As an International Christian Humanitarian Development organization, World Vision Ethiopia (WVE) is trusted to deliver integrated programs with target communities through its 51 Area programs (APs) located in seven regional states of the country. WVE envisions a thriving organization where our strong leadership at all levels results in improved delivery of results for children.

  Purpose of the position:

The Associate Advocacy and External Engagement Director will provide overall management and coordination of WV Ethiopia’s advocacy and external engagement. He or she is responsible for building relations with the Government, UN agencies, Joining Forces Alliance, NGOs, and CSO networks and coalitions. The role is aligned with the partnership strategy, Our Promise Phase II, Going Further, 2030 strategic imperative to collaborate and advocate for broader impact and the strategic initiative Catalyse a global movement for and by children through our global campaign “It Takes a World to End Violence against Children”. The three areas of advocacy and external engagement will include 1) No child is left behind through the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs framework, 2) All children are protected from violence such as ending child marriage and FGM (It Takes A World to End Violence Against Children Campaign) and 3) Rights of children are prioritised in response to humanitarian crisis including the COVID 19 pandemic. The role facilitates thought leadership and shares experiences in influencing local and national policies, systems and structures in collaboration with the Regional Office, Support Offices and GC.

Major Responsibilities:

Leadership, Management, Strategic Planning and Resource Mobilization

• Lead in the development and implementation of the advocacy and external engagement annual plans
• Provide guidance on advocacy integration within sectors, in Area Programmes (APs) and grant funded projects.
• Lead in the development and implementation of proposals and projects to generate resources for advocacy and external engagement
• Provide oversight of advocacy programming and management of the advocacy budget in line with agreed standards.
• Build NO capacity on advocacy and external engagement.
• Lead, manage, and mentor staff in the Advocacy and External Engagement team.
• Ensure that competent staff are hired, motivated, retained and are able to effectively perform their roles and duties

Influence National Policies and Government Commitments

•  Provide oversight in the Voluntary National Review process led by the Ethiopian government in the SDG reporting
• Lead and partner with Joining Forces Alliance on national budgetary allocation in different sectors
• Facilitate peer-to-peer learning on budget allocation with the RO
• Lead development of position papers, policy briefs and statements on social accountability using CVA data
• Coordinate child participation and amplify their voices in development of national policies, standards or laws

Advocate to End Violence Against Children

• Guide and engage faith leaders on child protection and ending violence against children with the Faith & Development Team
• Amplify the voice of children in the ITAW campaign specifically ending child marriage and FGM in Ethiopia with the Communications Team
• Lead and organize high level events and panels in collaboration with the government, UN agencies, NGOs, donors or networks on ITAW with the Public Engagement Team
• Coordinate child participation in national, regional summits, conferences, sessions and key dates (e.g. Day of the African Child) with the Communications Team
• Provide thought leadership in government regional and international state party reports to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights of the Child and UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
• Advise and prepare WV Ethiopia senior leaders for high-level external engagement and representation meetings with the Internal Engagement Team.

Humanitarian Advocacy Prioritizes Children

• Provide oversight and update humanitarian and child rights advocacy messaging on a regular basis to parallel context changes in collaboration with the Communications Team.
• Guide and prepare WV Ethiopia senior leaders for high-level humanitarian external engagement and representation meetings with the Internal Engagement Team
• Lead and participate in humanitarian advocacy initiatives
• Coordinate humanitarian advocacy policy messaging on sector- specific issues that are critical to WV programming responses
• Build strategic relationships with aligned policy and advocacy NGOs, UN agencies, donors and civil society with a focus on children
• Provide guidance, evidence, programmatic results and messaging that focus on solutions to reduce violence against children in the context of response and in situations of conflict
• Provide advice to the Advocacy Response Group (ARG)
• Oversee the provision of humanitarian advocacy training.

External Engagement, Networking and Collaboration

• Facilitate and participate in advocacy and child rights meetings, events or conferences with the government, NGOs, UN agencies, donors, JFA or networks
• Led in the development of an annual external engagement plan with the Communications Team and the Government Relations Team
• Collaborate with the RO, SOs, GC to align external engagement priorities
• Provide thought leadership on the three advocacy outcomes with the government and partners

Monitoring and Reporting

• Prepare and submit quality reports timely to the WV Ethiopia Senior Director, Engagement and Impact
• Lead in the analysis, monitoring, and reporting of national government policies, systems, structures and guidelines
• Coordinate and submit the data on Advocacy Strategic Measures on Horizon
• Update and mitigate advocacy risks in the Enterprise Risk Management Salesforce database, Riskonnect

Job Requirements

Required Professional Experience

• At least 7 years of progressive work experience and senior leadership at the national or regional level on advocacy, external engagement and policy influencing in development or humanitarian contexts
• Experience in child protection including ending violence against children, SDGs, CVA and humanitarian advocacy
• Excellent research, policy analysis and report writing skills
• Excellent understanding of the structure and policies of the government its ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and ways of working.
• Experience in external engagement or lobbying with high level government or ministerial stakeholders
• Experience in networking and building coalitions
• Experience in developing systems to capture and measure impact of advocacy activities
• Excellent oral and written English skills
• Experience in resource mobilization and management of human and financial resources
• Previous work experience in Ethiopia or another African country.

Required Education, training, license, registration, and certification

• Minimum Educational level required: Master’s Degree in Social Sciences, International Relations, Politics, Communications, Economics, Law, Public Administration or its equivalent.

Preferred Knowledge and Qualifications

• Proven experience as a team player
• Strong analytical, persuasive and influencing skills
• Proven track record in developing advocacy messages
• Knowledge and skills in development of high caliber policy briefs, position papers, statements or calls to action.

Working Environment / Conditions:

The position requires ability and willingness to travel domestically or regionally up to 30% of the time (pending COVID 19 restrictions).

How to Apply

Interested applicants are required to attach Current CV with three references & fill employment application form which can be found HERE and email before the closing date of this announcement to Recruitment_ethiopia@wvi.org 

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