Senior Inequality Policy Adviser (Mena)

Annual Salary and Benefits –

Competitive and based on location and national terms

**Internal Job Grade -**C1 National

Contract type –

Fixed-Term 1 Year contract, with opportunity to renew

Reporting to –

MENA Regional Advocacy and Campaigns Manager

Staff reporting to this post –

None

Locations: Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Region, in a country where Oxfam operates and there is the ability to gain right to work.

Shaping a stronger Oxfam for people living in poverty

Oxfam is a global movement of people who won’t live with the injustice of poverty. Together we save and rebuild lives in disasters. We help people build better lives for themselves. We speak out on the big issues that keep people poor, like inequality, discrimination against women and climate change. And we won’t stop until every person on the planet can live without poverty.

Team Purpose

Oxfam works in 10 countries in the MENA region, part of Oxfam’s global network of affiliates, advocacy offices and programs and part of the Oxfam International management line. The MENA Regional Influencing Team, sitting at the Regional Platform, leads on Oxfam’s regional advocacy and campaigns agenda. The Team works together with regional colleagues, country offices, partners across the region and global stakeholders to deliver on Oxfam’s influencing mandate, ensure policy coherence across the region, and link the countries with Oxfam’s global campaigns as part of a consistent influencing strategy. The Team includes regional humanitarian policy and media and communications capacity.

Job Purpose – Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

We are looking for a candidate who enjoys big picture thinking, working collaboratively and engaging in a wide range of actors across the region and globally on advocacy work – including public campaigning and private lobby efforts. The role will provide strategic policy steer and thought leadership in helping to shape and share our regional narrative around inequalities, and to help link Oxfam’s country-level advocacy work with our global campaigns and networks. The senior inequality policy advisor will be responsible for leading the inequality work and advocacy in the MENA region.

• Provide strategic steer on cross-national, multi-country and related regional advocacy work on inequality in MENA;
• Support Oxfam in policy development and long-term planning in both humanitarian and development contexts in MENA, including themes of rights, gender justice, civic space, migration, economic justice, fiscal policies, aid effectiveness, and beyond. Lead on Oxfam’s workstream on inequality and conflict, in coordination with the humanitarian policy lead.
• Support country offices in their advocacy work on the above-mentioned themes, with a specific focus on advancing inequality-related advocacy.
• Convene and coordinate advocacy initiatives with partners and allies at the regional level around issues related to inequality.
• Lead Oxfam in MENA engagement and advocacy towards International Financial Institutions, notably the IMF and the World Bank, in coordination with Oxfam’s Washington DC office.
• Commission, coordinate and produce policy documents and research on key priority issues, especially those related to inequality.
• Ensure Oxfam’s policies and advocacy activities are coherent across the region, and link up to Oxfam’s global campaigns appropriately;
• Engage and coordinate with peers in Oxfam’s regional platforms in the Global South to ensure southern voices and priorities are represented in the confederation’s priorities.

Support countries in raising voice in Oxfam’s global confederation – ensuring that our global campaigns reflect the MENA country and regional context; and actively represent Oxfam in MENA and participate in the confederation’s global advocacy efforts.

• Represent Oxfam in MENA in regional and global meetings with advocacy targets and media as required
• Contribute in business development proposals as relevant and oversee the implementation of related regional projects.
• Contribute to (and where necessary – lead on) strategic processes reflecting the full diversity of the contexts in the region and Oxfam’s global mandate;
• Engage with regional stakeholders and work collaboratively with Oxfam’s country programs, supporting in building networks and alliances and brokering research and strategic relationships with think tanks and universities in the MENA region;
• Coordinate closely with the regional gender advisor to ensure that gender inequality is integrated in the inequality advocacy work.
• Commission and coordinate research across the region on Inequality.
• Externally represent, lobby and influence external MENA policy decision makers and targets on Inequality, and other related and cross cutting theme.
• Deputize and represent Oxfam in MENA senior staff in external meetings (Fundraising & Policy)

Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge Essential:

• Master’s degree in economics, sociology, political science or related fields
• Proven track record of developing and delivering policy and advocacy work at a multi-national level, in either public engagement or private lobby contexts (some experience in both preferred)
• Excellent analytical skills
• Excellent representation skills, including when working with complex advocacy targets
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills, including in multicultural environments
• Proven influencing and negotiating skills with internal and external audiences
• Proven experience in working in multi-lateral, regional and/or global settings
• A strong network of policy and advocacy contacts across MENA
• A clear commitment to the rights agenda, including women’s rights (Oxfam principles)
• Solid knowledge of political economy and human rights and economic Justice in the MENA region
• Some knowledge of global development and rights frameworks
• Languages: Excellent English and Arabic spoken and written

Desirable

• Strong research background, ideally in mixed method research. Knowledge in socio-economic policy such as fiscal policy, social protection, labour or related fields.
• French highly desirable

Key Attributes:

• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities.
• Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of gender/gender mainstreaming, women’s rights, and diversity for all aspects of development work.
• Commitment to Oxfam’s safeguarding policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible.

Organisational Values

• All our work is led by our core values: Empowerment, Accountability, Inclusiveness, Courage, Solidarity and Equality.

Key Behavioural Competencies for the present position (based on Oxfam’s Leadership Model)

Competencies

Description

Decisiveness

We are comfortable to make transparent decisions and to adapt decision making modes to the context and needs.

Influencing

We have the ability to engage with diverse stakeholders in a way that leads to increased impact for the organization We spot opportunities to influence effectively and where there are no opportunities, we have the ability to create them in a respectful and impactful manner.

Relationship Building

We understand the importance of building relationship, within and outside the organization. We have the ability to engage with traditional and non-traditional stakeholders in ways that lead to increased impact for the organisation.

Mutual Accountability

We can explain our decisions and how we have taken them based on our organizational values. We are ready to be held to account for what we do and how we behave, as we are also holding others to account in a consistent manner.

Agility, Complexity, and Ambiguity

We scan the environment, anticipate changes, are comfortable with lack of clarity and deal with a large number of elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways.

Systems Thinking

We view problems as parts of an overall system and in their relation to the whole system, rather than reacting to a specific part, outcome or event in isolation. We focus on cyclical rather than linear cause and effect. By consistently practicing systems thinking we are aware of and manage well unintended consequences of organisational decisions and actions.

Strategic Thinking and Judgment

We use judgment, weighing risk against the imperative to act. We make decisions consistent with organizational strategies and values.

Self-Awareness

We are able to develop a high degree of self-awareness around our own strengths and weaknesses and our impact on others. Our self-awareness enables us to moderate and self-regulate our behaviors to control and channel our impulses for good purposes.