Regional Advocacy and Campaigns Manager – WCA

JOB TITLE: Regional Advocacy and Campaigns Manager

TEAM/PROGRAMME:

WCA Regional Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media Team

LOCATION:

Dakar or within region (WCA)

GRADE: 3

Type of Contract:

Permanent

Fixed Term x

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: (select only one)

Level 3 – the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or access to children or young people.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Director of Campaign, Advocacy, Media and Communications, West and Central Africa

Staff reporting to this post: None

Budget Responsibilities: None

Dimensions: Save the Children has a country office in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, DRC, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal in the region.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Strategic Direction:

• Guide and support WCA country offices programs in the creation and implementation of innovative advocacy and popular mobilization strategies, as an integral part of country plans, in line with the objectives agreed in the Global Campaign, country strategic plans and priority advocacy work in the region;
• Provide support to selected country offices in the development and roll out of high impact national advocacy and campaign strategies and work plans.
• Map key influencing moments, platforms regional institutions, authorities & duty-bearers to analyse where Save the Children can usefully engage with them on Child rights issues for the region (national, regional and global). Coordinate the engagement of WCA into these moments to advance our ACCM work in the region;
• Lead and support the commissioning of high-quality research and innovative approaches to influence policy and practice, working in collaboration with communication, programme and operations teams.
• Develop key relationships (internal and external) to advance our ACCM ambition- this includes partners, Save the Children advocacy offices, members and the global advocacy and campaign team
• Work closely with the Regional Media Manager, Regional Communications Manager and Regional Advocacy Advisors to implement and support the current campaigns in the region by maintaining social media presence and engaging in the dialogue.

Advocacy and Campaigns Capacity Building & Support to Countries:

• Ensure capacity of Countries to safely advocate and campaign for and with Children through the development of campaign analysis and materials which effectively engage and communicate messages to a variety of target audiences.
• Support Staff responsible for advocacy and campaigns to develop their skills through coaching, mentoring and training.
• Provide Advocacy and Campaigns training workshops where required and requested from country offices and partners.
• Collect and share Advocacy and Campaigns best practices and tools to strengthen knowledge across country offices on regular basis.
• Support countries in the development of campaign systems to enable continuous learning and improvement, including where relevant the establishment of supporter databases, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
• Assisting and at times leading on the logistics of internal and external international influencing meetings.

Integration of Advocacy into program:

• Support selected Country Offices to ensure are adequately staffed, organized and resourced to deliver agreed advocacy and campaigns priorities, by working closely with members and program colleagues
• Work closely with selected countries team to ensure our advocacy strategy are integrated into program proposal and translated into clear proposal with identified activities and resources;
• Work closely with operations, programs, technical, and MEAL colleagues at the regional level to ensure substantial integration of advocacy into program planning and implementation especially ensuring that evidence, innovative approaches and best practices generated by programs inform our advocacy

Being a reference staff

• Acting as a senior point of visible, helpful and credible leadership on advocacy and campaigns across Save the Children in West and Central Africa; Lobby/support the lobbying of decision-makers at high level in line with the CO advocacy strategy;
• Being the trusted partner of and maintaining a close relationship advocacy and campaigns leads and teams in selected countries;
• Acting as a spokesperson for Save the Children with media – in coordination with the Global Media Unit – and with governments and in official forums.

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (SCI Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self-accountable for following through on agreed tasks, managing Save the Children’s resources efficiently, and role modelling Save the Children values.
• takes shared responsibility, together with the line manager, for personal and professional development, and for following through on the learning and development plan

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and strives to perform to a high standard
• shares their personal vision for Save the Children, and can work collaboratively with colleagues in different teams.
• is future orientated and can think globally.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters

• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength

• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency
• demonstrates highest levels of integrity

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• BA or Masters Degree in related field
• Strong background in advocacy leadership in WCA (national or regional) at a senior level on international issues, including policy development and supporting advocacy as part of programmes- at least seven years’ demonstrated experience
• Practical Experience of building networks and engaging with coalitions
• Experience Campaigning for and with Children with demonstrable understanding and experience of how to connect Children’s issues with public opinion and actions
• Experience of strategic evidence-based advocacy and public campaigning in an NGO environment, with proven record in successfully leading the development and implementation of successful advocacy and campaign strategies to achieve policy and normative change
• Highly developed analytical writing skills and ability to analyse complex data and to summarise and communicate them in ways that are accessible to a range of audiences from different cultural backgrounds
• Ability to manage and coordinate different workstreams across many contexts
• Excellent training, facilitation, and team building skills.
• Knowledge of the regional institutions and the way they function.
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mind sets
• Fluency in written and spoken French and English is essential; skills in other languages would be an advantage
• Makes independent decisions and solves problem on new and complex issues, requiring creative and systems thinking to find best solutions
• A high level of computer literacy
• Experience of, and willingness to travel in, a broad range of developing countries, sometimes at short notice and for extended periods of time