Policy & Advocacy Lead

Job Purpose

• The Policy and Advocacy Lead position is an exciting regional role contributing to a flagship FCDO funded, consortium delivered programme: The Girl Generation: Support to the Africa-led movement (ALM) to end FGM/C the programme (TGG:ALM). The programme was established to contribute to a significant reduction in the practice of FGM/C in four focal countries in Africa, by accelerating positive changes in social attitudes towards ending FGM/C. This critical role will coordinate advocacy, strategic communications and policy efforts among consortium partners at multiple levels across the four focal countries of the TGG:ALM programme—Senegal, Somalia (Somaliland), Kenya, and Ethiopia. The successful candidate will be crucial in offering guidance, coordination, and technical support to Amref Country Offices, consortium partners, TGG:ALM grantees, and frontline community champions. This support encompasses diverse interventions in advocacy, communications, and movement building.
• Special focus will be directed towards empowering frontline grassroots champions, TGG:ALM grantees, FGM/C survivors/activists, journalists, youth-led, women-led and feminist organizations/movements.
  This includes strengthening their organizational capacities, fostering activism, enabling active campaign engagement, and cultivating heightened leadership in the efforts to end FGM/C. S/he will be responsible for;
• Providing thought leadership and strategic direction to the TGG:ALM consortium, to ensure its advocacy interventions directly contribute to its ‘Theory of Change’ and intended impact of an acceleration in positive changes in social attitudes towards ending FGM/C
• Providing capacity building of Amref Country Offices, consortium partners, TGG:ALM grantees and frontline community champions in advocacy, communications, movement building, social norm change and girl centered programming
• Assure the technical quality of project delivery – linking project technical teams to best practice ending FGM/C advocacy models, tools, and frameworks.
• Be a consortium champion for girl-centered, gender-sensitive programming that ensures a ‘Do- No-Harm’ policy and approach to delivery
• Work closely with the Programmes and MEL teams to ensure all advocacy, communications and movement building interventions are closely and innovatively monitored and evaluated, spearheading adaptive learning and management across the consortium
• Seek opportunities to represent the Programme and Consortium at high-level external meetings and events on national, regional and international platforms.

Primary Responsibilities

Key Activity Area

Strategic, Planning and Direction (25%)

• Provide thought leadership and strategic direction to the TGG:ALM consortium regarding its Advocacy, Communications, and Movement Building work aimed at promoting the adoption of a girl-centered approach to ending FGM/C within the movement and beyond.
• Work with the consortium’s senior leadership team, technical leads, and Amref’s senior management to broaden understanding of strategic and operational Advocacy, Communications and Movement Building issues.
• Support in the development, implementation and monitoring annual advocacy consortium work plans and budgets, mentor and coach advocacy team members, and ensure coherence across country based, regional and global advocacy activities.
• Oversee the finalization and implementation of TGG:ALM’s Advocacy, Communications, and Movement Building Strategy, ensuring alignment, an integrated approach to influencing and a unified approach among the TGG consortium, grantees, and partner organizations.
• Support the consortium to develop ‘core’ intervention models that are scalable and can achieve and evidence ‘Proof of Concept’
• Support partners to develop interventions that are tailored to their contexts, supported by best practice approaches
• Lead the development of advocacy, communications and movement building tools such as briefings and key messages; guidelines; training modules; and awareness raising material/communications in collaboration with the COs, working group members and local implementing partners for a variety of stakeholders

Technical Support and Capacity Building (25%)

• Build the capacity of TGG:ALM consortium, grantees and partners offering coaching, mentoring and on-demand technical assistance and training in the areas of advocacy, communications and movement building., social-norm change and girl-centered programming in relation to ending FGM/C
• Provide technical oversight to the advocacy components of the programme, including undertaking field visits to consortium partners to oversee implementation, provide on-site feedback on required improvements and generate field visit reports with timely and appropriate follow up on action points
• Develop and disseminate relevant manuals, strategies and tools, communications and curriculums
• Attend Amref and consortium level working group meetings and monthly performance management and learning meetings.

Partnership Management (25%)

• Build strong partnerships with all consortium delivery partners and consortium Prime, getting to know their work and building positive ways of working
• Identify and build strategic partnerships and engagement to advocate and negotiate with diverse, relevant external actors’ such as organisations, networks, political contacts, technical experts, civil society, and other key stakeholders to further the delivery of the FGM influencing agenda and build a stronger movement.
• Coordinate collective action efforts across the participating countries, including supporting and building CO capacity, and connecting national level initiatives to regional/global opportunities and spaces such as Day of the Girl, regional bodies, African Union, Women Deliver, CSW etc.

Key Activity Area

• Provide oversight of the relationships with civil society partners, regional bodies and consultants and ensure timely execution of joint work plans.
• Identify and bring on board new partners as needed and ensure timely execution of joint work plans.
• Lead and Chair the Advocacy, Communications and Movement Building Working Group on behalf of the consortium
• Build a solid knowledge of intervention packages and approaches across partners, consolidating and disseminating accessible summaries to all consortium members
• Seek opportunities to represent the consortium at relevant meetings and conferences, amplifying positive stories of change from the grassroots
• Have regular contact with other advocacy roles within Amref working on FGM/C
  Participate in relevant Community of Practice (CoPs) with staff in relevant country offices and HQ units.

Adaptive Learning and Management (25%)

• Work with the MEL Lead to monitor and evaluate the progress and impact of advocacy, communications and movement building interventions, ensuring ‘Proof of Concept’ can be demonstrated
• Facilitate the sharing of best practice, case studies and learning from other experiences, including the design and delivery of conferences, workshops and other events
• Spearhead adaptive learning, programming and management across the consortium, ensuring true learnings inform the adaptation of the programme
• Support the MEL Lead and in-country MEL staff to adapt methods for provision of quality and appropriate evidence from ongoing monitoring and evaluative initiatives (baselines, midlines, evaluations and reviews) in a rapidly changing, complex and high security contexts.
• Support the compilation of Country Office progress reports, working closely with UK office counter-parts
• Support the development of key research and evaluations
• Support the development of innovate and creative approaches to demonstrating impact and ‘proof of concept’

Required Qualifications

Education and Professional Qualifications

Master’s degree in Public Policy, Communication Studies, Gender Studies, Development Studies, Public Health, International Relations, Human Rights, Social Sciences and/or other related fields.

Required Experience Essential

• At least eight (8) years of professional experience at the regional and/or international level, demonstrating a proven ability to coordinate advocacy interventions across multiple levels.
• Experience supporting country offices, building capacity, and providing technical support is essential.
• Extensive experience in facilitating alignment and collaboration among consortium members, diverse groups of stakeholders and other relevant partners in multiple geographies
• Experience in developing and implementing high impact advocacy campaigns and strategies to influence governments and other audiences (including media)
• Demonstrated experience in identifying and engaging with external power holders, for example ministers, UN departments, regional bodies, officials, parliamentarians, high level positions in various media outlets, public figures, human rights activists
• Preferably experience in influencing on FGM/C or related issues such as gender equality, harmful practices, VAWG
• Experience of working directly with girls, youth and feminist movements in participatory ways to develop girl-led influencing strategies and campaigns for change including experience of developing and delivering advocacy strategies and/or campaigns preferably with a gender equality or girl-led focus an advantage
• Practical knowledge and competence in identifying risks and mitigation processes that are associated with girls, youth and feminist movements influencing – understanding of girl-centered approaches, safeguarding and child rights, current issues and best practice including protection issues associated with campaigning and advocacy including digital safety
• Experience of policy processes affecting the realisation of gender equality and inclusion and engaging in key mechanisms to shape the agenda of governments, institutions, multi-laterals and donors.
• Experience in developing and delivering robust policy and advocacy strategies in development and/or humanitarian contexts, and working with policy makers, technical staff and multi-lateral institutions
• Experience of working with coalitions and networks, building effective relationships, demonstrating leadership and exerting influence with various stakeholders through acting in an advisory capacity
• Understanding of movements and activism approaches and trends across Africa including intersectionality with youth/feminist movements and of strategies to support cross-movement and intergenerational learning, collaboration and influencing.
• Experience preparing girls, youth and feminist movements for advocacy engagements, activities and opportunities
• Experience in project cycle management, implementing community level social norms and FGM/HTP interventions and/ or acting as a technical advisor to such programmes an advantage
• Ability to at times work autonomously combined with an ability to work as part of a consortium leadership team
• Able to consult, gather and integrate feedback into internal and external influencing briefings and material.

Desirable

• Deep familiarity with at least one country where FGM/C is practiced

Knowledge, Skills and Competencies

• Proficiency in leveraging social media for impactful advocacy
• Excellent communications, collaborating and influencing skills
• Resourcefulness, highly organized, detail oriented
• Analytical, strategic
• High integrity/ethics, commitment and respect for diversity  Good interpersonal skills
• Training and presentation skills
• Project management skills
• Problem solving skills
• Proficiency in ICT and strong technical systems acumen

Languages

• Fluency in English
• Proficiency in French could be an asset, but not required.