Advocacy Officer

Reprieve US is seeking an Advocacy Officer to help coordinate our engagement with key stakeholders including policymakers, politicians, partner organizations, and the press. This person will work across Reprieve US’s core work areas, and be a point person for all of Reprieve US’s casework and project teams when they are looking to conduct advocacy work in the United States.

The Advocacy Officer will be based in Reprieve US’s Washington D.C. office. They will be supervised by a Deputy Director.

The Advocacy Officer will be responsible for monitoring significant developments in domestic US debates around Reprieve US’s core issues. They will communicate relevant developments to the relevant casework and project teams, and provide local insight and intelligence to inform to Reprieve’s responses to these issues.

The Advocacy Officer will track prospective legislative and policy changes which could impact Reprieve US’s work. They will draw on their networks and knowledge to analyze any such proposals and make recommendations for action. Where necessary, they will engage with legislators and political stakeholders in line with Reprieve US’s objectives and policies.

The Advocacy Officer will establish, maintain and develop relationships with stakeholders who may help advance Reprieve US’s work on a state and federal level, such as partner organizations, business representatives, politicians, journalists, diplomats, and funders. They will be responsible for sustaining these relationships so that allies can be called upon for support when necessary.

The Advocacy Officer may help coordinate public campaigning on Reprieve US cases and issues, whether that campaigning is publicly led by Reprieve US partners or by Reprieve US itself. This may involve preparing written materials, engaging with lawyers, experts and family members, and engaging with third parties who may be willing to make public or private interventions on behalf of the prisoners in question.

The Advocacy Officer will be comfortable working on new and emerging areas with limited supervision and will be receptive to learning from those around them.

The role may require significant travel within the United States and occasional travel to Reprieve’s London office, as well as work performed outside of normal office hours.

Responsibilities:

1. Monitor domestic developments relating to Reprieve’s core issues

o Establish systems to stay across developments that are relevant to Reprieve’s work (e.g. Google alerts, pro bono monitoring of legislative developments by law firms, rolling research by fellows, etc);
o Maintain regular contact with allies who can provide insight on relevant developments;
o Provide timely updates to team members, highlighting the most important information about relevant developments;
o Offer insight and analysis on relevant developments, along with initial suggestions of how Reprieve may proceed.

2. Produce advocacy materials

o Draft briefing papers, formal correspondence, presentations, reports, and other advocacy documents articulating Reprieve’s key messages to target audiences;
o Proactively coordinate team members’ input into public-facing documents, and obtain authorization for these documents from the relevant members of the casework team and managers;
o Liaise with other members of the team in order to identify effective ways to present and disseminate Reprieve’s messages.

3. Maintain relationships with key stakeholders

o Establish and maintain contact with the leading groups working on Reprieve’s issues in the U.S, and coordinate with these partners to ensure Reprieve’s advocacy efforts complement and enhance ongoing efforts;
o Conduct engagement with stakeholders including but not limited to: think tanks and research organizations; business representatives; Reprieve clients, family members; third parties and advocacy groups affected by Reprieve’s issues.
o Maintain relationships with foreign governments’ diplomatic representatives in DC and in relevant consulates, keeping missions up to date with Reprieve’s work and ensuring Reprieve remains plugged in to relevant activities;
o Build a network of political contacts in Washington D.C. and in key states, who may advise and intervene on legislation and other political issues which may impact Reprieve’s work;
o In collaboration with the Director and the Development and Outreach team, maintain relationships with Reprieve’s funders and take opportunities to keep them up to date with Reprieve’s work, while also understanding the wider funding landscape and spotting opportunities to engage new potential funders.

4. Conduct political engagement in support of Reprieve’s strategic objectives

o Draw on public sources and private networks to closely monitor state and national political developments which may impact our work;
o Identify where there is a realistic prospect legislation may be introduced on issues affecting our work
o Make recommendations to the Director, Deputy Directors, and Project Leads as to possible approaches to political engagement around prospective legislation;
o Prepare materials on prospective legislation for dissemination to political stakeholders either directly or via local partner organizations;
o Conduct or support political engagement via direct meetings with legislators or participation in legislative hearings;
o Coordinate joint advocacy with local groups around prospective legislation;
o Coordinate with the Deputy Director and Director of Operations to ensure any and all political engagement is conducted in a manner which complies with state and national regulation.

5. Conduct media engagement in support of Reprieve’s strategic objectives

o Build a good understanding of the media environment in key states and how this may impact Reprieve's strategic objectives;
o Work with the media team to determine the most appropriate way of handling contact with journalists in key states;
o Support the media team in preparing materials for engagement with journalists, either directly or via local partners.
o Coordinate with local partners to establish whether and how media engagement should be conducted to serve our goals;

6. Support Reprieve’s casework and project teams on case-specific engagement

o Maintain a good working knowledge of the cases Reprieve is working on;
o Advise the casework and project teams on how Reprieve's work on individual cases may intersect with the organization's wider US work and strategic advocacy in key states;
o Work closely with the team to identify where there is a need for strategic advocacy around individual cases;
o Support the wider US team in identifying and engaging influential third parties who could make valuable interventions on individual cases;
o Support the development of advocacy materials on individual cases, including briefings, opinion pieces, media pitches, and letters on behalf of interested third parties;

Please visit https://reprieve.org/contact/work-with-us/ for more details.