Extractive Industries Campaigner

Position description

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is a 501(c)(3) independent, international, non-profit advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., with proven records of triggering and affecting systemic change to protect the Earth’s environment. For more than three decades, EIA has established unique methods to drive change – including pioneering the use of undercover investigative techniques to expose environmental crimes. These crimes include illegal trade in endangered wildlife, illegal logging and associated trade in illegal timber, human rights and environmental violations in the extractives sector, and the trade in both climate-damaging and ozone layer-depleting gasses.

In 2023, EIA-US made the decision to more systematically address the environmental and human rights crimes associated with extractive industries, via the launch of a dedicated global campaign. The new campaign builds on 40 years of organizational experience in challenging the status quo and pioneering activities at the interface of ground-truthing investigations of environmental crimes, cutting-edge campaigns and systemic policy change, and trust-based solidarity with frontline communities. It also builds on demonstrated success, as the investigation and related campaign against the Pebble Mine in Alaska shows, which played a critical role in stopping what would have been the largest open pit mine in North America. 

EIA’s Extractive Industries Campaign

Extractive industries, responsible for the exploration and exploitation of commodities ranging from fossil fuels to the minerals deemed strategic for the energy transition, are at the heart of multiple crucial challenges. The sector and its associated supply chains have provided the raw materials that many societies have relied on for decades and centuries. Extractive industries are also at the interface of some of the most urgent and dire socio-environmental problems the world is facing, including the climate crisis, human and, particularly, Indigenous rights violations, inequitable benefits sharing, grand corruption and opacity, and entrenched neo-colonialism. Illegal operations have heavily contaminated air, forests, lands, and waters, sometimes permanently. Voices and actions, from organized citizens, communities, and civil society organizations, have repeatedly emerged around the world in order to challenge this situation. EIA’s team members are now dedicated to put their skills, experience, and energy in service of this effort, aiming at radical change in the sector.

Position description

EIA-US is hiring a talented and highly motivated campaigner who is willing to grow with the campaign and help steer the fast-growing portfolio on extractive industries in the right direction. We are looking for an impact-driven professional who will be as comfortable devising and delivering ambitious campaign strategies as working collaboratively and following local partners’ lead, including Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLCs). The ideal candidate will thrive in identifying and seizing new opportunities in order to stop crimes associated with extractive industries and their supply chains and help policy changes built from the ground up. They will support and work under the supervision of the Extractive Industries Campaign Lead and coordinate very regularly with multiple EIA’s colleagues from complementary areas of expertise.

Main Activities and Responsibilities

• Working closely with the Extractive Industries Campaign Lead to design, implement, and evaluate campaign strategies in multiple geographies including Latin America, the Congo Basin, and Southeastern Asia.
• Drafting briefings, reports, press releases, blogs, social media, and other materials to engage a wide variety of audiences, from targeted decision-makers to the larger public, to stop environmental and human rights harms, injustices, and crimes associated with the extractive industries sector.
• Liaising with and supporting local partners, including IPLCs, and collaborating with other international civil society organizations.
• Conducting outreach and advocacy with governments and corporate actors to promote ambitious policy reforms focused on transparency, accountability, and communities’ rights.
• Supporting investigations focused on extractive industries’ crimes and impacts on key ecosystems and people’s lives through data analysis and intelligence gathering, as well as on the ground field studies.
• Contributing to donor reporting tasks.
• Representing the organization at relevant conferences and meetings as required, including high-level events and meetings with government officials and public servants, private companies, and/or members of the civil society.

 Essential Expertise and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or equivalent in a relevant field such as Mining, Environmental Studies, Human Rights, International Relations, Public Policy, Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, or a related discipline.
• At least two years of demonstrated experience and impact in advocacy and campaigning roles at the local, national, or international level.
• Strong strategic planning and project management skills.
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and creatively in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong oral and written communication skills, ability to multitask, and change focus as projects and campaigns require.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, in particular, a collaborative and cooperative approach to work, as well as an ability to network and build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people across a variety of settings.
• Work productively with a high level of autonomy as well as willingness and ability to travel with some frequency.
• Professional fluency in English as well as French and/or Spanish.
• Passion for environmental and human rights issues.

Other Desirable Qualifications

• Prior professional experience related to extractive industries.
• Demonstrable experience working with IPLCs.
• Strong research and analytical skills are a plus for this role.

Commitment to Inclusion, Racial Justice and Anti-oppression

EIA strives to integrate values of equity, fairness, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability into our work, which includes reflecting our commitment for racial justice in our programmatic work and our organizational structure and values. We are seeking candidates who have a commitment to engage in this ongoing process and work with us to create an inclusive work environment and world.

EIA is an equal employment opportunity committed to workforce diversity. All Employment at EIA are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications and business need.

This is a full-time position with an estimated starting salary range between $56,000 and $65,000, commensurate with experience. EIA offers a generous benefits package including medical, dental and vision coverage, life insurance coverage, 401K, paid time off (vacation, sick and personal leaves), disability benefits, workers’ compensation, professional development Support, flexibly hybrid working arrangement, cell phone monthly allowance, commuter monthly allowance.

EIA will favorably be looking at candidates who could join our Washington, D.C.-based office, EIA is open to hiring the best candidate if based elsewhere.

Application instructions

Please be sure to indicate you saw this position on globalvacancies.org