Regional Advocacy Coordinator – Horn & East Africa 150 views0 applications

Regional Advocacy Coordinator – Horn & East Africa

Nairobi, Kenya

We are looking for a highly skilled, creative Regional Advocacy Coordinator who will develop, coordinate, implement, monitor and evaluate Action Against Hunger Regional Advocacy Strategy for East Africa as part of the Action Against Hunger International Advocacy Strategy and with the support of the wider Action Against Hunger International advocacy team.

About us

Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger. We save the lives of malnourished children. We ensure families can access clean water, food, training, and health care. We enable entire communities to be free from hunger. With more than 7,900 staff in 50 countries, our programs reached 14.7 million people in 2017.

About the program

Action Against Hunger has led on a number of large-scale emergency operations in the Horn & Eastern Africa since the 1980s, and continues to play a leading role in building the resilience of local communities to multiple shocks through innovative programmes, especially in fragile contexts.

The Horn & Eastern Africa Regional Office supports Action Against Hunger’s operations in the region by providing coherent, efficient and adapted support to the country offices. It also ensures better engagement with regional stakeholders to allow for enhanced exchange of knowledge and expertise with regional and country partners. Our Regional Office allows us to gain a better understanding and be more responsive to the political, social and economic complexities of the operating environment. It also ensures that decision-making is made closer to the frontlines. The regional team, based in Nairobi, Kenya, under the leadership of the Regional Director, is composed of technical and operational specialists essential for running humanitarian, resilience and development programmes. The team leads on adopting new ways of working and leverages opportunities at the regional level to enhance capacity for delivery at the community level in the countries where we operate.

You’ll contribute to ending world hunger by …

developing, coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating Action Against Hunger Regional Advocacy Strategy for East Africa as part of the Action Against Hunger International Advocacy Strategy and with the support of the wider Action Against Hunger International advocacy team.

Key activities in your role will include:

Develop, coordinate, implement, monitor, and evaluate Action Against Hunger regional advocacy strategy for East Africa as part of Action Against hunger International Advocacy Strategy and with the support of the wider Action Against Hunger (AAH) International Advocacy team.

· Develop and Coordinate Action Against Hunger advocacy in East Africa as part of the Action Against Hunger network – identify key actions, define priorities, develop and regularly update the Action Against Hunger East Africa Regional Advocacy Plan of Action with the support of Action Against Hunger International, ensuring consistency between this Plan of Action and key documents pertaining to Action Against Hunger strategy (international frameworks, East Africa strategy, International Advocacy Strategy, East Africa regional advocacy strategy, ad hoc influencing/reactive advocacy). Working in close collaboration with Action Against Hunger HQs to ensure complementarity and coherence of messages across national, regional and international levels, aligning messages to the different targets and ensuring a joint Action Against Hunger position for the region, including through ensuring that International level messaging is included at national levels.

· Implement regional advocacy activities: carry out context, stakeholders and policy analysis in collaboration with the Regional Analysis Network, draft appropriate papers (lobby/ talking points, policy/ briefing/ discussion papers, lessons learned, etc.) ensuring that advocacy messages are based on field evidence and manage research reports written by consultants.

· Develop and share regular talking lines/messages about the relevant regional issues. Ensure that advocacy messages are based on field evidence and spread to key stakeholders in the region and at international level, (HQs relay). The EA advocacy coordinator will ensure that Policy and Advocacy objectives & activities related to East Africa region are aligned with operations and help support, promote or scale them up, as well as help voice key concerns about the rights, needs and aspirations of communities.

· Provide necessary information and messages to Communications’ department from across the network when necessary and authorized by the respective country directors.

· Play an active role in the development of Action Against Hunger International advocacy by participating in network advocacy planning, M&E and learning processes as well as reporting regional progress in regional advocacy in line with international processes and liaison with relevant HQ focal points.

Technical Assistance and Capacity building – support and enhance policy and advocacy capacity in Action Against hunger missions in East Africa.

· Provide technical assistance and training to Action Against Hunger missions in order to enhance national advocacy capacity, ensuring complementarity between international, regional and national advocacy and coherence of messages across Action Against Hunger International. In particular, support the development of national advocacy strategies and action plans, assist in recruitment and matrix management of advocacy positions, organise and implement advocacy trainings and develop and roll out advocacy tools, in coordination with relevant existing advocacy support.

· Identify and support missions in their partnerships with civil society organisations and platforms at national and regional level.

Networking and representation – develop and enhance Action Against Hunger position at regional level.

· Represent Action Against Hunger in regional fora in coordination with Country Directors, HQ advocacy staff, technical & program staff based in East Africa (Disaster Risk Reduction & EWS Adviser, Nutrition & health adviser , FSL adviser): UN Agencies at regional and national level, IASC, HCTs, Nutrition Working Group, Food Security and Nutrition Working Group), Africa Union, SUN and REACH Initiatives and other similar institutions.

· Develop strategic partnerships and alliances with other humanitarian and development actors in the region: national and INGOs, research institutions, universities, training centres, and others that can add value in country interventions or for regional advocacy.

· Elaborate strategies to approach donors and promote advocacy actions. In coordination with Country Directors and Heads of Program, identify donor priorities and expectations concerning advocacy to be used for fundraising strategies.

Grant management – lead and ensure effective & efficient multi-country advocacy grant management.

· Manage regional advocacy grants, ensure activities are carried out and reported on in line with donor requirements.

· Lead the development of successful advocacy funding proposals, preparing narratives, log frames, and budgets in line with donor requirements, either as stand-alone proposals or integrated in larger regional grants.

Requirements

· Masters’ degree in development studies, international relations/ affairs, social sciences, politics, or similar field.

· At least 5 years’ experience advocacy. Experience in other fields than advocacy will be examined in the face of exposure to high-level stakeholders (governments, UN agencies, NGOs – at national level).

· Strong and demonstrated expertise in humanitarian Advocacy and/or representation and influence of aid policies at a high level (e.g. country director/tech coordinator profile with a track record of representation to donor and government for fundraising as well as in the field of policy-making).

· Ability to grasp a wide range of complex issues and synthetize them strategically.

· Sensitivity or specific qualifications in politics, international relations/ affairs, humanitarian or development aid/ project management.

· Good knowledge of the humanitarian system, Food and Nutrition sectors and policies in emergency and post-emergency contexts.

· Strategic and critical thinking.

· Excellent knowledge of advocacy cycle and advocacy tools.

· Excellent writing skills and oral communication skills in English.

· Experience in using grant management, using M&E information for advocacy, campaign and dialogues with partners and governments.

· Demonstrated working experience (2 years) in research and policy analysis, data collection, analysis and interpretation (both qualitative and quantitative data), writing and production of reports, policy briefs and publications.

· Previous experience working at a distance with partners or other team members (HQ or regional job, in-country coordination with several field locations & seldom field visits).

· Good diplomatic and negotiation skills.

· You are fluent in written & spoken English.

· You have the ability to explain complex concepts in straightforward language.

· You are committed to gender equity and equality.

· You have a genuine interest in & commitment to the principles of Action Against Hunger.

· Your work style builds confidence with others, and you believe that every problem has a solution. It is the way we approach the problem that makes the difference.

· You are able to remain calm under pressure and can easily adapt to changing circumstances

· You are ready and willing to integrate into hard working and fun team that believes in doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.

Our Core values.

In this position, you are expected to demonstrate Action Against Hunger-USA-USA’s five core competencies

Respect- we work with compassion and dedication, treating everyone the same way we expect them to treat us.

Integrity-: we believe that being honest and fair is integral to every aspect of our work; conducting our work with a spirit of sincerity, truthfulness and transparency is imperative.

Creativity-we encourage new ideas, embrace innovative solutions, and create opportunities for meaningful and exciting ways to do our jobs and provide solutions to address the needs of the populations we serve.

Excellence– we strive to provide services that meet, and even exceed, the expectations of our stakeholders (populations in need, staff, communities and donors).

Empowerment– we are committed to fostering an environment in which our staff, partners and communities where we work have the space to grow, develop and feel confident about participating.

What we offer.

Action Against Hunger-USA values its employees and offers a comprehensive remuneration and benefits package. These include but are not limited to: –

· Health Insurance

· Paid annual leave (vacation)

· Training opportunities

For an all-inclusive list of benefits check the Action Against Hunger-USA Website