Regional Advocacy Manager - Syria Response

Location: Amman, Jordan

Contract - Full-Time

Closing date: Tuesday 25 June 2013

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organisation for children. We work in 120 countries. We save children's lives; we fight for their rights; we help them fulfill their potential.

We work together, with our partners, to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

We have over two million supporters worldwide and raised 1.6 billion dollars last year to reach more children than ever before, through programmes in health, nutrition, education, protection and child rights, also in times of humanitarian crises.

There are 30 national Save the Children organisations around the world. By the end of 2012 all our international programmes will be delivered through a merged operation with 14 000 staff, managed through seven regional hubs and reporting to a relatively small, central office. We're changing to become more efficient, more aligned, a better partner, a stronger advocate, a magnet for world-class people and relevant for the 21st century.

Role:

As the Syria regional refugee response is currently classified by Save the Children as a Category 2 emergency, there should be a de facto deployment of an Advocacy Manager to lead SC advocacy for Syria and the region. Furthermore, the SC CEOs have agreed that Syria should remain an organizational advocacy priority. An advocacy strategy has been elaborated through December that includes the following objectives:

• The humanitarian situation of children inside Syria is brought to the fore in private and public so that decision-makers are compelled to find a negotiated and peaceful political solution to the conflict
• The needs of children and their families in all areas of Syria are met, including by cross-line and cross-border operations from neighbouring countries
• The needs of children and families who have fled Syria, those attempting to flee, and their host communities are met and sufficient support is provided
• Children affected by the conflict in Syria are protected from grave violations of their rights by parties to the conflict

The Regional Advocacy Manager will revise and further elaborate the advocacy strategy to respond to new opportunities and events, framed around the above objectives. The Regional Advocacy Manager will be part of the SCI Regional Response Team and will manage advocacy initiatives and liaise with COs and the Regional Response Team on behalf of Save the Children members and offices, in close cooperation with the Regional Office. The function will lead humanitarian advocacy at regional level, and support country offices in the region, in developing humanitarian advocacy and ensuring advocacy coordination between countries in the region. The position will lead on keeping the regional advocacy strategy up to date and drafting advocacy products for use by Save the Children International and individual Save the Children members. The Regional Advocacy Manager will liaise closely with the Syria Advocacy backstop and the SCI Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group to consult on and develop advocacy and policy products. The function will ensure that key advocacy messages reflect programmatic priorities, and will seek clarification on any politically sensitive matters which may impact upon the response operations. The deployed Advocacy Manager will also play a representational role and should expect to represent Save the Children in external meetings with the UN, donors and other stakeholders, as well as the media as appropriate (and in coordination with the media/comms leads). Key areas of accountability:

Strategy

• Lead on updating and implementing the humanitarian advocacy strategy for Syria and the regional refugee response that includes national, regional and international advocacy, and short and longer term objectives, in coordination with the Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group (HAWG).
• The deployment will help build advocacy work around the regional refugee response, where possible, but the primary focus will be on the situation inside Syria, and will liaise with key UN and other interlocutors in the region to ensure SC has up to date information on the humanitarian situation and response in Syria.
• Support the Country Office and Regional Team to develop advocacy risk assessments for the activities and objectives in the updated Syria Advocacy Strategy.

Situation and advocacy analysis

• Provide analysis of how children have been affected in Syria and neighbouring countries, the national policy responses and policy frameworks, as well as of other factors such as UN coordination, funding for the response, security and current and future challenges that have an impact on children and their access to humanitarian assistance, health, education and protection services.
• Define key advocacy opportunities and targets at national and regional levels, if relevant, together with advocacy point person in country, and if needed mobilize international advocacy support for these.

Producing advocacy products

• Draft and otherwise support the production of advocacy products as outlined in the revised Syria advocacy strategy for use at the regional and international levels.
• Ensure that all advocacy messages, documents and strategies are evidence-based, drawn from field experience and assessments, of high quality and effective, and are authorised by the Response Team Leader, Country Directors and the HAWG. When necessary ensure regional advocacy products are signed-off according to the SCI sign-off procedures.
• Ensure SC emergency response strategies have clear advocacy objectives and strategies, and indicators for assessing the impact of SC advocacy work.

Representation and coordination

• Support the Regional Director, Response Team Leader, Country Offices, and Regional Office in high-level advocacy work towards the Regional Humanitarian Coordinator, Humanitarian Country Teams, key UN agencies, donors and other NGOs, as well as media, if necessary.
• Manage regional advocacy initiatives in close coordination and cooperation with the Regional Response Team Leader, Country Directors, Regional Office, national advocacy staff, operations and technical emergency response staff, the HAWG, and communications, media and fundraising staff at the regional level and member headquarters.
• Ensure coordination of advocacy messages and activities between the COs and the regional and international levels.
• Ensure that regional situation reports contain information on advocacy activities and successes, from regional, capitals and global levels.
• Lead the HAWG's strategy for effective, coordinated advocacy at the regional, capitals and global levels, including through providing information and analysis to the group.

The role is based in Amman, with travel as necessary/appropriate to Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

Qualifications and Experience:

Essential

• Prior management experience working in an emergency response contexts or fragile states
• Significant prior experience working in advocacy on humanitarian issues, child rights, human rights, or development issues;
• Experience of influencing and advocacy work including lobbying, policy development and information provision in humanitarian issues;
• Excellent skills in advocating towards government officials in developing countries
• Experience of and strong skills in developing and implementing humanitarian advocacy strategies
• Good attention to detail
• Extensive knowledge of child rights and international humanitarian law
• Understanding of UN and donor operations at country level
• High level analytical and strategic thinking skills
• Cultural awareness and ability to build relationships quickly with a wide variety of people
• Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities
• Strong communication (written and spoken), and interpersonal skills, with experience in managing multicultural teams

Desirable

• Proven skills in media work, including interviews on Radio and TV
• Fluent in Arabic

This role will be offered as a 3 months contract

We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Please note that the closing date for applications is on Tuesday, 25th June 2013. Applications will be reviewed as they come in and we could appoint before closing date.

For further information on this role, please see our website at www.savethechildren.net/jobs

How to apply: Please apply with a covering letter and up-to-date CV to the link provided