Somalia: Humanitarian Advocacy Lead

Oxfam is convinced that people have the power to end poverty. All they need is an opportunity. Oxfam is committed to make sure everyone gets that chance. That is why we support local projects in developing countries, why we lobby governments and companies to listen to the poorest people, and why we campaign to involve both men and women in our work. Oxfam is a confederation of 17 organizations that works together to increase the impact of its long term development and humanitarian responses.

The Country Office in Somaliland is currently recruiting for a

Humanitarian Advocacy Lead

National position

Full time/ 40 hours a week

1 year contract

Based in Hargeisa, Somaliland

Shaping a stronger Oxfam for people living in poverty.

Job Purpose

To lead and develop Oxfam’s humanitarian campaign in Somalia / Somaliland, ensuring a strong integration of policy, advocacy, campaigns (including popular mobilization), media, alliance-building and programming work, maintaining coherence and coordination with the regional and global RiC campaign, and ensuring that the full range of Oxfam’s global campaign capacity is appropriately mobilized to achieve lasting change in relation to Oxfam’s strategic objectives in Somalia.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

· Serve as campaigns & policy manager provide leadership, strategic guidance and supervision for members of the policy, advocacy and media team and the programme.

· Manage the development and implementation of a Somalia campaign strategy in the framework of Oxfam global campaign strategies development, ensuring that the analysis and priorities of programmes and partners consistently informs the process

· Mobilise and manage internal and external financial and other resources to implement agreed advocacy strategies and plans

· Coordinate global delivery of the RiC campaign for Somalia (convening regular and ad hoc calls, managing the campaign calendar, ensuring action points are circulated and followe d up, etc.) Lead, design, co-ordinate and monitor the Oxfam humanitarian policy and advocacy strategies and activities at country, regional and global level in collaboration with Oxfam affiliates and partners;

· Develop approaches to monitoring and evaluation/impact assessment of campaigns work and ensure effective roll-out

· Support the Somalia team in building the influencing capacity of programme teams and partners to carry out policy, advocacy and media work, and lead on ensuring that the RiC Somalia campaign consistently raises the voices of Somali women and men affected by the conflict and humanitarian crisis

· Produce briefing papers, policy positions and public communication materials; where appropriate, directly commission and project-manage the development and delivery of research, policy and advocacy products under the strategy, coordinating the various components including popular mobilization and media

· Provide structured feedback from the Rights in Crisis Campaign Management Team to the Somalia policy and media team and the Humanitarian Country Team and vice versa

· Ensure that the Somalia RiC campaign links and shares information with other focus countries of the RiC Campaign (i.e. Afghanistan, DRC, South Sudan), through the Africa campaign and with other global campaigns, with regional drought advocacy and campaign work, and across affiliates

· Develop and contribute to joint campaigns and advocacy efforts before, during and after a crisis, and in line with Oxfam agreed standards and the RIC campaign framework with potentially global impact;

· Ensure that gender analysis and a commitment to achieving gender justice is applied across all levels of planning and delivery

· Support the drought response team and other programme managers as necessary to integrate advocacy into their programme interventions, in liaison with the relevant global/regional campaign leads

· Carry out other relevant tasks as directed by the Country Director

Technical Skills, Experience & Knowledge

Essential

· Strong advocacy background, with experience of leading teams and processes, ideally across an international organisation

· Demonstrable experience of working in complex, high paced environments and ability to work under pressure

· Significant experience of policy and campaigns, preferably in developing countries, and demonstrable understanding of the ways media, social networking, alliance building and lobby work can be used effectively in combination

· Excellent analytical ability – proven experience of conducting policy, power and stakeholder analysis– and verbal and written communication skills

· Proven experience of commissioning and managing research conducted by others

· Sound understanding of international economic, social development and poverty issues

· Excellent writing skills and proven capacity to develop position papers, articles and policy notes.

· High level of networking skills – prior experience of alliance building with other organisations on humanitarian and development issues

· Sensitivity to challenging political contexts and understanding of risk management processes

· Diplomacy, tact and negotiation skills

· Highly motivated, self-starter able to lead a process, engage others and create ownership

· An understanding of gender and the ability to apply this within policy and advocacy work

Desirable

· Understanding of Oxfam International structure and campaign model

· Practical understanding of themes such as the politicisation of aid in fragile states, the challenges facing the international humanitarian aid system, and safeguarding of humanitarian space

· Practical experience of risk management in campaigning

· Understanding of Somalia / Somaliland and recent global policy dynamics

Application procedure

Please send your application to Somaliajobs@oxfamnovib.nl and include your motivation letter and CV. Your application must be received by Thursday 24th August 2017 at the latest. Only shortlisted candidates shall be contacted.

Female applicants are encouraged to apply.