Regional Director for Mesoamerica

The Mesoamerican Regional Director (Meso RD) is a senior leadership position with dual responsibility for providing strategic leadership to JASS Mesoamerica and contributing to JASS' global strategic direction, as well as providing overall leadership and oversight of the regional programme and team in line with JASS’ core mission, values and strategic framework. JASS Mesoamerica is at an important moment of organizational strengthening and strategic alignment across country, regional and global levels, creating an opportunity to deepen JASS' contribution to the complex and evolving realities confronting women, their organizations and social justice movements across the region.  In particular, Meso RD will provide strategic leadership to strengthen regional leadership, organizational effectiveness, systems and ways of working, while fostering deeper collaboration across JASS' three regions to strengthen collective learning, strategic coherence, solidarity and movement building impact. s 

Reporting to JASS Executive Director, they will guide, support and work alongside the Meso team based in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. As a member of the  senior leadership team the Meso RD contributes regional political analysis, movement knowledge and strategic insight to organizational decision-making, helping shape JASS' overall strategic direction while ensuring the organization's work remains grounded in the realities, opportunities and priorities of movements across the region.

Candidates must bring strong feminist leadership skills and a commitment to working from an intersectional approach. They should be from, located and rooted in the Mesoamerican context and have experience working to strengthen national and regional social justice movements.

JASS is a feminist movement support organization dedicated to building the voice, visibility, and collective power of women for a just and sustainable world for all. We equip and strengthen the leadership and organizing capacity of women leaders and their organizations and networks in Mesoamerica, Southeast Asia, and Southern Africa.

Our feminist movement building work supports marginalized women leaders (indigenous and rural land defenders, sex workers, garment workers, LBTQI+, HIV+ and young activists) in critically unpacking the power dynamics affecting their lives from the personal to the public, from the local to the global; as to transform the systems, structures and beliefs that perpetuate inequity, injustice, and violence. Our tested approach enables the conditions for women to organize, mobilize and transform power in four areas of their lives: Bodies, Voice, Resources, and Safety.

Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of who we are and how we were founded. JASS’ work is carried out by an intersectional staff of 52 and broader community of practice that represents diverse geographies, cultures, faiths, generations, races, abilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, and includes activists grounded in country-level organizing and movements. We strive for internal structures, policies, and practices that value the range of knowledge held in this diversity and that reflect shared principles and accountability to our mission.

Shaping and advancing JASS Meso's strategy 

●       Facilitate and feed consultative processes for planning, designing, implementing and assessing JASS Meso’s  movement building work in line with JASS’ overall mission and priorities.

● Lead ongoing political analysis of the regional context, identifying emerging opportunities, risks and strategic priorities to strengthen JASS' contribution to movement building and inform organizational strategy.

●       Oversee the implementation of regional  and country level movement building work  in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. 

● Steward long-term relationships (with movement partners, thinkers, academics, policy leaders), supporting collective strategy, solidarity and the strengthening of feminist movement infrastructure across the region.

• Inform the generation of regional learning and knowledge, contributing political analysis, documentation and collective sense-making that strengthens movement practice and informs organizational learning across JASS.

●    Represent JASS in regional and global movement spaces, and enable regional staff and movement partners to strengthen relationships, advance collective agendas and contribute to strategic movement dialogue.

• Identify opportunities to strengthen collaboration, exchange and solidarity across JASS' regional programmes and broader movement networks.

Regional Leadership and Management 

●       Lead, mentor and develop the Meso team, providing strategic oversight  of the regional and national movement building work and programmes,  and finance and operations functions and directly supervise and support the leadership of the Regional Programme Coordinator and Organisers.

●      Cultivate a culture of distributed leadership, collective accountability and continuous learning, strengthening the leadership capacity of staff and creating conditions for shared ownership of regional priorities and strategy.

●         Strengthen the leadership and collective capacity of the regional team by supporting staff development, reflective performance processes, and identifying evolving staffing and consultant needs in line with organizational priorities, programme commitments and resources. 

●       Provide strategic oversight of regional planning, coordination, monitoring, evaluation and learning systems, working closely with the Regional Programme Coordinator and global teams to ensure effective implementation, organizational coherence, and the ability to adapt regional priorities and commitments in response to changing political contexts and movement opportunities.

●   Contribute regional political analysis, learning and strategic insight to organizational decision-making, identifying emerging opportunities, risks and implications for regional priorities and JASS' broader strategic direction.

●  Strengthen the Meso team's engagement within the broader JASS ecosystem by fostering cross-regional collaboration, shared learning and ensuring regional experience both informs and is enriched by organization-wide strategy and practice. 

●       Convene a regional reference group of trusted  advisors and movement partners to provide   strategic counsel, deepen political analysis, strengthen movement relationships and inform the evolution of JASS Meso strategy and practice.  

Organisational health and effectiveness  

●  Provide strategic oversight of regional financial planning, budgeting and resources of the region; ensuring responsible management of resources in line with organizational priorities and policy approaches, while maximizing opportunities for collaboration, partnership and collective impact.

●  Cultivate  relationships with donors and funding partners ensuring high-quality grant management, timely reporting, transparent financial oversight and regular communication that shares learning, strengthens trust and demonstrates the impact of JASS' work. ●       Identify, and position JASS Meso for strategic new funding opportunities in collaboration with JASS strategy contributing to regional and organizational resource mobilization through relationship building, proposal development and strategic positioning.

●       Strengthen and contribute to regional and organisational systems, processes and ways of working, fostering organizational effectiveness, accountability and strengthening.  

●       Model and embed JASS' values and principles, fostering a culture of care, accountability, collaboration and movement responsiveness across the regional team, partners and broader community of practice. 

●       Serve as JASS' legal representative in Mexico, fulfilling delegated statutory responsibilities and ensuring compliance with relevant legal, regulatory and organizational requirements. 

Strategic leadership and organizational direction 

●   Serve as a member of JASS’ joint leadership team (JLT) sharing collective responsibility for the organization's strategic direction, organizational health, culture and long-term sustainability.

●       Contribute regional political analysis, movement perspectives and organizational learning to JASS' strategic decision-making, helping ensure organizational priorities remain responsive to evolving political contexts, movement opportunities and emerging challenges.

●      Strengthen strategic coherence across JASS by fostering collaboration, shared learning and alignment between regional and global priorities, and contributing to cross-organizational initiatives that advance JASS' strategy, organizational effectiveness and movement impact.

●       Represent JASS in regional and global spaces strengthening strategic relationships, advancing feminist analysis, and maintaining regular strategic dialogue with the Executive Director and senior leadership on regional developments, opportunities and organizational implications. 

●   Desire to work in an organization whose mission and culture is rooted in intersectional feminism and a transformative approach to equality and justice.

●   Deep contextual knowledge of the Mesoamerican region and commitment to social justice movements.

●   Minimum 5 years experience as a senior leader in social justice organization/s (preferably women’s rights or feminist organizations); international/global experience a plus.

●   Facilitative and collaborative approach to feminist leadership and ability to inspire teams as a fellow do-er rather than delegator.

●   Ability to work at multiple levels and engage with multiple audiences/contexts (e.g. indigenous and rural women and movements; NGOs, donors, officials).

●   Experience in supporting movements/movement thinking and understanding/interest in feminist movement building and feminist popular education.

●   Strategic thinking, planning, budgeting and programme management experience.

●   Experience in managing and building diverse teams and partnerships.

●   Experience in fundraising, donor relations and strategic positioning of movement/civil society value.

●   Excellent analysis, writing and communication skills.

●   Ability to self-manage and work remotely, across time zones, with flexibility in working hours 

●   Availability to travel regionally and internationally as needed.

●   Bilingual Spanish/English fluency