Advocacy and Coordination Consultant, ESARO at UN Women

Purpose of the Assignment:

• The purpose of this assignment is to provide support to the implementation and coordination of ongoing advocacy strategies under the ACT Programme. The role focuses on facilitating communication and collaboration among partner organizations, ensuring alignment of activities with the regional advocacy agenda, and supporting documentation, monitoring, and knowledge-sharing. The consultant will support enhanced efficiency, coherence, and impact of ongoing advocacy initiatives without duplicating existing strategic leadership provided by partner organizations.

Scope of Work:
The consultant will provide support in the following key areas:
 Strategic Coordination and Partnership Support

• Facilitate regular coordination among ACT partners and broader EVAWG stakeholders, ensuring effective communication of updates, sharing of resources, alignment of activities, and identification of opportunities for collaboration across regional and country-level initiatives. 
• Support strengthening partnerships among feminist movements, women's rights organizations, UN partners, regional institutions, and development partners.
• Coordinate follow-up actions arising from partner meetings, consultations, and regional convenings.
• Maintain stakeholder mapping and partnership engagement records to support coalition building, movement strengthening, and collective advocacy efforts.

Advocacy and Technical Support

• Support planning and implementation of regional and country-level advocacy initiatives aligned with ACT Programme priorities.
• Prepare advocacy briefs, talking points, presentations, stakeholder engagement materials, briefing notes, and background documents.
• Facilitate engagement with regional institutions, governments, civil society organizations, and development partners to advance ACT advocacy priorities.
• Support the development of outcome documents, advocacy messages, and high-visibility products highlighting programme results, lessons, and impact.
• Contribute to the identification of strategic opportunities to elevate feminist voices and strengthen regional advocacy and influence on policy implementation.

Strategic Communications and Visibility

• Lead the development and implementation of ACT Programme communications and visibility plans.
• Produce high-quality communication products including stories of change, newsletters, blogs, feature articles, success stories, donor updates, social media content, and partner spotlights.
• Develop communication packages, key messages, and visibility materials for regional advocacy initiatives, campaigns, consultations, and high-level events.
• Support ACT Programme visibility during strategic advocacy moments, including regional and global campaigns and relevant policy engagement opportunities.
• Coordinate the dissemination of programme achievements, lessons learned, evidence, and knowledge products across internal and external communication platforms.
• Support media engagement and the preparation of communication materials for senior leadership and external stakeholders as required.
• Maintain ACT communications assets, visibility trackers, communication calendars, and repositories of stories, photographs, and audiovisual materials.
• Monitor and report on communication reach, engagement, and visibility outcomes.

Monitoring, Results Documentation and Learning

• Track progress of advocacy, movement strengthening, communications, and coalition-building activities.
• Document outcomes, achievements, challenges, lessons learned, and promising practices emerging from ACT  programme implementation.
• Consolidate reports, partner updates, and case studies for internal learning, donor reporting, and external communication purposes.
• Support outcome harvesting and documentation of advocacy influence, movement strengthening results, and contribution to policy and social change.

 Knowledge Management and Feminist Movement Strengthening

• Support partners in the development of knowledge products and evidence generation initiatives.
• Lead the development and documentation of country-specific ACT frameworks, including UN Women's approach to women's movement strengthening and feminist funding.
• Ensure ACT updates are reflected in monthly programme reporting, Communities of Practice, EVAWG regional meetings, and other relevant knowledge-sharing forums.
• Facilitate the exchange of lessons learned, good practices, feminist approaches, and evidence-based strategies among partners.
• Support regional learning exchanges, dialogues, and convenings aimed at strengthening feminist movements and collective advocacy efforts.
• Contribute to the development of knowledge products including case studies, learning briefs, guidance notes, evidence summaries, and advocacy resources.

Convening and Stakeholder Engagement

• Support the planning and organization of ACT and broader EVAWG stakeholder consultations, webinars, regional dialogues, workshops, campaigns, and multi-partner engagements.
• Coordinate substantive and logistical preparations for strategic convenings and learning events.
• Prepare meeting reports, recommendations, action trackers, presentations, and dissemination materials.
• Support stakeholder engagement activities that strengthen programme visibility, influence, learning, and collaboration.

 Capacity Strengthening and Partner Support

• Provide technical guidance to partners on coordination mechanisms, reporting requirements, information management, and knowledge-sharing processes.
• Support partners to strengthen advocacy planning, communications, documentation, learning, and reporting.
• Facilitate peer learning and exchange among ACT partners, feminist movements, and women's rights organizations.
• Contribute to strengthening partner capacities for evidence-informed advocacy, coalition building, strategic communications, and movement strengthening.

Key Deliverables

• Monthly ACT Coordination, Advocacy and Communications Briefs.
• Quarterly Regional Advocacy and Policy Monitoring Reports.
• ACT Programme Communications and Visibility Plan.
• A minimum of eight strategic communications products, including stories of change, blogs, newsletters, feature articles, campaign materials, and partner spotlights.
• Documentation of advocacy achievements, policy influence outcomes, and movement strengthening results.
•  ACT Movement Strengthening Frameworks and related knowledge resources.
• Consolidated ACT Programme Results and Impact Report highlighting achievements, lessons learned, and emerging opportunities.
• Knowledge products including case studies, learning briefs, evidence summaries, and advocacy resources.
• Communication and visibility packages for key regional advocacy moments and campaigns.
• Stakeholder engagement and partnership tracking reports.
• Event documentation packages including agendas, presentations, participant summaries, reports, and recommendations

Required Qualifications Education and Certification:

• An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Gender Studies, Communications, Strategic Communications, International Relations, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Public Policy, Human Rights, or another related field is required.
• A first-level university degree in one of the above fields, in combination with two additional years of relevant professional experience, may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 years of progressively responsible professional experience in advocacy, strategic communications, programme coordination, knowledge management, stakeholder engagement, or other related areas is required.
• Experience working on gender equality, women’s rights, ending violence against women and girls, or feminist movement strengthening is required.
• Experience coordinating or supporting multi-stakeholder initiatives involving women’s rights organizations, civil society organizations, government institutions, regional bodies, development partners, or United Nations entities is required.
• Experience developing advocacy, communications, visibility, or knowledge products for different audiences is required.
• Experience organizing or supporting consultations, workshops, regional convenings, campaigns, or multi-partner engagements is required.
• Experience documenting programme results, advocacy outcomes, policy influence, lessons learned, or promising practices is required.
• Experience preparing programme reports, case studies, learning briefs, evidence summaries, or other analytical and knowledge products is required.
• Experience working with feminist movements, women’s rights organizations, or civil society networks in Africa, preferably in East and Southern Africa, is desirable.
• Experience supporting strategic communications, media engagement, digital communications, or programme visibility is desirable.
• Previous professional experience with the United Nations or another international development organization is desirable.
• Experience working with UN Women or on programmes addressing violence against women and girls is an asset.