Policy Engagement Manager at African Population And Health Research Center (APHRC)

Duties and Responsibilities

The ideal candidates for these roles are dynamic leaders, comfortable working with cross-functional teams and collaborating with colleagues from diverse technical backgrounds. The Policy Engagement Managers will be primarily responsible for leading thematic-based strategic policy engagement efforts using either the Center’ signature issues approach (2 positions) or traditional policy engagement approaches (1 position). Specifically, the incumbents will:

• Institute a strategic approach to policy engagement across the Center. Develop and implement strategic policy engagement plans for selected programmatic areas.
• Conduct policy landscaping and mapping to identify opportunities for engagement in line with the Center’s research priorities.
• Provide technical input into the conceptualization of research-to-policy ideas and actively infuse these ideas into grant applications.
• Lead the implementation of research-to-policy activities in funded projects underpinned by strategic policy engagement plans.
• Ensure fidelity to strategic policy engagement plans in designing new projects within assigned research units.
• Ensure policy engagement activities are adequately resourced by overseeing budgeting during grant applications, forecasting resource needs and submitting timely requests for necessary resources.
• Leverage national, regional, and international networks to facilitate strategic policy engagement by the Center’s researchers.
• Identify networking and engagement opportunities with relevant audiences at all levels and coordinate relationship-building for researchers and policymakers in relevant international, regional and national forums.
• Produce policy outlook papers to support research projects addressing wider policy-relevant research questions.
• Develop and deliver policy engagement training for research and research-related capacity-strengthening programs.
• Facilitate learning and knowledge sharing, producing learning materials for continuous improvement and adoption of lessons learned from cross-cutting collaboration.
• Supervise a team of early career policy engagement and communications professionals.
• Perform any other duties as required for the role.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

• Master’s degree in Development Communications, Journalism, Public Policy, Public Health, Public Administration, Politics, International Relations, Social Sciences, or other relevant fields.
• At least twelve (12) years of post-qualification work experience in communication, writing, policy analysis, landscaping, and mapping, preferably at an international or research organization.
• Demonstrable track record in policy engagement, including landscaping, mapping, and trend analysis.
• Knowledge of policy-making processes and experience working with policymakers and government officials.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex scientific facts into accessible messages for general audiences, make strong presentations, briefings, and produce high-quality written reports for various audiences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Excellent existing network of contacts at the national and international levels.
• Experience in policy engagement, knowledge translation, research and science communications, advocacy. Demonstrated experience in policy engagement or advocacy in any of APHRC’s priority programmatic areas will be an added advantage.
• Understanding of research to policy frameworks and experience in applying them.
• Experience in strategy development, project design, budgeting, and resource allocation. Demonstrated experience in grant writing will be an added advantage.
• Knowledge of or experience in research-to-policy organizations and processes is preferable.
• Knowledge of project management methodologies, and experience applying them to complex projects. Demonstrated ability to work independently and simultaneously coordinate multiple projects will be an added advantage.
• Excellent leadership and team management skills, with the demonstrated ability to foster a culture of teamwork and collaboration.

When submitting applications, please attach your CV and cover letter in one PDF document and put links to your work on the cover letter.

A portfolio of 3-5 samples of relevant written work must accompany every application. Those applications that do not include writing samples will not be considered.

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply and include their letter of application, portfolio of their work, and CV through this link by October 15, 2023.  Only short-listed candidates will be contacted and will be required to submit a Police Clearance Certificate at a certain stage of the recruitment process.