Ecuador: Volunteer Legal Advocate - Asylum Access Ecuador (Multiple locations) - Fluent in Spanish

Asylum Access Ecuador (AAE) actively seeks Volunteer Legal Advocate (VLA) applications from individuals passionate about social justice and refugee rights, and who are driven to make a positive impact in the lives of refugees living in Ecuador. AAE looks for people who believe in empowerment and are motivated to work from a gender and human rights focused approach. VLAs spend a minimum of six months and up to one year, working side-by-side with in-country advocates and their fellow volunteers in one of our five Ecuador offices: Quito, Lago Agrio, Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, Tulcán, Santo Domingo, Ibarra, San Lorenzo. Following an intensive training program in international and domestic refugee law and response, VLAs are given the opportunity to engage with refugee law in the Ecuadorian administrative system, help refugees assert their full scope of rights, train refugee community leaders and participate in local, regional, and international policy advocacy.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible to ensure space availability. Please note: Applicants without Spanish language skills can unfortunately not be considered for these positions.

About the Program

In addition to working directly with refugees, VLAs receive over 30 hours of training on refugee law and practice and at least 24 hours of one-on-one mentoring from a refugee rights advocate. To enhance each VLA’s experience and promote continuous learning, VLAs participate in regular debriefing sessions that help volunteers to process their experience and solidify their knowledge.

After working with Asylum Access Ecuador, VLAs are connected with an ever-growing global network of refugee legal advocates, policy professionals, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders. The network continuously circulates job openings, research opportunities, refugee news, and more.

Specific VLA duties will depend upon the type and location of the position. All VLAs take an active role in executing one or more of Asylum Access’ four advocacy tools:

1. Legal Services and Community Outreach:
2. Providing legal counsel, advice and/or advocacy on behalf of refugees seeking asylum or the assertion of other legal rights
3. Facilitating community educational activities that promote grassroots refugee empowerment and train refugee community leaders to build the movement from within
4. Pushing forward refugee work rights and promoting refugee economic independence and the access to livelihoods
5. Collaborating with refugee women to empower them and assist them in achieving economic autonomy
6. Strategic Litigation:
7. Supporting landmark refugee cases before national and international courts through research, report writing, and legal strategizing
8. The Strategic Litigation tool focuses on winning high-impact cases to set new precedent for improved jurisprudence and the respect of refugee rights in future cases.
9. Policy Advocacy:
10. Advocating for national, regional, and interaction policy change or policy enforcement
11. May involve engaging with local government and UN leaders on refugee policy issues

Please see below to learn more about the general responsibilities of each position. Though each VLA will focus their work on a specific tool, the Asylum Access model requires that all tools be integrated to fully realize refugee rights. Therefore, all VLAs should expect their job responsibilities to overlap with all of the tools. This also ensures VLAs gain comprehensive insight and experience in the refugee rights field.

Asylum Access’ Ecuador offices foster a collaborative team environment, to which all VLAs will contribute. The VLAs help to support the full management of the office and are also expected to facilitate community activities, present information about Asylum Access and refugee rights at community events, organize conferences and meetings, and support awareness events and campaigns.

Types of VLA Positions

Please note: When you submit a VLA application you will note which of the following types of VLA positions you are interested in applying for.

Legal Services and Community Outreach Position Responsibilities:

• Advise refugee clients on the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) process and their rights in the host country
• Conduct client intake and screening interviews, assess needs, and determine appropriate next steps
• Manage RSD caseload diligently and communicate updates with clients
• Develop unique and innovative legal tactics to assist clients with non-RSD legal needs, including assistance to assert rights to employment, security, education and social services
• Develop legal and client resources through research on “country of origin” and refugee law and protocols
• Develop material for “Know Your Rights” workshops for refugees and carry them out
• Develop a resource list and referral system that helps to connect clients to local social services, health providers and the labor market
• Develop and execute client outreach strategy in collaboration with Asylum Access team;
• Participate in community meetings and identify and develop the leadership capacity of community members
• Organize integration activities with refugee and host community and carry them out;
• Assist the local team in the planification and development of refugee women groups activities

Strategic Litigation Position Responsibilities:

• Provide information management regarding pending judicial proceedings
• Prepare written arguments for and carry out procedures with international courts and other agencies using legal argumentation based on statute laws and jurisprudence
• Carry out in-person court visits to national courts and other agencies
• Revise and analyze legislation and internal, international, and comparative jurisprudence according to the strategic litigation cases
• Assist in strengthening judicial strategy and complementary activities for the initiation of cases and obtain any other information necessary for adequate case management

Policy Advocacy Position Responsibilities:

• Assist the Country Director in the implementation of policy advocacy strategy of AAE
• Participate in local, regional and global networks to ensure the strengthening of AAE goals
• Help in advising governmental and international organizations to apply public policy and meet established national and international standards as well as pressure them to improve and develop new standards
• Assist in the update and monitoring of the Annual Plan of AAE

Preferred Qualifications

• Ability to speak, read, write and understand Spanish at a professional level is required.
• Law, Public Policy, International Relations, Social Sciences and International Development degrees are preferred for Legal Services and Community Outreach VLAs as well as Policy Advocacy VLAs.
• A Bachelor of Laws, JD or equivalent is preferred for strategic litigation VLAs.
• Community organizing and former experiences with refugees and/or people in vulnerable conditions are highly valued.
• Demonstrated academic or professional background in human rights and gender sensitivity is strongly desired.
• Motivation and commitment with refugee rights promotion is strongly appreciated.
• Ability to commit to a minimum of 6 months of full-time work. One year is preferred.

Because of space limitations, AAE VLA positions are awarded on a very competitive basis. We accept applications on a rolling basis and encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible to ensure space availability.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and a brief legal writing sample to Lilia Walsh at apply@asylumaccess.org with the subject line “AAE VLA Application”. Please be sure to specify in your cover letter what makes you uniquely qualified to be a VLA with AAE, how volunteering with us fits into your career plans, and the dates that you expect to be available.

Please specify the type of VLA position for which you are applying and the locations within Ecuador for which you are interested. You may apply for more than one type of VLA position and more than one location in a single application.

Please note that all Asylum Access VLA positions are unpaid. We are happy to work with successful applicants to arrange for funding or school credit where available. If selected, VLAs are responsible for obtaining their visa and work permit.

Asylum Access is an equal opportunity employer