Advocacy Officer-INGO Forum: Sudan (Kenyan National) at Mercy Corps

General Position Summary  

The Advocacy Officer position has been newly created in order to strengthen coordination across work-streams and enhance the quality of support provided to Members as well as the quality of representation provided in inter-agency platforms in view of ultimately strengthening the humanitarian response in Sudan.   This position will focus on supporting humanitarian advocacy and policy influencing at country, regional and global levels, as well as analyzing, facilitating and coordinating humanitarian access negotiations, products and initiatives.  

The Advocacy Officer will have specific responsibilities for convening and facilitating meetings and events related to policy, advocacy and communications. S/he will be responsible for ensuring adherence to information sharing protocols and will lead consolidation of Member inputs into collective products.   

This position reports to the roving access/advocacy advisor who will lead the overall Access and Policy/Advocacy strategy and representation for the INGO forum. S/he will be expected to liaise with area coordinators and the information management officer to ensure coherent messaging across the INGOF.  Coordination with the Administration Officer will also be required to ensure that contact lists are regularly updated and information systematically stored. 

Essential Job Responsibilities  

Policy/advocacy strategy and coordination: 

• Maintain an up-to-date tracker of external engagement, products in view of enhancing impact monitoring 
• Establish a regular mechanism for monitoring progress against the Forum’s advocacy strategy and support updating it as needed to reflect contextual evolution 
• Support in convening and facilitating meetings including through agenda setting and administrative tasks related to online, hybrid and in person meetings 

Advocacy and communications products and events: 

• Draft and consolidating collective products 
• Provide administrative support to the organization of events including high-level meetings and media engagement 
• Draft monthly forum bulletins for circulation to Members and relevant external stakeholders including donors 
• Contribute to regular updating of the Forum’s website  
• Facilitate publication of forum products  
• Lead on preparing and implementing dissemination plans for pubic facing products and monitor adherence 
• Ensure adherence to the Forum’s advocacy strategy and work plan 
• Proactively seek areas for high level engagement with Third States, governments, donors, and other influential stakeholders 

Administrative and other tasks: 

• Take notes from key meetings and engagements to ensure internal follow-up and accountability 
• Maintain repository of products, minutes, etc. to ensure knowledge preservation and eventual transfer 
• Maintain up to date contacts for relevant stakeholders 

 Security  

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.    
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.  

Accountability to Beneficiaries  

INGO Forum team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to their beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of field projects, in line with Mercy Corps’ standards and policies. 

Supervisory Responsibility 

None.  

Accountability  

Reports Directly To: Access/Advocacy Advisor 

Works Directly With: INGO Forum Secretariat including area coordinators, the information management officer, the AML officer, the INGO Forum Director and primarily with members. 

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders 

INGO Forum team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. They must be committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of projects, in line with Mercy Corps’ standards and policies. 

Knowledge and Experience   

Essential requirements: 

• An masters degree in a media, communications, international relations, public policy, development, political science, a related field or equivalent experience 
• At least 4 years of relevant experience with NGOs, the UN system or other humanitarian/development actors  
• Experience working on complex humanitarian or fragile contexts with understanding of humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law (IHL) and humanitarian coordination mechanisms 
• Experience writing advocacy strategies, policy briefs, policy papers and public statements  
• A demonstrable understanding of current humanitarian policy trends and issues 
• Data analysis and interpretation skills 
• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to a multi-cultural environment  
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) 

Desirable requirements: 

• Previous humanitarian experience in Sudan, Chad or South Sudan 
• Existing relationships with relevant stakeholders including NGOs, UN agencies, donors, national authorities and stakeholders and relevant advocacy and media stakeholders 
• Working knowledge of Arabic a plus