Advocacy and Policy Coordinator at Save the Children

ROLE PURPOSE

The post holder will work closely with County and Sub County Health Management Teams, Department of children services, Ministry of education, child rights networks among others strategic actors with the scope of the role including development and implementation of a county advocacy plan focused children’s health and survival; child development and protection. The position holder will also be responsible for identifying targets and using learning to influence policy formulation/policy change/policy implementation; developing a research agenda to advance learning and policy on issues affecting children and local communities; packaging information/research findings and developing appropriate communication channels for dissemination of information/research findings; project documentation and dissemination;  capacity building, learning and knowledge management.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Strategy development and implementation

1. The Advocacy Coordinator will provide leadership in advocacy, learning and policy support to the area office on Health and Nutrition, Education, Emergency response and Child Protection/Public Investment in Children and ensure there is a coherent process linking the county and national level advocacy efforts besides leading budget advocacy work generally.
2. Maintain an in-depth understanding of key budgetary cycle moments, law and policy reform initiatives at the County level.
3. Ensures that all advocacy messages and documents are evidence-based and of high quality.
4. In close collaboration with health and Child protection teams, the Head of Advocacy, Head of Health & Nutrition, Child Protection & Education TS, Communication Manager, develop and implement county advocacy strategies that will seek to draw synergies in integration.
5. Develop and implement relevant context specific strategies for effective child participation within the advocacy activities in collaboration with the field office teams and relevant staff at the country office.
6. Support Programme Manager in identifying policy and practice change, which would promote and protect access to better health and nutrition, education and protection of children.
7. Support budget advocacy and budget tracking to improve revenue generation and public investment in children for child welfare interventions at county level in collaboration with other CSOs.
8. Ensure all SCI staff, Volunteers and partners at the field level understand role of advocacy in programming and are able to complement ongoing advocacy efforts.

Advocacy and Communications

1. Lead the county level monitoring and evaluation of advocacy-related objectives, mapping of key opportunities and events, organisation of Save the Children ‘moments’ and events.
2. Linking to international process and in collaboration with field office staff and technical specialists oversee the development of advocacy materials including policy briefs, position papers, press releases, Questions and answers and opinion pieces for county and national advocacy.
3. Develop good knowledge of county government structure, political processes and key decision making structures and how to influence them on key priority issues.
4. Conduct power mapping to identify and engage key influencers in the County for increased resource mobilization and allocation to child survival interventions.
5. Support County Officials in developing emergency contingency plans in case of eventualities, including through the use of household economy analysis(HEA) Baseline and Response Analysis information
6. Lead the production and/or contribute to the development and dissemination of policy briefs/IEC fact sheets and county profiles to get health and nutrition, education, protection and child participation priorities to the policy agenda at the county levels.
7. Build systems for research, analysis and documentation that underpin evidence based advocacy and influencing at county level.

Building Partnerships

1. Identify local networks and coalitions and develop sustained partnerships/ alliances that are critical in the dissemination and/or application of research findings and/or learning to influence the policy and practice landscape. This includes representing Save the Children at strategic forums, networking with strategic CSOs and other social movement processes that are relevant to Save the Children’s policy work.
2. Support area offices to build partnerships with communities and programme beneficiaries in establishing accountability mechanisms, capacity building and knowledge management.
3. Support the capacity building of programme and field staff and key partners on advocacy through training, sharing best practices and supporting learning and knowledge management.

Programme Development & Management

1. Participate in proposal development processes, in particular liaising with relevant Technical Specialists and programme staff to ensure that advocacy approaches are integrated within and contribute to the achievement of project results and objectives and that sufficient funds are budgeted for implementation.
2. Participate in Save the Children programme meetings and related sessions to draw out research-based advocacy messages in programmes.  Keep abreast of current research, national and donor policies and debates in Kenya, relevant to advocacy for nutrition.
3. In collaboration with programme managers, monitor and evaluate child survival, protection, and education and advocacy activities within budgets, ensuring that indicators and methods are in place to allow evaluation of the achievements and develop regular reports on progress.
4. Post holders will also contribute heavily to the design, development, implementation and dissemination of any health and nutrition, Child Protection and Disaster risk reduction related research.

Contract Duration: 10 Months

Number of Vacancies: 1

Work Location: Nairobi (60%) & Turkana (40%)

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential

1. A degree in Political Science, Governance, Community Development, Law, Public Policy, International Development or any related social science.
2. At least 5 years of experience in advocacy work, as well as contributing to the development and implementation of advocacy strategies.
3. Experience working within Kenya Health and nutrition, education, protection system and emergency context is an added advantage.
4. Highly knowledgeable on Child Rights Governance including; Public Investment in Children
5. Excellent understanding of Kenya’s budget cycle (both at county and national level) and moments.
6. An understanding of policy and legislative development processes at both national and county levels.
7. Superior written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex arguments into accessible English for a non-specialist audience, and the ability to write articles that would be published in the mainstream press.
8. Knowledge of the devolution processes and its impact on SCI area of focus.  
9. Excellent verbal communication skills, appropriate for high-level external representation (for example lobbying county governors, ministers, MCAs).
10. Experience of developing advocacy strategies, knowledge and understanding of a range of advocacy techniques.
11. Experience of effective team work and outstanding inter-personal communication skills.
12. Experience of coalition building and working with civil society actors to deliver change.
13. Excellent understanding of Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030, policy and legal provisions in support of child survival.
14. Fluency in spoken and written English and Kiswahili
15. Commitment to Save the Children’s mission and values
16. Qualified candidate from Turkana county are encouraged to apply.
17. Commitment to Save the Children’s aims, values and principles including willingness to abide by and enforce the Child Safeguarding policy.

Desirable

1. Master’s degree in desired field will be added advantage.
2. Experience and training on policy and advocacy.
3. Ability to analyse and track County budgets.
4. Good knowledge of the nutrition and health, protection and education fields, including the work of academic/research contacts, NGOs, UN agencies
5. Good presentation and persuasion skills.
6. Experience of policy research, having written and published policy reports and briefings and evaluating evidence of their impact