POSITION: COORDINATOR OF “EL CIRCULO DE MUJERES A.C.”  IN OAXACA, MEXICO

El Circulo de Mujeres A.C. is a legally constituted non profit in the State of Oaxaca founded in 2003.  It works in conjunction with the U. S. 501c3, The Circle of Women, Inc.  The office of El Circulo de Mujeres is in the city of Oaxaca.

Mission

The Circle of Women enhances social justice for women of low income in Oaxaca, Mexico supporting individual skills and talents which strengthen self reliance.  Through connection to other women, women gain confidence to participate more fully in the decision – making processes in their family and communities.  We do this work using an educational / consultative model.  

The members of the organizations are all women of different nationalities engaged in the work with indigenous women of the Mixteca Alta in the State of Oaxaca. At present, there are four programs in process: a micro economic project with weavers, a literacy program directed to elderly women, a community library and a photography book to support the marketing of the weavers.

The position as a coordinator will be vacant in September 2008.  The work of the coordinator includes administration, development and leadership in coordination with The Circle of Women Boston to support maturity and expansion of the mission statement in the State of Oaxaca.  This three quarter time position holds the following responsibilities:

Responsibilities

General:

• Develop and lead the strategic planning of the Circle of Women
• Manage planning processes of the different programs
• Collaborate in strategic planning of fund raising in coordination with the sister organization “ The Circle of Women” Boston
• Be in charge of day to day operations and personnel
• Taking care of the house which locates  the office
• Collaborate with the Board of Directors to strengthen programs and develop new projects.

Administration

• Responsible for administering the budget; control of bank accounts and regular  reports.
• Execute the annual budget in a clear and transparent way.
• Collaboration with the coordinator Boston to support fund raising strategies in the US.

Tasks

• Monitor work plans and maintain continuous communication with the coordinator Boston.
• Facilitate team work and enhance connections between the different programs.
•  Make regular trips to the communities were programs are in process and keep personal contact with the different participants of the programs.
• Maintain good relationships with the community authorities.
• Maintain and foster relationships with other NGO’s and individuals as well as institutions who relate to our work.
• Facilitate marketing of the group of Mixteca Weavers.
• Assist with fundraising as appropriate.

Requirements

• Very good language levels in Spanish and English: oral and written
• Comfortable with cross cultural and indigenous issues as well as the local Oaxaca culture
• Awareness and commitment to the development of Freire’s theory and the women’s relation theory developed by Jean Baker Miller
• Leadership skills
• Personally convinced and literate in the humanistic approach to growth process on community and individual level.
• Interested and open to holistic view of health
• Ability to think in a  “big picture”
• Effective communication skills
• Planning and managing skills
• Basic administration skills
• Ability to be involved with people with a variety of professions
• Ability to work alone / self directed
• Ability to combine process and goal oriented work
• Needs to be available to attend events in US

The coordinator is responsible to the board of directors in Oaxaca, Mexico and collaborates with the coordinator in Boston

Conditions

This approx ¾ time job is vacant September 30^th.

We are planning a training stage starting September 1^st.

Salary 10 000 pesos / month

Social benefits are equivalent to other non governmental organizations in Oaxaca.

Application

1.Cover letter explaining why you are applying for the job

2. Personal development theory taking into account the theory of Paulo Freire: and

3. Your reaction to women’s relational theory developed by Jean Baker Miller.  (Expected length, a paragraph each for the three essays to be submitted in English and in Spanish)

• Curriculum Vitae
• 2 References

Please send your application to

circulodemujeresoax@gmail.com

Mail address

El Circulo de Mujeres A.C.

Calle Jose Vasconcelos 104 a

68070 Col Figueroa

Oaxaca , Oaxaca

cel:  044 951 50 49 351       Tel in the morning: 51 6 74 33

Recommended web pages:

www.thecircleofwomen.org

www.jbmi@wellsley.edu

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS JUNE 30, 2008.

We will plan interviews after June 30th.Candidates will each be notified of the progress of our search during the week of July 14^th-18th 2008.

We are thankful for applications of all candidates.   

Oaxaca de Juárez, 4^th June 2008

Dear Friends,

A lot has been happening this winter! Jennifer Lemire, our Boston Associate, came to Oaxaca in February and drove home with me after a week of visits to Miramar, a fundraiser with Oaxaca’s Canadian and American community and a very successful sale of weavings.

The weaving sale was especially sweet as we are working to develop markets were the weavers can play a more active role in managing and marketing. This time, three weavers, Sofia, Reyna and Edith, came to Oaxaca to demonstrate backstrap weaving and sell weavings.  Additionally, Sofia did the “ask” and expressed beautifully all that this project means for the abuelitas in Miramar. The Circle of Women’s house/office is a great place for an event. We accommodated about 40 people comfortably and still had room for the looms. Our next step will be to try to engage with tour guides who work with tourists especially interested in crafts.

In the meantime, back in the U.S., the weavings will be available for purchase this Sunday, March 9th at Trinity Church-Copley Square in Boston from 10:00am-12:30pm.

Pia Scognamiglio, the Co-Founder of the Circle of Women, is back managing the Oaxaca side of things for the short term while we decide how to structure the work and what is needed in a Oaxaca Coordinator. She will stay through autumn and we will conduct a search for a new person. Many thanks to Rosa Dominguez for stepping in during the time that Pia was away.

The literacy project-year two launched this week. Patty Tovar says the students will all be reading by the end of the year. She is developing a manual for use with other indigenous, elderly women. The village has appointed a Librarian (hurrah!), and she is a bright young woman who is volunteering her time.

Tom Feher, who has been working with us to develop a book documenting the lives of the women and the work with The Circle of Women, has visited Miramar a number of times and has beautiful pictures of the women and their families. We are looking forward to continuing our work with him and seeing this project progress.

It is an exciting time and we need your support to keep all this work happening. Please consider making a gift to The Circle of Women. We appreciate your help!

Judith and The Circle of Women-Boston, Oaxaca and Miramar

Oaxaca is rich with cultural heritage and a new handicraft museum in San Bartolo Coyotepec has opened (see below).  We’re talking about a variety of collaborations with them to help promote and celebrate the Mixteca weavings.  You can learn more about the museum at:

 www.oaxacatimes.com/html/livingartofoaxaca.html

or

www.laoferta.com

Enjoy!

Last week I met with the director of the new handicraft museum in San Bartolo Coyotepec, Carlo MagnoMartinez.

He admired the rebozos and arranged for Banamex to buy 27 wool and 4 cotton rebozos for an expo-sale they are going to organize at the Libanese centre in Mexico City. 

They have asked the weavers to make some table runners and some smaller items, maybe for the kitchen. They also prefer cotton to wool.

Isn’t that great?  I am so proud of our group.

Pia

Co-founder of the Circle of Women

We’ll be posting stories and images from Mixteca, where women are working to improve their lives by developing their entrepreneurial skills, acquiring literacy, and creating beautiful hand-crafted weavings that you can buy online. We make regular trips to visit them and help with their work, and we’ll have lots of pictures of the stunning landscape and the women and their lives.