Regional Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Advisor, Asia

TEAM/PROGRAMME:

Advocacy, Campaign, Communications and Media, Asia Regional Office

LOCATION: Any country in Asia-Pacific where there is a Save the Children Office

GRADE: Grade 2

CONTRACT LENGTH:

1-year contract with possibility to renew

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE

Based in the Advocacy, Campaign, Communications and Media team in Save the Children International’s Asia Regional Office, the role of the Regional Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Advisor is designed to support the achievement of Save the Children’s humanitarian advocacy and policy objectives in the Asia-Pacific region for 50% of its time while supporting similar objectives in other regions for the other 50%, deployed as humanitarian surge. The precise geographical allocation will be determined by organizational needs and priorities.

While supporting priorities set by the Asia Regional Office, the Regional Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Advisor will help to ensure the development and implementation of regional humanitarian advocacy strategies and activities as well as supporting the development of policy in coordination with national, regional and global stakeholders to influence decision-makers to uphold and protect children’s rights in times of crisis.

While undertaking global humanitarian deployments, the Regional Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Advisor will work with the Global Expertise and Humanitarian Surge Platform (GEHSP) and will deploy to support the response team in quickly developing and implementing a humanitarian-response advocacy and policy work-stream. The function will be part of the Response Team in order to ensure that key advocacy messages and strategies are informed by the response and shaped in close consultation with the Response Team Leader.

In line with Save the Children’s global and regional priorities and commitment to the Core Humanitarian Standard and the Grand Bargain, the role holder will engage with relevant stakeholders and contribute to movement-wide policy development on accountability to affected populations, localization, as well as prioritised issues in the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding and the humanitarian-development-climate resilience nexus.

As a member of the virtual regional humanitarian technical team in Asia-Pacific, he/she will provide advocacy and policy support to Save the Children offices in Asia-Pacific delivering humanitarian responses and will deploy to large-scale rapid-onset and/or protracted crises as part of the response team. These may include responses to political unrest or protracted and/or emerging armed conflict, as well as responses to natural hazards. He/she will support country offices to deliver advocacy and campaign strategies to protect children’s rights.

The postholder will work with prioritized country teams and contexts to support context and policy research and analysis. He/she will support the Regional Advocacy and Campaign Director, the Regional Humanitarian Director, and other relevant senior managers to represent Save the Children in external decision-making and networking fora across the region.

He or she will also regularly support, plan, and coordinate regional humanitarian advocacy and lobbying activities, draft or develop relevant briefings and analyses, and act as a media spokesperson when required.

The Regional Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Advisor will also be responsible for planning and delivering advocacy capacity building initiatives to strengthen regional capacity to advocate effectively for children’s rights in emergencies. He/she will be a member of Save the Children’s global Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group (HAWG) and is accountable for ensuring that Members and Advocacy Offices have access to timely and contextually relevant briefing material to influence positive change for children.

This position is initially covered by a one-year renewable contract, with 50-75% travel possible. If demand for the post-holder’s support in Asia-Pacific is proved sufficiently high, the role may focus most or all of its time on this region in the future and the contract length may be extended.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Regional Head of Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy with a dotted line to the Regional Humanitarian Director and the SCI Global Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy director

Staff reporting to this post: None. The postholder may supervise the work of volunteers and consultants

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :

• Help implement the regional humanitarian policy and advocacy strategy in coordination with the Regional Head of Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy, the Regional Advocacy and Campaign Director, Regional Humanitarian Director, country and regional offices, and periodically support updates to the strategy.
• Develop and deliver context-specific humanitarian research and analysis, policy and advocacy products, including briefings, reports and key messages to support national, regional and global advocacy on children’s rights.
• Deploy to rapid-onset emergencies to lead or support humanitarian advocacy in the first phase of the response as well as to country offices to support their delivery of longer term advocacy in protracted or chronic crises (envisaged as at least 50% per year, up to 75%).
• Represent Save the Children in external fora at regional level and help develop networks with key stakeholders national and regional civil society organisations, UN Agencies and regional bodies.
• Act as a media spokesperson
• Conduct effective advocacy activities targeting relevant stakeholders at regional and country levels, coordinating with other Save the Children teams and colleagues as necessary.
• Support capacity building initiatives on humanitarian advocacy at regional level through training and peer-to-peer networks.
• Monitor and document the outcomes of humanitarian policy and advocacy initiatives to support continuous improvement and to assess their impact (including Save the Children’s contribution to changes)
• Help identify and manage potential risks associated with Save the Children’s public positions and design strategies to mitigate the risks that have been identified.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a regoal and global scale.

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

QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Knowledge of children’s rights key international agreements and conventions
• A minimum of five years’ advocacy experience in an NGO environment, with experience in successfully supporting or leading the development and implementation of advocacy strategies
• Experience of working in humanitarian contexts and knowledge of key trends in the humanitarian sector, especially in Asia-Pacific
• Experience in leading the creation and implementation of a strategy, demonstrating the ability to identify the necessary steps towards an ambitious goal.
• Experience of a range of campaigning and advocacy techniques and approaches
• Experience in influencing government, donors, and other organisations through representation and/or advocacy
• Experience of speaking to journalists and media organisations including in interviews.
• Demonstrable creative ability in accessing new opportunities, expertise and ideas
• Demonstrable track record of leading change which has led to significant results for the organisation and their stakeholders
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing and negotiation
• Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
• Strong research, analysis, and policy development skills
• Experience of building networks, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organisation
• Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in
• Knowledge of children’s rights key international agreements and conventions
• Commitment to Save the Children values
• Excellence in written and spoken English.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.