Senior Advisor - Communication, Advocacy and Networking

CARE is an international NGO with local staff and community partners in more than 90 countries. We create local solutions to poverty and inequality, and we seek dignity for everyone every day and during times of crisis. These solutions have a broad range, from clean water to access to education; from microfinance to ensuring that everyone has nutritious food; from agriculture and climate change to disaster response. CARE puts women and girls at the center of everything we do because they have proven to be the best hope for creating lasting change in the world. Our staff live where they work, which makes us effective at understanding the challenges they face. Weve been doing this for over 70 years since World War II. It started with the worlds first CARE Package of food for post-war hunger in Europe. Our work today is as important as ever, we believe that poverty and inequality are historic injustices that we can end within a generation, for good. If you share our core beliefs: poverty is an injustice; poverty is solvable; and together, we have the power to end it, join us.

JOB SUMMARY:

The purpose of the Communications, Advocacy and Networking Senior Advisor is to lead the development of policy objectives at national and regional levels, oversee networking and partnerships of the Unit, and lead documentation, packaging, and dissemination of lessons from the field. S/he also engages in appropriate policy forums and sector discussions at the national, regional, and local levels contributes key learning and evidence from CARE programs and contributes to organizational visibility. The post holder will also enhance collaboration and partnership with relevant NGO implementing partners, government, and sector stakeholders, contribute to systems strengthening, and improve the exchange of information and best practices between stakeholders including donors. In addition, in collaboration with Head Office and Field Office staff, the post holder will be responsible for leading the development of key program written materials, including relevant briefs describing key learning and sector recommendations. The incumbent will work closely with Project and Program Managers, support in facilitating training and capacity building, report writing, and new proposal developments. The post holder will also work closely with the CARE Program Quality and Learning team.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS:

Job Responsibility #1: Communication and Advocacy (40%)

• Develop/revise and implement a policy and communications strategy for the Food and Water Systems (FWS), which includes engagement and representation in National level forums and discussions (e.g. WASH and NTD, MHH, Hygiene, and Environmental Health)
• Work with the FWS team to develop different promotion and advocacy tools that are appropriate for different levels of intervention, including community, government, donor, etc.,
• Identify key learning and evidence from CAREs FWS that can inform policy and practice at national, regional, or zone levels; and analysis of key sector priorities, identification of opportunities for cross-sector collaboration.
• Write policy briefs, position papers, implementation guidelines, awareness-raising documents on different project thematic areas, and documents that describe lessons learned and recommendations for scale, relevant to FWS.
• Work with media, partners, and other networks to disseminate and scale learning and best practices.
• Coordinate/Lead the awareness-raising and demand-creation campaigns on MHH mobilization of influencers, communication events, and actions to promote best practices and support women's empowerment.
• In collaboration with the FWS Coordinator and LDM Manager, develop a learning, policy, and advocacy agenda for CARE Ethiopias broader FWS, including identification of and regular communication with key stakeholders and strategic partners,
• Propose/prepare/design Terms of References/ToRs/, proposals for advocacy and communication procurement activities aligning to policies, donor, project, and CARE requirements.
• Closely monitor and ensure appropriate usage of Donor and CARE brandings by the program unit at all levels of the program implementation.
• Create a capacity development plan for FWS staff focusing on the identification of lessons and evidence, documentation, lobbying, story and report writing.

Job Responsibility #2: Networking, Learning, documentation, and reporting (30%)

• Lead development/review and implementation of strategies for learning, advocacy, communication, and partnerships.
• Facilitate cross-program and cross-geographic learning within FWS and beyond, relevant to key Food and Water + issue areas,
• Organize and facilitate annual government reviews, learning, and benchmarking as relevant.
• Support in networking with and communicating status updates, approaches, and lessons learned from FWS to partners and government stakeholders regularly.
• Keep up to date with the development in the sector and ensure the documentation and dissemination of success stories and lessons learned within the unit, with partners and other stakeholders.
• Support in research, production of research synthesis, and dissemination of findings.
• Support the FWS team during project kick-offs, monitoring, and quality reporting.
• Support in review and polishing of relevant documents such as reports, assessment findings, and human-interest stories.

Job Responsibility #3: Partnership development (15%)

• Contribute to the development of proposals for funding of FWS-related interventions.
• Work with project and program managers to organize and facilitate regular partnership meetings, and donor visits, and ensure proper documentation of such events.
• Actively participate and represent CARE FWS in national and regional key events such as World Water Day, Menstrual Hygiene Day, Global Handwashing Day, and others
• Actively participate and Contribute to Public Private Dialogue (PPD) sessions of the PRCC project as required by different projects of CARE.

Job Responsibility #5: Capacity Building and Systems Strengthening (10%)

• Work closely with the PQL team to assess the capacities of new and existing partners and develop capacity enhancement plans.
• Provide training and support the project staff on communication, learning, and documentation as required by the program unit.
• Support in facilitating capacity development of partners and government stakeholders including training, experience sharing, and documentation of capacity development impacts.
• Work closely with the PQL team to develop partnership phase-out strategies and follow up its implementation.
• Support in handing over completed projects and preparation of completion reports.

Job Responsibility #6: Other (5%)

• Perform other duties as assigned.

GENDER EQUALITY

• Understanding and demonstrated commitment to the importance of gender, youth and social inclusion issues.
• Demonstrated commitment to principles of Gender Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and PSEAH (safeguarding), as evidenced in previous positions / programming

Job Requirements

A)EDUCATION

Required:

• Master's degree in social sciences, journalism, and communications.

Desired

• Good NGO experience preferably in Rural areas and WASH context,
• Language proficiency in written and spoken English.
• Computer literacy in MS Word, Excel, and layout design software
• Excellent interpersonal communication and report writing skills.
• Good facilitation and presentation skills
• Demonstrated technical ability and sound judgment to work effectively with others at all levels.

B)EXPERIENCE

• Five years of previous professional experience in a policy, advocacy, networking, or learning and communication role or an equivalent combination of work, study, and volunteer experience. The experience should include the development and implementation of policy agendas, and research and communications activities.
• Know-how of the opportunities and challenges of FWS development and womens empowerment in Ethiopia
• Demonstrated experience writing reports, policy or learning briefs, or presentations in English.

C) COMPETENCIES

Respect, integrity, diversity, excellence, adaptability, stress tolerance, innovation, building partnership, communicating with impact, coaching, facilitating change, developing teams, information monitoring, planning, and organizing, leading through vision and value.

Firm belief in teamwork, gender equality, sensitivity to HIV/AIDS, transparent and participatory management