Executive Officer, part time
Organization: The Association of Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society
Job Title: Executive Officer
Location: global company, Work from home country. Need not be based in Geneva but must be able to travel particularly to Geneva at least two times a year.
Hours and Compensation: part time, salary commensurate with experience
Position Dates (if applicable):
Application Deadline: March 1st
Posted on: Jan 2nd
The Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES) was founded in 2009 by several NGOs*. APBREBES is the only global network of civil society organisations that has observer status to UPOV bodies. The objective of APBREBES is to inform farmers, NGOs, governments and the general public about what is happening at UPOV and to provide support to work related to plant variety protection at the national level. In addition, APBREBES hope to influence UPOV to recognise and take into account human rights in general and farmers’ rights in particular as well as the sustainable management of agricultural biodiversity, in their deliberations.
The current members of APBREBES are the Berne Declaration (Switzerland), Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL, USA), Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT, Zimbabwe), Development Fund (Norway), Local Initiatives for Biodiversity, Research and Development ( LI-BIRD, Nepal), South East Asia Regional Initiatives for Community Empowerment (Searice, Philippines) and Third World Network (Malaysia).
The Executive Officer post is new. Initially the Executive Officer will dedicate 50% of his/her time to undertake the above tasks, with the possibility of increasing this engagement in the longer term.
The Executive Officer will carry out all his/her responsibilities and duties under the instructions and guidance of the APBREBES Board.
The main duties/responsibilities of the Executive Officer APBREBES is seeking to hire will include:
· Coordinating APBREBES (incl. internal meetings, annual planning and long term strategy, fundraising)
· Advocacy & Lobbying Activities (incl. monitoring of and reporting on UPOV meetings and providing technical support to other NGOs and farmer organisations on matters related to plant variety protection).
· Outreach (communicate via listservs, website and other means)
· Research & Analysis on issues relating to plant variety protection
University degree in law, or other relevant field or equivalent professional qualifications.
· Experience and knowledge in intellectual property issues in the field of agriculture, in agricultural biodiversity and farmers’ rights.
· Experience in international negotiations.
· Able to work independently, with some flexibility to travel.
· Able to prepare and produce sound written analysis on PVP related matters.
Oral and written proficiency in English is required. Knowledge of a second language (Spanish, French) is an advantage.
How to Apply:
Please send a cover letter, curriculum vitae and contact details of two references to François Meienberg, Berne Declaration ( email@example.com ) by 1 st of March 2012. Copies of articles on PVP or other relevant topics written by the applicant should also be sent together with the application.
For further information about the position, contact François Meienberg ( firstname.lastname@example.org , +41 44 277 70 04 ).