Advocacy and Communication Coordinator at Save The Children

Job ID: 21000529
Employee Status: Fixed Term
Grade: 3
Team: Nigeria Country Office
Post Type: National
Reports to: State Team Leader
Staff directly reporting to this post: None
Technical Support from: Senior Policy and Advocacy Specialist

Child Safeguarding

• Level 3- The responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with children or young people and, in the overseas context all posts are considered to be level 3 posts in view of potential situations which may allow staff unsupervised access to vulnerable children and young people.

Role Purpose

• Enhanced state level engagement in social protection led to increased capacity of state and local government stakeholders to design implement and expand cost-effective, inclusive and accountable social protection systems
• The objective of this assignment is to develop and build government commitment and investment in social protection through effective Advocacy and communications and capacity building effort at National and Sub National Levels.
• In the discharge of this role, the officer will also work with and build the capacity of civil society to advocate for inclusive, effective, sustainable and impactful social protection services.

Key Areas of Accountability

• The Advocacy coordinator will be responsible for providing strategic Advocacy and Communications technical and program guidance to the Child Development grant programme (CDGP) specifically at the state level.
• Achieving programme outputs, activities, deliverables and expected results within budget, agreed timeframe and to the highest standards.
• Contribute to key Programme planning, coordination and reporting activities.
• Support policy dialogue and a successful record of accomplishment in advocacy and strategies for influencing policy decision-makers on social protection.
• Experience building capacity of government counterparts, mentoring and training.
• Facilitate public relations, crisis communications/issue management, and collaborates with the Program Partnerships team on donor and partner communications and community relations.
• Contribute to all efforts to raise/nurture CSOs and champions for the programme at the state level if need arise.
• Produce reports, briefing papers and presentations for internal and external audiences, as directed.
• Undertake a range of lobbying, communications and other activities to inform and persuade policy makers, including donors and politicians, of the value of financing for social protection.
• Support the Communications and Advocacy Coordinator in coordinating the development of communications materials and participate in their review and comment on print and electronic media materials including scripts, posters, leaflets, video/audio recordings
• Link with other organisations present in the area for coordination and sharing lessons learned.
• Develop good knowledge of state government structures, parliamentary and political processes and key decision making structures and how to influence them.
• Prepare a monthly plan or field activities
• Identify the problems in the implementation process and propose solutions
• Evaluate regularly the impact of the activities and propose changes for improvement
• Produce case studies related to programme implementation at least one per quarter or as per line manager’s request
• Support development and implementation of programme advocacy and communication plans
• Engage with and strengthen capacity of media organisations and journalist to report social protection
• Produce lessons learnt from the set-up of CDGP in knowledge products such as occasional papers.
• Support knowledge management and thought leadership in CDGP through identification of methodologies and systematization of approaches and provide support for production and dissemination via appropriate channels.
• Support development, structuring, and occasional implementation of strategic partnerships
• Source, validate and prioritize incoming government demands through a collaborative, consultative process
• Conduct research to inform and shape the effort(s) within policy consolidation and translation and best practices

Additional Job Responsibilities

• The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Skills And Behaviours (Our Values in Practice)
Accountability:

• Accuracy and timeliness in all areas of responsibility
• High level of accuracy in work, and ability to analyse complex sets of relationships and situations
• Holds self and others accountable

Ambition:

• Future-orientated, thinks pro-actively

Collaboration:

• Working effectively with stakeholders to achieve common goals
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Designing more effective admin systems
• Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency, demonstrates highest levels of integrity.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in the Social Sciences, such as Economics, Geography, Development Studies, Rural Development / Sociology or other related fields.
• Any training on Advocacy and Communication, social protection will be an added advantage

Kills & Experience
Administrative & General Skills:

• At least 3 years of experience in advocacy and policy engagement
• Previous experience with other local and international NGOs  
• Experience in Social protection and engaging Government
• Should have strong collaboration and networking skills.
• Experience using Political Economy Analysis (PEA) that informs on-going program iteration
• Computer literacy (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint)
• Fluency in English and Hausa, spoken and written
• Ability to work in partnership with government and other NGO staff
• Good interpersonal skills
• Ability to work within a team setting
• Independence, adaptability and flexibility
• Excellent comunicación skills

Working Conditions:

• Ability and willingness to travel to projects and stay in basic conditions when necessary

Health and Safety:

• The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

• We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.