Community Engagement and Advocacy Officer

Community Engagement and Advocacy Officer

The Community Engagement and Advocacy Officer is responsible for leading upstream, prevention-focused community engagement and advocacy initiatives that address the root causes of gender-based violence (GBV), shift harmful social norms, and promote systems-level change. All work is grounded in an intersectional feminist and human rights framework and incorporates trauma- and violence-informed approaches to ensure safety, dignity, and equity.

The Community Engagement and Advocacy Officer plays a critical role in advancing evidence-informed, upstream approaches to ending men’s violence against women, grounded in feminist analysis, human rights principles, and trauma- and violence-informed practice.

Aura Freedom is an award-winning organization led by a small and dynamic team that has influenced legislation and policy, supported countless survivors, and contributed to the eradication of men’s violence against women and human trafficking in Canada and beyond. A small team means regular correspondence with the Executive Director, and even Board members.

It’s a high-energy environment where the work moves fast, and the payoff is a 4-day work week except during peak periods around major campaigns.

The ideal candidate is self-driven, led by purpose, and believes deeply that a better world where all women and girls are safe is not only possible–it is necessary for the continuation of the planet. This role works across sectors—including community organizations, service providers, media, policymakers, and the private sector—to advance primary prevention strategies that reduce violence before it occurs, while supporting survivor-centered and rights-based responses.

The ideal candidate is an outgoing, dynamic facilitator with strong public speaking skills and demonstrated experience in prevention-based advocacy and policy development. The role bridges community engagement and systems change by ensuring community knowledge, lived experience, and survivor perspectives inform prevention strategies, public discourse, and policy reform, without causing harm.

• Lead and facilitate community engagement initiatives that promote primary prevention of GBV and challenge the structural, social, and cultural conditions that enable gender-based violence, using intersectional feminist and human rights frameworks.
• Build and sustain respectful, trust-based relationships with community groups, advocacy organizations, educators, journalists, government officials, and other stakeholders, ensuring engagement practices are trauma- and violence-informed.
• Organize and facilitate community events, consultations, workshops, and public education initiatives that emphasize upstream prevention, healthy relationships, gender equity, and cultural change.
• Disseminate prevention-focused resources and speak publicly about Aura Freedom’s programs, research, and advocacy priorities through a rights-based, survivor-centered lens.
• Ensure survivor and community voices meaningfully inform prevention messaging and advocacy positions in ways that prioritize safety, consent, and choice.

• Facilitate training and capacity-building sessions for frontline workers, educators, school board officials, healthcare professionals, social workers, legal and criminal justice stakeholders, the private sector, and more—focused on primary prevention, intersectional feminism, human rights, and trauma- and violence-informed practice.
• Contribute to the development of resources, presentations and toolkits that support safe, ethical, and effective community engagement, advocacy, and capacity building.

• Support, and occasionally lead, the design and implementation of prevention-oriented initiatives grounded in intersectional feminist analysis and human rights principles.
• Collaborate with internal team members to ensure initiatives reflect trauma- and violence-informed practices, cultural humility, and accessibility.
• Contribute to evaluation efforts that assess changes in attitudes, norms, knowledge, and capacity…