TITLE:  ADVISOR, COUNTRY OFFICE ADVOCACY

DIV/DEPT: Programs and Partnerships      

LOCATION: Any ChildFund International Country Office         

REPORTING RELATIONSHIP:  Senior Director, Program Delivery Support

THIS POSITION CAN BE LOCATED AT ANY CHILDFUND COUNTRY OFFICE - NOT LIMITED TO USA ONLY

SUMMARY OF POSITION

The Advisor, Country Office (CO) Advocacy is a member of the Program Delivery Support team in the Program and Partnerships Division and the matrixed global advocacy team. The Advisor supports CO advocacy efforts and provides oversight, technical guidance, and technical assistance for ChildFund International’s expanding CO policy advocacy work. The Advisor is charged with building and maintaining relationships with CO colleagues to understand their program and advocacy work. The Advisor, CO Advocacy works collaboratively across the globe with divisional, regional and country office  colleagues in support of effective advocacy efforts that align with the ChildFund’s Strong Core Program (SCP) approach, the organization’s focus on child protection and advocacy, and Country Strategic Plans.  The Advisor contributes to ChildFund’s thought leadership agenda by partnering with the COs to integrate advocacy into their program priorities and monitor and evaluate the impact of these initiatives for children and their communities

DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES

Remain alert and responsive to any child safeguarding risks, acquire relevant knowledge and skills to promote strong safeguarding practices, understand the policy and procedures, and conduct yourself in a manner consistent with the Child Safeguarding policy.

POLICY AND ADVOCACY DESIGN:

• Co-leads conceptual development of ChildFund’s CO Advocacy approach, tools and guidance to strengthen organizational capacity to develop country-level advocacy plans and activities with clear and consistent quality standards.
• Partners with selected Country Offices to support the development of advocacy plans, including advocacy risk analysis.
• Conceptualizes, plans and leads activities and communities of learning through mentorship and other learning methodologies to deepen CO policy advocacy understanding and efforts.
• Works collaboratively with COs to lead local implementing partner engagement in advocacy and train partners as needed.
• Co-driver of the matrixed global advocacy team to learn, collaborate and advance organizational advocacy ambitions.

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION

• Leads the execution and analysis of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) assessment and determines CO advocacy capacity strengthening strategies based the results.
• Leads efforts on CO policy communications, including social media and policy communications tactics to advance advocacy goal.
• Builds capacity on technical elements related to policy advocacy.
• Contributes to cross-functional and global teams o- specific tasks or projects, as assigned.
• Develops reports and presentations on policy and advocacy issues that relate to violence against children or related policy issues
• Promotes cross learning and collaboration among COs, advising CO and P&P colleagues on interlinkages between program (program models) and advocacy lines of work, maintaining internal and external relationships, and coordinating relevant aspects of the division’s knowledge management systems.

ALLIANCE AND GLOBAL ADVOCACY

• Supports ChildFund Alliance and ChildFund International on international advocacy efforts (e.g., United Nations and regional bodies) by connecting CO advocacy work to the ChildFund Alliance Secretariat, including information sharing, cross-collaboration and advancing joint activities.
• Support engagement with international efforts to end violence against children, such as the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and other critical partners
• Monitor events, policy decisions, trends and other issues with implications for the policy and political landscape on violence against children issues to share with CO’s
• Support updates to the organization on advocacy events/issues

VISIBILITY, REPRESENTATION AND FUNDRAISING

• Build/deepen partnerships with country advocacy actors, policy-makers and funders that work on in-country advocacy.

• Represents ChildFund  as appropriate to key networks and forums.

• Research potential donors to fund CO advocacy and develop individual plans for engagement.

• Lead development of collateral on ChildFund’s advocacy efforts to share with donors and potential donors (in coordination with consultants and others)

• In line with CO needs and Business Development initiatives, draft and submit proposals related to ChildFund’s advocacy efforts and advocacy components of proposals.

• Support implementation of grants.

 QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE

• At least 5-7 years of relevant experience in advocacy, policy analysis and influencing stakeholders to drive an advocacy agenda
• Knowledge of  global and country-specific advocacy efforts and contexts
• Proven ability to provide face to face, and virtual high-quality technical assistance, guidance and coaching to implementing staff and partners.
• Experience with international development, children’s issues or related fields
• Understanding of advocacy theories of change, advocacy strategy development, advocacy tools and experience executing advocacy trainings
• Experience and knowledge of issues and actors the global space surrounding violence against children and child rights
• Experience representing an organization to multi-level stakeholders
• Excellent communication skills – both written and presentation skills including for advocacy audiences and social media (demonstrated ability to write blogs, policy briefs, effective social media posts, advocacy agendas, etc.)
• Strong networking, partnership and influencing skills
• Demonstrated high-level interpersonal skills, including the ability to build strong international and external working relationships with a variety of stakeholders
• Proven success in developing professional networks and collaborating with other organizations
• Proactive work style, detail orientation and ability to multi-task.  Self-starter and team player required
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally significantly
• Team player and sense of humor
• Experience in fundraising, writing proposals and engaging donors desired
• Experience in management or mentorship
• Experience working in a matrixed, global team a plus
• Fluency in English; proficiency in French, Portuguese or Spanish preferred
• Direct field experience in a developing country a plus

 EDUCATION/CERTIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy, Political Science, Public Affairs or related field; post graduate degree preferred

ChildFund International is committed to safeguarding the interests, rights, and well-being of children with whom it is in contact and to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for children.

DISCLAIMER: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

Required Skills Required Experience