The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization that promotes children’s rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries
Our vision is that Save the Children be the leading voice for Children and their rights in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, while including also linkage with Bangladesh, Asia.
The Regional Advocacy and Campaigns Manager under the guidance of the Head of Advocacy, Campaigns, Communication and Media, ESA will support efficient and effective implementation of Advocacy and Campaigns Country Plans in the East and Southern Africa region.
She/he will be responsible in tracking and supporting the development and implementation of campaign strategies that will engage the public to influence governments and other institutional policies and practice to achieve positive and lasting changes to influence children’s survival, learning and protection. She/he will be responsible to ensure a child centred lens to all campaigns and clear connection related to priority thematic and policy advocacy.
The Regional Advocacy and Campaign Manager will play a key role to enable the implementation by Country Offices of creative and impactful campaigns which lead to positive changes for the most deprived and most marginalised children across Eastern and Southern Africa.
He/she will provide support to Save the Children Country Offices in the development and implementation of their campaign and popular mobilisation plans.
She/he will be responsible in tracking and supporting the development and implementation of campaign strategies that will engage the public to influence government and other institutional policies and practice to achieve positive and lasting changes to fulfil children’s rights.
This role will also serve as the Right2Grow (R2G) Advocacy Liaison Officer. R2G is a Strategic Partnership between Action Against Hunger, the Centre for Economic Governance and Accountability Africa (CEGAA), Max Foundation, Save the Children, The Hunger Project and World Vision. With funding from the Dutch Government (Civil Society Strengthening – Power of Voices), R2G will collaborate with communities, community-based organisations and civil society organisations in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, South Sudan and Uganda from 2021-2025, to advocate for coordinated policies and actions in the domains of Nutrition and WASH (Nutrition-WASH nexus).
Lobby and Advocacy are at the heart of the R2G programme, and especially covering as an overall umbrella the activities in the six countries. Based on the global lobby and advocacy strategy, as well as the country plans, the role will support and feed the global lobby and advocacy activities. At the same time, the position will ensure collaboration with the Global Lead on Lobby and Advocacy, the Dutch Advocacy Lead and the CSO Mutual Capacity Support on L&A, where required, as well as with the Communication Lead.
Advocacy is central to Save the Children’s theory of change and to achieving our ambitious goals for children. Evidence-based advocacy, supported by popular awareness and mobilization, can lead to improved policies and programs that result in improved outcomes for Children. Most advocacy and campaign activities are delivered nationally by our Country Offices and Partners, but a dedicated regional capacity is essential to help catalyse, support and coordinate this work, as well as engage with regional institutions where this adds value. It is important to build the capacity of all Staff and Partners involved in national and regional advocacy, and to use evidence from program work to inform national, regional and global advocacy.
The post holder will also play a representational role at times.
In order to be successful you will bring/have:
Essential
BA or Masters Degree in related field.
Strong background in advocacy leadership at a senior level on international issues, including policy development and supporting advocacy as part of programmes- at least seven years of demonstrated experience.
Practical experience of building networks and engaging with coalitions.
Experience of campaigning for and with Children with demonstrable understanding and experience of how to connect Children’s issues with public opinion and actions.
Experience of public campaigning in a corporate or an NGO environment, with proven record in successfully leading the development and implementation of successful advocacy and campaign strategies to achieve policy and normative change.
Highly developed analytical writing skills and ability to analyze complex data and to summarise and communicate them in ways that are accessible to a range of audiences from different cultural backgrounds.
Excellent training, facilitation, and team building skills.
Knowledge of the regional institutions and the way they function.
Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mind sets.
Fluency in written and spoken English is essential; skills in other languages would be an advantage.
Makes independent decisions and solves problems on new and complex issues, requiring creative and systems thinking to find best solutions.
A high level of computer literacy.
Experience of, and willingness to travel in, a broad range of developing countries, sometimes at short notice and for extended periods of time.
