Advocacy and Campaigns Manager - MENA

Crisis Action is an award-winning organization at the forefront of global advocacy. 

We work behind the scenes to create and support strategic coalitions to avert conflicts and ensure the protection of civilians where conflict exists. We are lucky to work with some of the world’s most effective civil society leaders, human rights, humanitarian, and policy organisations. We have staff in Addis Ababa, Beirut, Berlin, Brussels, Johannesburg, London, Nairobi, New York, Paris and Washington, D.C. 

Current conflict priorities for Crisis Action include South Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, though the organisation monitors other potential and actual conflicts (for example, Palestine, Iraq, Libya) and engages in shorter-term emergency response advocacy as well (including shorter-term campaigns over the past year on Cameroon, Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Democratic Republic of Congo).  

The MENA Advocacy and Campaigns Manager works with Crisis Action’s MENA Director, advancing Crisis Action’s unique model of advocacy and interacting with MENA policymakers as well as NGO partners and other campaign allies.

The principal duties of the MENA Advocacy and Campaigns Manager include:

Develop and coordinate impactful joint advocacy campaigns that advocate for the protection of civilians in armed conflict: Working with the MENA Director, you will lead Beirut-based NGO partners and other coalition allies to develop, coordinate, and execute collective advocacy campaigns and impactful advocacy to protect civilians and end armed conflict. This will involve designing and consulting on advocacy strategies, developing tactics and advocacy products, and coordinating and implementing diverse advocacy activities, ranging from direct policymaker engagement, media work, social media campaigns, supporting civil society delegations, and public and private events. You will collaborate with colleagues from Crisis Action’s offices worldwide to build coordinated global advocacy campaigns.  

Contribute to MENA political analysis and network: Focusing on particular armed conflicts, you will provide sophisticated political intelligence and analysis, contributing to the development of first-class joint advocacy campaigns and helping Crisis Action and our partners to tailor our advocacy strategies and tactics to achieve maximum results, both in the MENA and globally.

Advance the strategic development of Crisis Action in MENA and globally:  Within the Beirut office, you will play a key role in consolidating and expanding Crisis Action’s network and relationships with key policymakers, journalists, core partners, civil society allies, and other supporters. You will bring an ambitious entrepreneurial attitude and will be asked to assist with devising and implementing our Beirut office strategy.  You will also be a core part of the Crisis Action global team, jointly strategising around both regional and international policy and how to change it. You will also help us reach out to potential partners in countries where we don’t have a presence and seek to engage and support them.

Job Requirements

Essential:

• At least five years’ experience either conducting or coordinating high-level advocacy campaigns, or working on issues related to Crisis Action’s mandate.
• Excellent interpersonal and communications skills, including the ability to cultivate high-level contacts within government or diplomatic circles, the media and civil society.
• Experience in coalition settings and ability to instill trust and confidence in colleagues and partners from a range of backgrounds.
• Proven ability to analyze complex political issues, identify impactful campaign opportunities, develop innovative campaign activities, and deploy a range of campaign tactics, to achieve policy change.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of international human rights and humanitarian law and of issues arising in contemporary armed conflicts.
• Excellent project management and administrative skills.
• Confidence working as an ambitious, energetic, and collegial member of a small team, able to coordinate effectively with colleagues and prioritize multiple competing tracks of work.
• Strong media skills, including writing op-eds, preparing media releases, briefing journalists, promoting stories, and coordinating large-scale media drives. 
• Excellent proficiency in spoken and written Arabic and English at a professional level. French (and/or other regional languages) could be an advantage.
• Permission to work in Lebanon.

Strongly preferred:  

• A graduate degree in international affairs, politics, law, human rights, or a related field.
• High level contacts in politics, the media and civil society sector.
• Experience of working with geographically dispersed and culturally diverse teams.
• Understanding of the challenges involved in organizing NGO coalitions.