Advocacy Officer at Save the Children

ROLE PURPOSE

Save the Children International Kenya Office, has an exciting opportunity for you to join our team as Advocacy Officer. The post will provide strategic leadership in policy, advocacy and programme related learnings at the county level. The role will include; development and implementation of county advocacy initiatives focusing on education and other thematic areas of focus for the organisation that ultimately results to political will and commitment towards children’s holistic skills development within national education systems being enhanced. The officer will map out key child participation forums at both county levels to ensure children voices contribute to the realisation of the project’s objectives besides packaging information/research findings and developing appropriate communication channels for dissemination of information/research findings; project documentation and dissemination; capacity building, learning and knowledge management. This role will also support additional advocacy activities from the other projects within the field office on need basis.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY 

Strategy development and implementation

• The Advocacy Officer will provide leadership in advocacy, learning and policy support to the area office on Education, Child Protection and Public Investment in Children and ensure there is a coherent process linking the county and national level advocacy efforts.
• Maintain an in-depth understanding of key budgetary cycle moments, law and policy reform initiatives at the County.
• Ensures that all advocacy messages and documents are evidence-based and of high quality.
• In close collaboration with education, health and Child protection teams, the Head of Advocacy, Head of Health & Nutrition, Child Protection & Education TS, Communication Manager, develop and implement county advocacy strategies that will seek to draw synergies in integration, CP, education, MNH with other sectors. Responsible for the delivery of an annual implementation work plan.
• Develop and implement relevant context specific strategies for effective education, child participation within the advocacy activities in collaboration with the field office teams and relevant staff at the country office.
• Support Programme Managers in identifying policy and practice change, which would improve child survival, leaning and protection outcomes for children.
• Support budget advocacy and budget tracking to improve revenue generation and public investment in children for child welfare interventions at county level in collaboration with other CSOs.

Advocacy and Communications

• Lead the county level monitoring and evaluation of advocacy-related objectives, mapping of key opportunities and events, organisation of Save the Children ‘moments’ and events.
• Linking to international process and in collaboration with field office staff and technical specialists oversee the development of advocacy materials – including policy briefs, position papers, press releases, Questions and answers and opinion pieces for county and national advocacy.
• Develop good knowledge of county government structure, political processes and key decision-making structures and how to influence them on issues related to education, MNH, CP and domestic resource mobilization. Conduct power mapping to identify and engage key influencers in the County for increased resource mobilization and allocation to child survival interventions.
• Support County Officials in developing emergency contingency plans in case of eventualities within the two counties, including through the use of household economy analysis(HEA) Baseline and Response Analysis information
• Lead the production and/or contribute to the development and dissemination of policy briefs/IEC fact sheets and county profiles to get Education, especially Breadth of Skills and other field office projects including MNH and CP on the policy agenda at the county levels.
• Build systems for research, analysis and documentation that underpin evidence based advocacy and influencing at county level. This will include undertaking audience research and knowledge services mapping to inform communication and advocacy work.

Building Partnerships

• Identify local networks and coalitions and develop sustained partnerships/ alliances that are critical in the dissemination and/or application of research findings and/or learning to influence the policy and practice landscape. This includes representing Save the Children at strategic forums, networking with strategic CSOs, Head Teachers’ Associations and other social movement processes that are relevant to Save the Children’s policy work.
• Support area offices to build partnerships with communities and programme beneficiaries in establishing accountability mechanisms, capacity building and knowledge management.
• Support the capacity building of programme and field staff and key partners on advocacy through training, sharing best practices and supporting learning and knowledge management.

Programme Development & Management

• Participate in proposal development processes, in particular liaising with relevant Technical Specialists and programme staff to ensure that advocacy approaches are integrated within and contribute to the achievement of project results and objectives and that sufficient funds are budgeted for implementation.
• Participate in Save the Children programme meetings and related sessions to draw out research-based advocacy messages in programmes.  Keep abreast of current research, national and donor policies and debates in Kenya, relevant to advocacy for Education.
• In collaboration with programme managers, monitor and evaluate child survival, development & protection communication and advocacy activities within budgets, ensuring that indicators and methods are in place to allow evaluation of the achievements and develop regular reports on progress. Post holder will also contribute heavily to the design, development, implementation and dissemination of any Education, H&N, CP and DRM related research.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential:

• An academic qualification directly related to Political Science, Governance, International development or Community development.
• At least 5 years of experience in advocacy work, as well as contributing to the development and implementation of advocacy strategies. Experience working within the education sector is an added advantage.
• Highly knowledgeable on Child Rights Governance including; Public Investment in Children
• Excellent understanding of Kenya’s budget cycle (both at county and national level) and moments.
• An understanding of policy and legislative development processes at both national and county levels.
• Superior written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex arguments into accessible English for a non-specialist audience, and the ability to write articles that would be published in the mainstream press.
• Knowledge of the devolution processes, and its impact on the health sector.
• Excellent verbal communication skills, appropriate for high-level external representation (for example lobbying county governors, ministers, MCAs)
• Experience of developing advocacy strategies, knowledge and understanding of a range of advocacy techniques
• Experience of effective team work and outstanding inter-personal communication skills
• Experience of coalition building and working with civil society actors to deliver change
• Excellent understanding of Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030, policy and legal provisions in support of child survival.
• Fluency in spoken and written English and Kiswahili
• Commitment to Save the Children’s mission and values

Desirable:

• Experience and training on policy and advocacy.
• Good knowledge of the nutrition and health field, including the work of academic/research contacts, NGOs, UN agencies
• Good presentation and persuasion skills.
• Experience of policy research, having written and published policy reports and briefings and evaluating evidence of their impact.