This position will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and is contingent upon award and donor approval. Application deadline: June 02, 2023.  

I.   JOB SUMMARY ፡

The Senior Advisor: Community Engagement and Advocacy reports directly to the upcoming (pending donor approval) Empowered Communities Activity (ECA) CoP (or DCoP) . S/he will serve as ECA project technical lead of the community Engagement and Advocacy efforts towards quality design and implementation of ECA that ensures greater community engagement, empowerment, and ownership of RMNCAH-N services . The position holder will lead the community engagement and advocacy related tasks within the ECA project as well as other actors and related investments in the project areas, in collaboration with the country office technical team.  Senior Advisor: Community Engagement & Advocacy is responsible for developing and implementing strategies to engage and mobilize the community around the organization's mission, goals, and programs. The Senior Advisor will lead efforts to build relationships with community members, organizations, and stakeholders, and develop and implement advocacy campaigns to promote policy change and increase public awareness of issues related to the goal of ECA.  

Job Responsibility #1:  Analysis, Strategy, Reporting and Design (time: 40%)

• Develop and implement a community engagement strategy that includes outreach, education, and mobilization efforts to build support for the organization's mission and the programs. 

• Cultivate relationships with community members, leaders, organizations, and stakeholders to identify opportunities for collaboration and partnership. 

• Create and manage advocacy campaigns that promote policy change and increase public awareness of issues related to ECA and  the organization's mission. 

• Work with staff and volunteers to develop and implement events, workshops, and other activities to engage and educate the community on issues related to the organization's mission. 

• Develop and implement a volunteer program to engage community members in the organization's work. 

• Develops the community engagement and advocacy strategy of  ECA in collaboration with other project staff; local government stakeholders and local subgrantees aligned with the Ethiopian MoH policy and guidance.

• Periodically updates the project’s community engagement and advocacy strategy and  operationalize adjustments to the strategy;

• Supports review ECA’s advocacy and community engagement practices and facilitate improvement.

• Produces annual review report on community engagement and advocacy activities for ECA project;  

• Develops indicators to measure results in the areas of community engagement and advocacy.

• Technical support to partners of the ECA consortium in developing or operationalizing a strategic community engagement and advocacy mechanisms.

• Ensure that the community engagement and advocacy analysis results inform the project design,  implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

• Participates in projects detailed implementation plans (DIP), at the start-up and annual reviews, to ensure integration of partnership principles and utilization of proper tools and to ensure and assess project responsiveness to gender equality and women’s voice

Job Responsibility #2 Capacity Building and Technical Assistance for staffs and partners (time: 35%)

• Establishes staff and key partner induction and ongoing training processes on  ECA’s partnership strategy and accountability framework;  Community engagement and advocacy.

• Supervise and mentor staff members and volunteers engaged in community engagement and advocacy work. 

• Develops and implements follow-up, engagement, and coaching plans to build staff capacity and to increase their level of expertise and skills and their commitment to applying community engagement and advocacy strategies

• Continuously updates staff and partners on emerging issues to enhance and sustain conceptual clarity and awareness of partners and others’ best practices;

• Participates in the selection of and support to external, temporary technical assistance (consultants, interns, networks) as needed

• Lead/Works with the relevant line ministries and other relevant government structures to facilitate community engagement and advocacy activities and monitoring in the operational areas;

• Designs and leads advocacy and community engagement surveys, analyse results and write reports to inform the adaptive management process of ECA.

• Advises and helps promote appropriate community mobilization strategies aligned with the goal of ECA.

• Documents and shares lessons/results of community engagement and advocacy.

• Sets up system to monitor ECA’s community engagement and Advocay performance/achievements & ensure consistent actions

• Organizes periodic refresher trainings and experience sharing platforms on lessons learned on community engagement and advocacy approaches and techniques.

Job Responsibility #3:  Learning, Policy Implementation, and Networking (time: 20%)

• Develop and implement metrics to track the success of community engagement and advocacy efforts. 

• Represent CARE/ECA at community events, meetings, and other public forums to build awareness of the goal and purpose of ECA.

• Keeps up to date with developments in community engagement and advocacy including best practice in-country, regionally and globally, and ensure ongoing personal development and learning;

• Support the use of ECA’s accountability and impact at scale  learning into evidence-based policy influence;

• Identifies, establishes & maintains productive relationships with like-minded non-government organizations; and investments in project areas.

• Together with the country office’s senior communication and Advocacy Advisor, lead the effort to measure the impact and document lessons learned and best practices (accountability and partnership)

• Actively engage in program evaluations & assessment & based on the assessment outcomes provide strategic recommendation to further strengthen program intervention on area of advocacy and community engagement;

• Collaborate with other partnership advisors/Officers in the organization to support the strategic direction of ECA towards strategic community engagement and advocacy efforts.

• Establishes and maintains formal and informal communication mechanisms with government.

• Identify, establishes and maintains productive relationships with networks and partners.

• Participates in the documentation & dissemination of lessons learnt related to community engagement and advocacy.

Job Responsibility #4:  Representation and Others (time: 5%)

• Participates in different advocacy related task forces and working groups within CARE, at national and International level and others as needed;

• Represent CARE professionally when delegated/authorized;

• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Represents CARE in different advocacy platforms

• Organizes and participates in cross-visits within CARE and with other organizations

• The person could be given with new tasks as needed and is expected to execute to meet expectations as any employee of the organization.

 II. PROBLEM SOLVING (Thinking Environment)

The reason for this senior position is to ensure ECAs community engagement and advocacy activities are implemented up to the standard. The incumbent must use interpersonal skills to choose the right strategy to address a given problem and also has to deal with variable solutions, which need analysis, problem definition and development of alternative solutions. This position requires innovative thinking and the ability to network and communicate broadly and strategically.

 III. GENDER EQUALITY

• Understanding and demonstrated commitment to the importance of gender, youth and social inclusion issues.

• Demonstrated commitment to principles of Gender Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and PSEAH (safeguarding), as evidenced in previous positions / programming

Job Requirements

IV. QUALIFICATIONS (KNOW HOW)

A) EDUCATION/TRAINING

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in a relevant field such as community organizing, public policy, or social work.  

Desired:

• MA/Sc degree anthropology, Sociology, Developmental Studies and professional training in partnership or related fields.

B) EXPERIENCE

Required:  

• 5 years relevant experience with first degree and 4 years of relevant work experience plus post graduate degree working in MNCH/SRH in adolescent and/youth; MNCH/FP, Nutrition, community engagement, advocacy, or related work.: At least 1 year of management experience.

Desired : 

• NGO experience in similar roles

• Experience working with diverse partners

• Research and development

• Policy advocacy

C) TECHNICAL SKILLS

Required:

• Excellent planning, organizational, analytical and decision making skills;

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and  local languages

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to build relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders.  

• Demonstrated excellent networking and negotiation skills

• Demonstrated ability to develop and implement successful advocacy campaigns.  

• Experience with event planning and management.  

• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.  

• Commitment to social justice and a passion for community engagement and advocacy work.  

• Demonstrated commitment to principles of Gender Equity and Diversity and PSHEA (Prevention of    Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse).    

• Ability to travel to project sites as required.     

• Excellent and proven experience in strategic planning and ability to effectively articulate strategy to internally and external stakeholders;

• Proactive, initiative taker who builds partnerships and relationships within and outside of CARE

• Firm belief in teamwork, gender equality, sensitivity to HIV/AIDS, transparent and participatory management.

Desired:

• Demonstrated technical and managerial ability, sound judgment, and ability to interact and work effectively with others at all levels.

• Having worked in a similar role in the last not less than for 5 years.

D) COMPETENCIES

• Respect, integrity, diversity, excellence, adaptability, stress tolerance, coaching, initiating action, communicating with impact, innovation, planning and organizing, building partnership and commitment, facilitating change, adaptability, and contributing to team success.

VI. WORKING CONDITIONS AND LEVEL OF TRAVEL REQUIRED. 

This position is located in Addis Ababa, with up to 30-40 % field travel.

How to Apply

If you are interested to be part of our dynamic team, exciting work environment and contribute to CARE Ethiopia’s mission and vision, please send your CV (not more than 3 pages) and cover letter (not more than one page) through THIS LINK

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Passionate and dedicated candidates who meet the requirement are strongly encouraged to apply, especially women!

CARE seeks to improve the lives of the most marginalized, particularly women and girls. Our diversity is our strength. We encourage people from all backgrounds and experiences to apply.

CARE Ethiopia is committed to preventing all unwanted behavior at work. This includes sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, and child abuse. We expect everyone who works for us to share this commitment by understanding and working within the CARE Safeguarding Policy and related framework. CARE Ethiopia has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a vulnerable adult or child by any of our staff, representatives, or partners.

CARE Ethiopia reserves the right to seek information from job applicants’ current and/or previous employers about incidents of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment the applicant may have been found guilty to have committed or about which an investigation was in the process of being carried out at the time of the termination of the applicant’s employment with that employer.

By submitting the application, the job applicant confirms that s/he has no objection to CARE Ethiopia requesting the information specified above. All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks