Description:

An Organization Supports Civil Society Organizations seeks a mid-career lawyer with global policy experience to work as part of a global initiative to support reforms to low- and middle-income countries' Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems and legal frameworks. The role will include supervising reviews of countries' CRVS laws; providing technical assistance for reforms to the CRVS legal frameworks; and leading civil society advocacy for legal and policy change in CRVS systems.

While prior experience in CRVS systems is preferred, it is not required to apply for the position. Full training on CRVS systems, legal frameworks and best practices will be given to the selected candidate.

Program and Position Description
An Organization Supports Civil Society Organizations, a program of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), supports legal and policy change campaigns around the globe to improve public health. An Organization Supports Civil Society Organizations is one of eight implementing partners within the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Data for Health (D4H) Initiative (other partners include Vital Strategies, the CDC and the CDC Foundation, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia, Johns Hopkins and United Nations High Commission for Refugees). This initiative is focused on assisting low and middle-income countries with establishing stronger CRVS systems, including CRVS legal frameworks.

Effective and efficient CRVS systems that register birth, deaths, and other vital events, are a basic function of good government but many low- and middle-income countries do not have effective systems operationalized. Birth registration confers legal identity and is the basis of many fundamental individual rights. Without systems that register births, deaths and causes of deaths, governments do not know what or where their population is and cannot plan or deliver public health or other public policy interventions.

An Organization Supports Civil Society Organizations's roles within the D4H initiative include providing technical legal assistance for reviews and reform of countries' CRVS systems; and leading and supervising in-country grantee civil society organizations to advocate for political prioritization of CRVS system and legal reforms.

The CRVS legal reviews entail working closely with in-country lawyers to analyze a country's current CRVS legal frameworks and offer recommendations for how they can be brought into better alignment with international best practices; then provide legal assistance to the government to adopt those recommendations through legal and policy reforms. The role of the legal adviser is to work closely with an in-country lawyer or legal team to do this careful analysis, in addition to training, educating, and teaching the in-county legal team and key government stakeholders on these best practices.

In conjunction with the legal reviews and technical assistance, An Organization Supports Civil Society Organizations provides grants to civil society organizations in countries where legal reforms may be possible. The CSO's undertake advocacy campaigns to generate political prioritization to get the legal reforms adopted and implemented. The role will include leading in the development and monitoring of the campaigns

The Legal Adviser will also work closely with other partners in the D4H Initiative to facilitate CRVS reform, specifically pertaining to CRVS legal reform, and will be required to participate in global meetings, monthly and quarterly calls with funders, and attend in-person convenings.

This position reports to the Director of An Organization Supports Civil Society Organizations Data for Health, and is based in Washington, DC. The office operates a hybrid schedule of three in-office days, and two days of remote working.

Global travel is an expected part of this position with travel up to 20%.

What You'll Accomplish:
The Legal Advisor's principal areas of responsibility will be to:

Train and supervise in-country legal consultants in conducting reviews of CRVS legal frameworks.
Supervise technical legal advice and support for reforms to CRVS legal frameworks.
Train, supervise and monitor grantee civil society organizations in their advocacy campaigns for political prioritization of CRVS legal and policy reforms.

In addition, the legal advisor will be expected to:

Contribute to identifying and on-boarding new grantee civil society organizations.
Assist in developing advocacy strategies and provide strategic guidance to civil society organizations for CRVS political prioritization, and legal and policy reforms.
Review CRVS legal frameworks and evaluate them against international best practices.
Organize and lead workshops, meetings, and conferences.
Managing in country advocacy coordinators
Teach and mentor others on international legal best practices pertaining to CRVS.
Coordinating with relevant government agencies, international stakeholders, funders and implementing partners.
Participating in coordination meetings and technical working groups.
Providing ongoing legal technical assistance as requested.
Working directly with government officials and their staff.
Contribute to legal articles, case studies, blogs, toolkits and other reports related to the Data for Health Initiative.
In collaboration with partners, develop country legal strategies as an integrated part of an overall strategy for CRVS reform and implementation.

Skills You'll Bring to The Role:

Juris Doctor Degree (or the Equivalent First-Level Legal Degree Awarded by A Law School Accredited by The National Authority Responsible for Accreditation).
At least five to seven years of relevant post-law school legal experience.
Experience working on public health or broader development issues, including analyzing laws against international best practices.
Experience in working for a public policy advocacy organization preferred especially in a global setting
Knowledge of and experience in using legal analysis to advance policy change objectives ideally in an international context
Experience with developing training seminars and programs for government lawyers and local advocates on public policy or public health legal issues.
Demonstrated experience as project officer or manager of international projects.
Excellent analytical skills, legal writing and research ability.
Experience in legal analysis of public health or public policy issues, particularly in the area of CRVS, strongly preferred.
Demonstrated excellence in communication and in working with people from diverse cultures and countries.
Familiarity or work experience outside the United States preferred.
Ability to travel internationally up to 20%.
Ability to take initiative and work independently with only general supervision.
Ability to work in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment while juggling and coordinating multiple projects and deadlines.
English language proficiency.
Other language proficiency highly desirable especially French