Application
Call to join ISLA Panel of Experts (IPE)
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Join IPE
The Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) is a feminist, Pan-African non-profit organisation that uses the rule of law to advance sexual rights and women’s human rights on the African continent. ISLA uses the law to hold States accountable for violations of human rights. Our work is based on the belief that strategic litigation is a powerful tool for social change because it helps to reframe the understanding of entitlements before the law and it challenges the legal discourse on women’s rights and sexual rights.
This call to join the ISLA Panel of Experts (IPE) is an opportunity for ISLA to enter into strategic collaborations with lawyers, researchers and academics who share its ways of working and are interested in assisting ISLA’s theory of change to travel to, and be influenced by, various disciplines. IPE seeks to render visibility to feminist Africans who are making intellectual and scholarly contributions using the law as a tool for social change.
The ISLA Panel of Experts is a platform through which ISLA actively promotes and supports the contributions by feminist Africans in the human rights and social justice sphere.
ISLA invites African Feminists, Women, LGBTI people, Allies, Activists, including Africans in the diaspora, who are lawyers, researchers or academics across disciplines to join IPE. Beyond the legal sector, IPE invites experts across disciplines such as sociology, politics, economic justice, psychology, M&E/Research and learning, etc. We are also inviting Law Schools, Law Firms, Research Institutes, NGOs, Trade Unions, Activists, Journalists to collaborate with ISLA under the various categories described below.
To express your interest in joining IPE, please complete the form below. Upon acceptance of your application, you will sign a Sign Level Agreement with ISLA which is renewable annually. Queries may be addressed to cynthia@the-isla.org
Criteria for eligibility
The selection of ISLA panel of experts will take into account:
i. The need to develop a robust team of feminists with expertise on ISLA’s thematic areas of interest.
ii. Be based on the necessity to integrate with like-minded individuals who value the need to develop a comprehensive body of work engendering feminist legal theory.
iii. Demonstrate national, regional and international competency and expertise on the relevant subject matter of interest to ISLA.
iv. The expert member will have to have demonstrated unquestionable personal reputation, integrity and ethical behaviour throughout his or her professional career.
v. Demonstrable ability to author well researched, referenced and contemplative writings. Individuals with publications in regional and international journals on relevant subject matter are highly encouraged.
Selection will be based on the following requirements:
1) An advanced (graduate) degree in human rights law, social sciences, or commensurate experience.
2) A minimum five years of relevant experience in the subject of the thematic area.
3) Relevant work experience may include
a. Experience as an attorney or advocate in a particular jurisdiction
b. Academic or consultant on issues related to feminism, pan Africanism, human rights, social change, social justice, social movements,
c. Research and advocacy experience in strategic litigation or work in international organisations.
4) Fluency in spoken and written language of need (Anglophone, Francophone or Lusophone)
About Us
Founded in 2014, the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) is a Pan-African and feminist initiative with a timely remit: to strengthen strategic human rights litigation across the African continent. Essentially, we aim to change the way that strategic litigation is used so as to enable broader access to justice and to support those who seek to hold states accountable for violations of women’s human rights and sexual rights.
Contact Details
Contact Number:
+27 11 338 9028
Fax: +27 11 338 9029
Address: 87 de Korte Street,
South Point Corner, 7th Floor Braamfontein, 2017 Gauteng, South Africa