Director AU Liaison & Pan-African Advocacy Office

We believe every child deserves a future. Around the world, too many children start life at a disadvantage simply because of who they are and where they come from. Millions of children are dying from preventable causes, and face poverty, violence, disease and hunger. They are caught up in war zones and disasters they did nothing to create. And they are denied an education and other basic rights owed to them.

All children deserve better. We champion the rights and interests of children worldwide, putting the most vulnerable children first.

With 25,000 dedicated staff across 118 countries, we respond to major emergencies, deliver innovative development programmes, and ensure children’s voices are heard through our campaigning to build a better future for and with children.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Addis Ababa is home to the African Union and other regional institutions, such as the UN Economic Commission for Africa, 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 African Union (AU) and other continental and regional institutions is central to our mission and vision and our 2030 ambition to create a world in which all children:

▪ Survive: No child dies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday.

▪ Learn: All children learn from a quality basic education.

▪ Are Protected: Violence against children is no longer tolerated.

Save the Children’s 2022 – 2024 strategy explicitly recognises and emphasizes the significance of advocacy and campaigning as critical to driving lasting change for children. We can achieve significant change for children through the foundation of our direct programming, but we will not change the world one programme at a time. Advocacy and campaign efforts leverage evidence gathered from our partner’s programmes and research to ensure governments invest in children and strengthen their laws, policies and programmes to help secure children’s rights. That is how we achieve impact at scale.

As we work with civil society organisations, social movements, children and young people networks, the media, the public as well as global, continental, regional and national institutions to generate crucial commitments to children, we amplify the results of our work exponentially and far beyond our sphere of control. Engaging and building broad support for our work ensures Save the Children remains a relevant, high-impact organisation that challenges the power structures to stop the marginalisation and deprivation of children.

The Director of Save the Children’s global advocacy office in Addis Ababa will lead our organisational engagement with the AU Commission and delegations, and civil society organisations active in this arena, and will coordinate our Pan-African Advocacy strategy delivery across the continent. He or she will make a key contribution to our global advocacy success in our priority areas, working as an integral member of the Save the Children International team. The role holder will work closely with Save the Children Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns leads in our regional and country offices to deliver on the Pan African Advocacy strategy and to coordinate influencing towards other pan-African institutions based outside of Addis Ababa, such as the African Development Bank, and to ensure that our advocacy in Addis is part of a broader effort to achieve change at both national and regional levels.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

• Advocate for change with key African Union policymakers and decision-makers in line with Save the Children ambition and Global Strategy. Ensure that country-level plans and priorities are brought into Pan-African-level initiatives and vice versa.
• Facilitate and strengthen new advocacy networks and partnerships with influential allies, within the African Union and other regional bodies, and at a high level across the continent, including among civil society, media, donor community, and the private sector, recognise that we cannot achieve the change we want only by ourselves. This will also include strengthened networks with other child-centred AU-focused INGOS.
• Lead the development, resourcing and implementation of Save the Children Pan African Advocacy Strategy working closely with regions and countries to engage and influence the African Union members and bodies, in line with the Global Advocacy Framework and external trends across the continent. Provide strategic insight to wider Save the Children International advocacy efforts, in close coordination with the Africa regional leadership teams. Provide leadership in mobilising and adequately resourcing for the Pan-African agenda in terms of human, financial and other resources. Produce contextual and business intelligence which will guide the broader organisation in its support of the Pan-African agenda. Lead the development of an information management and monitoring and evaluation framework to capture learning and share them effectively across the movement and externally.
• Build profile and credibility for Save the Children, especially on our priority areas and ambition, by playing an active senior representational role in external forums and the media, and being a convincing spokesperson for the organisation. Promote and create interest in the Save the Children movement on the value of the Pan-African work to advance our ambition and deliver on our Global Strategy.
• Lead the African Union team, by providing strong, values-based and mission-driven leadership and creating a high-performing culture, by providing relevant line management support to staff; by managing the budget, and linking closely to the global Policy Advocacy & Campaigns team, advocacy counterparts in Brussels, Geneva and New York, Africa regional and country-level colleagues and Save the Children members.
• Lead Child and Young People safe, consistent, and meaningful participation in processes and events, connecting their voices to the relevant spaces and ensuring they are equipped as active drivers of change.
• Ensure that Save the Children’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded per the principles and requirements including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes but is not limited to, ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and Save the Children Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed following the appropriate procedures.

SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (SCI 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.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, take responsibility for their personal development and encourage their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their 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 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 the highest levels of integrity.

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Education to a Master’s level, with a qualification in international development, international relations, economics, politics, human rights, or a related field is desirable. Education to Bachelor’s degree level is essential.

 EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Proven leadership record of advocacy success, and an ability to conceive and lead the development and implementation of a Policy Advocacy and Campaigns continental strategic plan.
• Proven experience and passion to drive children and young people safe, consistent, strategic and meaningful participation in policy, advocacy and campaigning processes and initiatives.
• Experience in creating high-level networks, building partnerships and forging coalitions of like-minded to achieve policy change, and an ability to manage diverse professional relationships, securing new influencing opportunities for the organisation.
• Proven ability to speak and communicate effectively in the media, public forums and other settings, and to tailor messages to different audiences.
• Experience in solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy-in.
• Ability to marshal and distil large amounts of information, manage multiple tasks and competing demands, be agile and able to identify new opportunities.
• Demonstrated understanding of development, human rights, and humanitarian issues.
• Knowledge and understanding of the AU system, and its role in development, human rights and humanitarian issues.
• Ability to work in both English and French is essential. Other regional languages – Portuguese, Arabic or Swahili – are an advantage.
• Experience in successfully operating in an international environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
• Commitment to Save the Children’s values.
• Willingness to travel in the region and more widely.

OTHER DETAILS

Reports to: Global Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Executive Director

Staff reporting to this post: Senior Advisor – Humanitarian and Education Advocacy, Senior Advisor – Child Rights Advocacy, Office Manager, Finance Manager and Media and communications Officer role.

Key internal relationships: Save the Children Africa regional directors and regional Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns leads; Save the Children African Country Offices and Members; Global Policy, Advocacy & Campaigns Team and Steering Group; Global PQI Directors; Global Resource Mobilisation, Communication and Engagement Team; other Save the Children global advocacy offices in, Geneva and New York as well as Save Europe in Brussels.

Budget Responsibilities:  1,500,000.00 per year with a significant potential to grow in line with Save the Children ambition.

APPOINTMENT DETAILS

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Contract length: Open-ended

Salary and Benefits: International package

HOW TO APPLY

Closing date: 21^st January 2024.

To apply please click ‘apply for job’

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