Policy, Advocacy and Communications Director - Beirut

ROLE PURPOSE:The purpose of the role is to lead the external policy analysis and advocacy strategy development for the Country Office (CO), supporting child protection, education, and child poverty related advocacy, and humanitarian space/operational space issues, in a highly complex context in a situation of national crisis.  The role will support the SMT in risk mapping, mitigation and management on issues identified as most relevant for the CO, and develop policy analysis and strategic planning in response to those issues.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

 

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Country Director

Role Dimensions: Lebanon CO is a high complexity country, multi-member interest, with an annual budget of around $20m, and approximately 200 staff

Staff directly reporting to this post: 2

 

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :

 As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:

- Leadership of the Lebanon Country Office.

- Support the development of an organizational culture that reflects the full programming spectrum (humanitarian and development) values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and supports staff to deliver outstanding results for children.

- Help design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to country office need.

- Ensure that all required support is provided promptly, during emergencies or times of humanitarian crisis.

- Develop risk mitigation management plans in response to SMT, regional office, center (HQ), or Member identified risks to the delivery of quality programs for children.

Advocacy Strategy Development and Implementation

- Lead the Country Strategic Plan advocacy strategy, ensure coordination and engagement across all departments to deliver on the strategic objectives. The post holder will hold primary responsibility for risk mitigation and management associated with the delivery on this strategy.

- Revise, strengthen and implement the Country Office Cat 2 advocacy strategy, identify policy and practice change on the basis of Save the Children’s experience, that would promote and protect the rights of children in the Lebanon.

- Based on Save the Children (SC) program priorities, and identified priority issues for children, develop key advocacy messages and identify targets from lessons learned, assessments, research and evidence gained through project implementation, in partnership with PDQ team members.

- Develop and implement advocacy objectives and initiatives, both short and long term, encompassing a wide range of issues and audiences.

- Lead on child participation efforts to ensure  that voices of children are integral to SC’s advocacy, including in planning and implementation. Acquire information and understanding of social policy and adapt strategies as necessary.

- Maintain a strategic overview of issues effecting children’s rights in the Lebanon, monitoring trends in the external environment and inputting and/or leading as required to organizational strategy and planning processes, in coordination with other team members.

- Ensure a robust overview, ongoing analysis, and development of key messages around  protecting children in conflict issues with the particular focus on education and protection, movement and access, humanitarian and operational space issues affecting Save the Children’s ability to deliver quality programs for children.

- Keep a watching brief on policy makers and other key players in relation to children’s rights issues and identify opportunities to raise awareness and influence policy change.

- Support the delivery of advocacy, communications, and campaigning training tonational partners and provide technical support in development of their advocacy strategies.

Influencing

- Develop good knowledge of local and national government structures (in Lebanon and in key Member capitals), parliamentary and political processes and key decision making structures and how to influence them.

- Undertake a range of lobbying, communications and other activities to inform and persuade policy makers, including donors and politicians, of the value of SC’s policy recommendations.

- Working closely with the MEAL team, build systems for research, analysis and documentation that underpin evidence based advocacy and influencing at national and international levels.

- Develop dissemination and communication strategies for key advocacy messages, together with the communications team.

- Produce or manage the production of reports, briefing papers and presentations for internal and external audiences, as needed.

- Promote the role of children in influencing local and national governance to ensure their survival, learning, and protection.

Coordination & Representation

- Develop and cultivate strategic relationships with other agencies engaged in advocacy and policy work in the Lebanon.

- Develop and maintain a network of external contacts with key individuals in the government, donors, NGO sector, civil society and the media.

- Represent SC at various policy forums and advocacy opportunities at national and international levels, as directed.

- Represent Save the Children in child rights forums including the Higher Council for Childhood and child participation committee meetings.

- Act as a spokesperson for SC to a variety of external audiences including policy makers and the media, as directed.

- Liaise closely with staff in the Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns units within the Members, the Regional Office, and at the Center, and other fora to integrate and coordinate policy change initiatives throughout SCI members.

- Develop strong links with the Members programmes for advocacy / awareness raising globally.

- Lead or support external advocacy coordination forum, including within LHIF, the Humanitarian Country Team, and the Education Sector, promoting or ensuring inclusion of Save the Children prioritized child rights issues in these essential coalition fora..

Communications and Programme Support

- Support programme leadership to articulate their top priority advocacy or communications objectives in line with the Country Office Strategic Plan.

- Manage the media, campaigns, and communications staff/team, ensure delivery of high quality communications and documentation support to the CO and programs.

- Ensure the delivery of a media outreach strategy, locally, and that the team provides adequate support to engage with the Regional Office and Center for meeting media requests.

- Ensure development of the CO communications plan, towards donors (working with the RMM) and other external stakeholders.

- Ensure proper planning and engagement in program proposals around communications, branding and visibility.

- Support the specialists and implementation team/s in defining and articulating thematic policy change objectives.

- Establish child/youth advisory committee that provides bi-annual inputs and feedback to SC Lebanon’s strategic plan and action.

- Act as SC Lebanon’s child participation focal point, providing guidance and advice on meaningful involvement of children and youth in our programming, campaigns and advocacy.

- Ensure clear links and mutual reinforcement between programmatic approaches and CO communications, and links external advocacy strategies where appropriate.

- Write regular progress reports as needed, to keep the CO and regional team updated, and contribute to advocacy updates for the internal regional and global teams as required.

- Ensure that SC responds appropriately to emergencies, providing policy analysis and support around humanitarian space issues, and support the Comms focal point to meet emergency comms requirements, including sitreps, fact sheets, updates and other required products.

- Perform other tasks as required to ensure the smooth running of the country programme.

QUALIFICATIONS: 

- Master’s degree in Social Science, Journalism & Media or related field, or relevant years of professional experience in the field.

- A minimum of 8 years demonstrated experience in progressively responsible positions at senior management levels.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS:

Essential

- At least 5 years experience in a humanitarian or development environment, preferably leading advocacy and policy change in the Middle East

- Substantial experience in successfully leading the development of policy change analyses and implementation of advocacy strategies towards clearly articulated policy change agendas

- Demonstrated ability to develop and lead research, surveys and other activities oriented towards developing positions and evidence base

- Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner

- Fluency in Writing and Presentation skills in English required

- Excellent skills in advocating towards government officials

- Strong skills in developing and implementing advocacy strategies

- Good attention to detail

- Extensive knowledge of child rights and international humanitarian law

- Understanding of UN and donor operations at country level

- High level analytical and strategic thinking skills

- Cultural awareness and ability to build relationships quickly with a wide variety of people

- Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure

- Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities

- Advanced understanding of Protection issues arising from a conflict setting, impact on protected populations, and implications for humanitarian aid agencies

- Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies

- Commitment to Save the Children values

 Desirable

- Experience working for an international humanitarian organization in Lebanon (or the Middle East) preferred

- Proven skills in media work, including interviews on Radio and TV

- Experience with programs, program development, proposal writing, or implementation a plus

- Experience in coordination of various stakeholders a plus

- Experience solving complex issues through analysis

- Capacity in writing and presentation skills in Arabic

- Has a strong international network within advocacy and policy settings

- Understanding of the issues concerning the INGO sector with an in-depth knowledge in communications, marketing and/or fundraising

- Demonstrable track record of leading change, resulting in significant results for the organization and their stakeholders

- Strong results orientation

BEHAVIOURS:

Accountability

- holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values

- holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition

- sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same

- widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others

- future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration

- builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters

- values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength

- approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity

- develops and encourages new and innovative solutions

- willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity

- honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.