Advocacy and Policy Coordinator 228 views0 applications

ADVERTISEMENT: ADVOCACY AND POLICY COORDINATOR

Role Purpose

All Save the Children programming in Kenya aims to develop and demonstrate evidence-based, replicable breakthrough solutions to problems facing children. It is essential that good quality programme work and learning is then communicated to civil society, government actors, donors and other practitioners to advocate for better practices and policies for children.

Save the Children supports a number of activities at National and sub-national level designed to enhance its economic and social development. Through our advocacy work, we are ensuring that we are the voice for children especially in our programme areas which have some of the most deprived children in Kenya. Our approach to advocacy is based on the following key principles:

• Evidence (research and policy): our advocacy work draws directly on our programmes and is informed by evidence and best practices generated by our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Accountability and Learning (MEAL) systems and by our research. One example is the annual global report on mothers and children, the State of the World’s Mothers.
• Influence (media and advocacy): Our advocacy work engages all media and aims to catalyse public opinion and influence decision makers to bring about change.
• Outcry (mobilization): in partnership with civil society, children and community led initiatives, we mobilise children and communities to claim their rights and to monitor their implementation.

The post holder will work closely with County and Sub County Health Management Teams, Department of children services, Ministry of education, child rights networks among others strategic actors with the scope of the role including development and implementation of a county advocacy plan focused children’s health and survival; child development and protection. The position holder will also be responsible for identifying targets and using learning to influence policy formulation/policy change/policy implementation; developing a research agenda to advance learning and policy on issues affecting children and local communities; packaging information/research findings and developing appropriate communication channels for dissemination of information/research findings; project documentation and dissemination; capacity building, learning and knowledge management.

Key Areas of Accountability

Strategy development and implementation

• The Advocacy Coordinator will provide leadership in advocacy, learning and policy support to the area office on Health and Nutrition, Education, Emergency response and Child Protection/Public Investment in Children and ensure there is a coherent process linking the county and national level advocacy efforts besides leading budget advocacy work generally.
• Maintain an in-depth understanding of key budgetary cycle moments, law and policy reform initiatives at the County level.
• Ensures that all advocacy messages and documents are evidence-based and of high quality.
• In close collaboration with health and Child protection teams, the Head of Advocacy, Head of Health & Nutrition, Child Protection & Education TS, Communication Manager, develop and implement county advocacy strategies that will seek to draw synergies in integration.
• Develop and implement relevant context specific strategies for effective child participation within the advocacy activities in collaboration with the field office teams and relevant staff at the country office.
• Support Programme Manager in identifying policy and practice change, which would promote and protect access to better health and nutrition, education and protection of children.
• Support budget advocacy and budget tracking to improve revenue generation and public investment in children for child welfare interventions at county level in collaboration with other CSOs.
• Ensure all SCI staff, Volunteers and partners at the field level understand role of advocacy in programming and are able to complement ongoing advocacy efforts.

Advocacy and Communications

• Lead the county level monitoring and evaluation of advocacy-related objectives, mapping of key opportunities and events, organisation of Save the Children ‘moments’ and events.
• Linking to international process and in collaboration with field office staff and technical specialists oversee the development of advocacy materials – including policy briefs, position papers, press releases, Questions and answers and opinion pieces for county and national advocacy.
• Develop good knowledge of county government structure, political processes and key decision making structures and how to influence them on key priority issues.
• Conduct power mapping to identify and engage key influencers in the County for increased resource mobilization and allocation to child survival interventions.
• Support County Officials in developing emergency contingency plans in case of eventualities, including through the use of household economy analysis(HEA) Baseline and Response Analysis information
• Lead the production and/or contribute to the development and dissemination of policy briefs/IEC fact sheets and county profiles to get health and nutrition, education, protection and child participation priorities to the policy agenda at the county levels.
• Build systems for research, analysis and documentation that underpin evidence based advocacy and influencing at county level.

Building Partnerships

• Identify local networks and coalitions and develop sustained partnerships/ alliances that are critical in the dissemination and/or application of research findings and/or learning to influence the policy and practice landscape. This includes representing Save the Children at strategic forums, networking with strategic CSOs and other social movement processes that are relevant to Save the Children’s policy work.
• Support area offices to build partnerships with communities and programme beneficiaries in establishing accountability mechanisms, capacity building and knowledge management.
• Support the capacity building of programme and field staff and key partners on advocacy through training, sharing best practices and supporting learning and knowledge management.

Programme Development & Management

• Participate in proposal development processes, in particular liaising with relevant Technical Specialists and programme staff to ensure that advocacy approaches are integrated within and contribute to the achievement of project results and objectives and that sufficient funds are budgeted for implementation.
• Participate in Save the Children programme meetings and related sessions to draw out research-based advocacy messages in programmes. Keep abreast of current research, national and donor policies and debates in Kenya, relevant to advocacy for nutrition.
• In collaboration with programme managers, monitor and evaluate child survival, protection, and education and advocacy activities within budgets, ensuring that indicators and methods are in place to allow evaluation of the achievements and develop regular reports on progress.
• Post holders will also contribute heavily to the design, development, implementation and dissemination of any health and nutrition, Child Protection and Disaster risk reduction related research.

Contract Duration: 1 year

Number of Vacancies: 1

Work Location: Turkana

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• A degree in Political Science, Governance, Community Development, Law, Public Policy, International Development or any related social science.
• At least 5 years of experience in advocacy work, as well as contributing to the development and implementation of advocacy strategies.
• Experience working within Kenya Health and nutrition, education, protection system and emergency context is an added advantage.
• Highly knowledgeable on Child Rights Governance including; Public Investment in Children
• Excellent understanding of Kenya’s budget cycle (both at county and national level) and moments.
• An understanding of policy and legislative development processes at both national and county levels.
• Superior written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex arguments into accessible English for a non-specialist audience, and the ability to write articles that would be published in the mainstream press.
• Knowledge of the devolution processes and its impact on SCI area of focus.
• Excellent verbal communication skills, appropriate for high-level external representation (for example lobbying county governors, ministers, MCAs)
• Experience of developing advocacy strategies, knowledge and understanding of a range of advocacy techniques
• Experience of effective team work and outstanding inter-personal communication skills
• Experience of coalition building and working with civil society actors to deliver change
• Excellent understanding of Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030, policy and legal provisions in support of child survival.
• Fluency in spoken and written English and Kiswahili
• Demonstrates Save the Children’s core values of accountability, collaboration, integrity, ambition, and creativity.
• County natives encouraged to apply

Desirable

• Master’s degree in desired field will be added advantage.
• Experience and training on policy and advocacy.
• Ability to analyse and track County budgets.
• Good knowledge of the nutrition and health, protection and education field, including the work of academic/research contacts, NGOs, UN agencies
• Good presentation and persuasion skills.
• Experience of policy research, having written and published policy reports and briefings and evaluating evidence of their impact.

The Organization

We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

• No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday
• All children learn from a quality basic education and that,
• Violence against children is no longer tolerated

How to apply

Please apply in English saving your CV and covering letter as a single document, including your salary expectations for this role. To see a full a job description, please visit our website at

We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse. Employment is subject to our Child protection standards including background checks and adherence to our Child Safeguarding Policy.

Save the Children is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to employ and assign the best-qualified talent.

Female Candidates are encouraged to apply.

Disclaimer:

Save the Children International does not charge any kind of fee at whichever stage of the recruitment process, nor request for medical examination or records and does not act through recruitment agents whatsoever.