Internal/ External Vacancy Announcement
INTRODUCTION
Save the Children has a small global advocacy office in Addis Ababa (alongside offices in Brussels, Geneva and New York) that is registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the name of “Pan African Office”. The office has responsibility for (i) engaging with international and regional institutions such as the African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and (ii) providing support to Save the Children programmes across the African continent. The office also hosts a number of technical advisors who are focused on a full sub-Saharan Africa portfolio.
Save the Children is an organization for talented people with different backgrounds and perspectives. We are proud that our people are representative of the children we work with and we thrive on our diversity. We are an equal opportunity organization dedicated to our core values of Accountability, Ambition, Collaboration, Creativity and Integrity. Our culture is embedded in these values, along with a strong commitment to our Child Safeguarding Protocol, ensuring that all representatives of Save the Children demonstrate the highest standards of behavior towards children both in their private and professional lives.
Save the Children offers sound employment conditions with opportunities for personal growth and development. If you are interested to work in an organization that is determined to achieve dramatic change for the most vulnerable children, we encourage you to look through the job profile below.
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Job Title | Advocacy Officer, Humanitarian and Education |
Code | 003/2018 |
Place of Work | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
Program/Unit | Global Advocacy Offices |
Grade | Project officer |
Monthly Salary | Based on the organization scale |
Length of Contract | 9 months |
No. of Position | 1(one) |
Job Summary:
The Officer will contribute to influencing work in the African Union (AU) focussing on the areas of migration and refugee education for children affected by humanitarian situations in Africa- supporting the Advocacy Advisor in engaging widely with the AU Commission and delegations, and civil society organisations in this arena. He or she will make a key contribution to SCI PAO Pan Africa and AU advocacy success in the thematic area of humanitarian and education, especially SCI’s breakthrough of ensuring that children in humanitarian crises have access to a quality education.
ROLE PURPOSE:
The Officer will contribute to influencing work in the African Union (AU) focussing on the areas of migration and refugee education for children affected by humanitarian situations in Africa- supporting the Advocacy Advisor in engaging widely with the AU Commission and delegations, and civil society organisations in this arena. He or she will make a key contribution to SCI PAO Pan Africa and AU advocacy success in the thematic area of humanitarian and education, especially SCI’s breakthrough of ensuring that children in humanitarian crises have access to a quality education.
SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Advocacy Advisor, Humanitarian and Education
Staff directly reporting to this post: None
Key internal relationships: Advocacy Office Director, Child Rights Governance Advisor, Civic Engagement Officer and Advocacy Interns in SCI PAO; Refugee Working Group; Advocacy and Child Protection and Humanitarian and Education staff in regional and country offices in Africa;
Role Dimensions: Addis Ababa is home to the African Union and other regional institutions that play a critical role in shaping African children’s lives and helping to ensure their rights are fulfilled. Save the Children’s ability to engage and influence the AU is central to our aim of creating lasting positive change for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children. The post holder will therefore contribute to working effectively with AU Departments of Political Affairs and Human Resources Science and Technology, targeting relevant institutions and bodies in the AU to influence decision making that enhances better protection of the rights to education of children in humanitarian settings, especially those affected by refugee situations in Africa.
This is an externally facing role, with responsibility for contributing to advocacy on politically sensitive set of issues, requiring excellent judgement, strategic sense, content on the issues, strong external networks and an ability to be agile and manage a demanding and varied workload. Most of this advocacy will need to be done in conjunction with advocacy at the national level in the region; in donor capitals and at the UN – requiring very close collaboration with other parts of Save the Children, including the Refugee Working Group, Child Protection and Humanitarian and Education programme colleagues in Africa and Globally.
The role includes developing an AU and Pan Africa annual advocacy work plans and messaging for AU events and used in Save the Children International Offices and other civil society organisations(CSOs) working at country level in providing education for refugee children and those migrating and/or in transition.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
INTERNAL
1. Pan Africa / AU Liaison Office
a. Work plan development and implementation
With guidance from the Advocacy Advisor;
Lead the development and implementation of 6-monthly Advocacy Work Plans on Refugee Education, Children on the Move(CoM) and Migration advocacy inspired by;
- Save the Children Centenary agenda on Children in Conflict in Africa. In particular, prioritise the refugee education for children in refugee host countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Sudan and Zambia.
Design advocacy tactics and actions for engaging bilaterally or collectively with, in particular AU missions who have made commitments on providing refugee education at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul and UN General Assemblies on refugees.
-AU’s Political Affairs Department-OCHA Project 2019 Agenda. SCI PAO is a member of organisations developing the 2019 AU Summit agenda on refugees, migrants and IDPs- an opportunity for influencing the Summit decisions on providing timely, inclusive and quality education for refugee children in Africa.
-The Common African Position on Migration, Refugees and IDPs inspired by the Kampala Convention, AU’s Humanitarian Architecture and the Global Compact on Migration, Refugees and IDPs.
b. Mapping opportunities and engagements
Lead the mapping opportunities and advising on tactics and actions at the following levels:
- AU, Regional and National levels and develop action plans and influencing plans for prioritising refugees in targeted countries.
- Regional level economic blocks including IGAD, ECCAS, SADC, and ECOWAS as well as civil society organisations working with them to prioritize education for children affected by humanitarian situations on the continent.
c. Deriving internal synergy
Establish mutually supportive relationships with the Child Rights Governance and Civic Engagement functions in SCI PAO.As well as producing ongoing progress reports on monthly and quarterly basis, you will plan to meet regularly either virtually or face to face partners to coordinate activity and to contribute to engagement plans.
3. West/Central, East Africa and Southern Africa Regions
Building relationships with the Regional Advocacy key contacts to enable Country-
Office-Regional Office–Continental level advocacy engagements
4.Refugee Education Working Group
Engage with the group for information sharing and technical support by participating in the fortnight meetings and/or through engaging individual members.
EXTERNAL
3. Advocacy at the Africa Union
a) Engaging with the Department of Political Affairs(DPA)
-Promote a closer collaboration between the SCI PAO and the Political Affairs Department through engagements with the Project 2019 of the AUC, especially in the prioritisation of a timely, inclusive and quality education for refugee children as an AU Summit agenda in January 2019.Establish a working a relationship with the with the Steering Committee led by DPA and OCHA.
-Establish a working relationship with the Humanitarian Division of the DPA. Proactively identify the departments’ calendar of events to position SCI PAO to engage.
b) Engaging with the Specialised Technical Committee(STC) on Refugees, Migration and IDPs
-Proactively identify members of the STC and their calendar of events for the purposes of lobbying for agenda setting and accountability for refugee children education.
4. Collaboration with NGOs/CSOs working with the AU
Attend meetings of the Child Focused Agencies and contribute to agenda setting and engagements with the AU Commission; ensuring that relationships with other CSOs re-enforces partnerships at local-national-RECs levels, if possible.
SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)
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
· Creates a managerial environment to lead, enable and maintain our culture of child safeguarding
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
· Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale
Collaboration:
· Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to; builds and maintains effective relationships with colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
· Values diversity and different people’s perspectives, able to work cross-culturally.
Creativity:
· Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
· Cuts away bureaucracy and encourages an entrepreneurial approach
Integrity:
· Honest, encourages openness and transparency, builds trust and confidence
Displays consistent excellent judgement
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE