and can find the support the need through the positive relationships they have built with the other women in our empowerment group. In addition, Bahia is also known as having some of the worst statistics in terms of teenage pregnancy, STD’s including HIV/AIDS, education, health care, drug trafficking and gang involvement. Therefore, there are a host of issues that these women may choose to focus on and improve for their communities, and the possibilities are limitless of women can do when they become trained and empowered to create change.

Main Responsibilities:

• To build positive relationships within the community, mainly by meeting with local women to better understand their stories, hopes and concerns for themselves, their families and their community.
• To organize regular meetings with the women (at least twice a month) bringing women together who share similar hopes and concerns and are interested and willing to work together towards positive change.
• To document the names of everyone you meet with and their hopes and concerns
• To take attendance at all meeting and document themes, agendas, strategies, best practices and challenges.
• To help the women focus on things they can do to positively impact their lives and that of their families and the community, while it is imperative that we help them create goals that are actually obtainable or winnable
• To organize a local fundraiser event to improve the budget for the women’s empowerment work
• To apply for at least one grant for the women’s empowerment project
• To support any other volunteers interested in getting involved in the project
• To manage and lead our women’s empowerment program with support from ETIV staff
• To create a women’s empowerment manual for incoming volunteers and to keep our project description updated on our website, especially prior to leaving the position

Requirements:

• Coordinators must work at least 25 hours per week
• Intermediate to Advanced Portuguese
• 3 months minimum and 4 to 6-month time commitment preferred for all coordinators (however we do welcome applications for Women’s Empowerment volunteers/interns that can only stay 1-3 months)
• Strong leadership, social and organizational skills
• Patience, flexibility and punctuality

Benefits

Prior to arrival, volunteers and interns receive ongoing support, our Pre-Departure PowerPoint a Skype interview and Portuguese audio lessons. We also organize taxi pickups, housing, project placement and Portuguese lessons with our local instructor. All volunteers and interns will also receive an Introduction to the NGO, a tour of Itacaré, life insurance, project training and ongoing support and supervision during their volunteer time or internship with the NGO. All volunteers and interns will receive excellent references from the NGO for quality work completed with us.

Most interns can receive university credit while interning with us and some are even able to receive a University stipend or grant to help cover their expenses. We offer ongoing supervision for interns and can complete all university documents and evaluations as deemed necessary. Interns can also earn credit by completing a remote/virtual internship with us completely free of charge.

Low income volunteers and interns that are willing and able to dedicate at least 4-months (preferably 6) to the project may apply for a grant with the NGO to have their volunteer contribution waived. However, everyone is responsible for covering their own food, travel, accommodation and personal expenses and everyone must pay the $76 admin fee that covers all legal documentation.

These positions are perfect for someone seeking a meaningful internship experience in a stunning location with a thriving Afro-Brazilian culture. Itacaré is unique place where the Rainforest meets the Atlantic Ocean and beautiful beaches, jungles, waterfalls and wildlife abound.