Position Responsibilities
The Direct Services Program Advocate (Advocate) plays a pivotal role within the Direct Services Program, a core tenet of Sakhi’s activities. The Advocate works closely with the entire team to ensure that Sakhi’s mission to eradicate violence and achieve social change is realized. The Advocate addresses critical immediate and long-term needs of individual survivors of violence. Additionally, the Advocate contributes to Sakhi’s larger policy and organizational goals by advocating for gender justice and equality along with communicating Sakhi’s impact.
Major areas of work include:
Direct Services
Provide crisis response, case management and safety planning for the organization’s helpline, which responds to survivors of domestic violence;
Accompany and provide advocacy for survivors of violence in courts, welfare offices, and hospitals, as needed;
Provide survivors with information on rights, resources, and services available; provides advocacy, ongoing support; follow up, and other options;
Assist survivors by helping them to complete reports & applications, gather information;
Assist with coordination and facilitation of support group meetings, legal clinics, & focus groups;
Offer responsive referrals to survivors of violence, community members and other callers who call for other kinds of assistance;
Liaise with volunteers to provide support services and participate in Sakhi’s volunteer trainings and orientations; and
Conduct mental health assessment and make referrals for individual therapy, parent-child therapy, group therapy in house and to other organizations; and
Assist other staff with cross-organizational efforts.
Program Documentation and Development
Keep up-to-date records of all survivor related work/activities through efficient data collection;
Produce accurate reports and documentation of program activities for grant reporting;
Ensure routine and comprehensive program evaluation;
Develop ongoing referral relationships within the health, legal, social service, and educational systems;
Present and train regarding Sakhi’s work as appropriate, including conducting trainings pertaining to Cultural Competency to different constituents;
Pursues additional education (including in-services, seminars) to advance skills and knowledge; and
Attends interagency meetings, trainings and workshops pertinent to advocacy services provided at Sakhi.
Qualifications
Master’s degree preferred, plus a minimum two years of case management in domestic violence advocacy.
Fluency in one or more South Asian languages, especially Hindi, Urdu, and/or Bengali.
Excellent empathetic and listening skills.
Strong administrative, interpersonal, organizational, writing, and volunteer management skills.
Ability to work well within a team.
Ability to work flexible hours including some evenings and weekends.
Experience with community-based work and ability to engage with diverse communities and audiences.
How to apply
Interviews will be scheduled as resumes from candidates with appropriate qualifications are received. Please send cover letter and resume to reshmi.sengupta@sakhi.org.