Regional Civil Society Partnership Advisor at Save the Children

Save the Children (SC) works across a broad range of partners as per our Theory of Change and our partnership principles. However, this position will focus on partnerships with local civil society organisations in the countries where we programme.

Civic space for civil society, including child rights organisations, is increasingly being challenged, but Save the Children believes that a strong civil society is crucial to promote, defend and demand accountability for children's rights. To increase efforts and programme quality, technical leadership in the civil society engagement arena is required. This includes providing systematic capacity strengthening support to country office staff and local civil society partner organisations, as well as strategically partnering with civil society as part of long-term programming efforts in all contexts. This role will also facilitate learning from other related initiatives to increase localisation efforts and strengthen strategic partnering with civil society organisations in our programming and testing innovative approaches like the core funding approach, innovative partnerships with youth or child-led organizations etc.

Part of this role have a direct link to Save the Children Sweden´s global civil society strengthening programme and thus a dotted line in terms of accountability for that part.

The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the SCI central Programme Quality & Impact team, advocacy colleagues, Regional Advisors in other sectors, technical counterparts in other organisations, donors, regional programming partners etc. In particular, it is expected to maintain close contact with and accountability to the global Partnerships and Localisation as well as the Global Child Rights team.

In order to be successful you will bring/have:

Essential

• Master's Degree in social sciences, development, organisational leadership, international relations, or relevant field.
• Extensive and substantive relevant practical experience may be considered in lieu of a Master's Degree.

• Partnership brokering certification desirable.

• At least 10 years of qualified experience working with rights-based approaches and relevant thematic areas focusing on organisational capacity strengthening of civil society organisations and/or national and local actors in development and humanitarian contexts.

• At least 10 years' experience in the design and implementation of programmes and capacity building of civil society organisations from both development and humanitarian contexts.

• Experience of developing efficient strategies for advocacy work and policy dialogue between civil society and state actors Experience/familiarity of Nordic framework agreements focusing on local civil society strengthening is considered a merit.

• Familiar with organisational development methodologies, partnership principles, partnership brokering, participatory approaches and the localisation agenda. Strong understanding of thematic issues related to child rights and human rights.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to summarize extensive and complex information.
• Ability to lead on strategic development, including monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning.
• Knowledge of RBM/LFA frameworks.
• Proposal writing and reporting skills including thematic quality assurance on gender equality, child rights, and children with disabilities, conflict sensitivity, and climate aspects in both development and humanitarian contexts.
• Experience in organizational capacity development and significant training, facilitation and capacity building skills
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office and business intelligence/reporting/monitoring systems.
• Proficiency in English (verbally and in writing).

• Other languages spoken in the respective SC regions

  Technical competencies:

• Inspires others to embrace the values and principles that underpin partnerships and the localisation agenda (Leading edge)

• Leads formal and informal engagement with diverse, strategic partners based on shared, long-term visions (Leading edge)

• Promotes the unique role of Save the Children in partnerships to promote the rights of children (Accomplished)

Generic Competencies

• Being the Voice of Children: Utilises being part of a global movement to promote change in the policy and public sphere on child related issues
• Advancing Equality & Inclusion: Drives an enabling environment for gender equality and inclusion, and prioritising the most deprived and marginalised children

Contract duration: 2 years