Advocacy Manager at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

• The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is seeking a strategic, partnership-oriented advocate who connects humanitarian response to durable solutions, helping to enable local Nigerian civil society in their efforts to shape the policies that serve those affected by displacement. displaced communities. The Advocacy Manager provides overall leadership, management, and strategic direction to NRC’s policy, communications, and advocacy work in Nigeria. The post-holder should be a strategic thinker with the ability to collaboratively design advocacy strategies that bring together NRC’s programmatic evidence and partners’ priorities. The Advocacy Manager is responsible for ensuring that NRC’s advocacy is informed by and by the priorities and expertise of NRC’s partners, evidence from NRC’s Programmes, by NorCap expertise, and by IDMC research. 

What you will do

• Identify and coordinate NRC’s advocacy response to prioritised issues both within the country and internationally.
• Develop and implement country-specific advocacy and communication strategy, aligned to overall country strategy. This includes ensuring linkages and coherence between programmes and advocacy by working closely with programme staff to integrate advocacy into programme planning and implementation.
• Provide high quality protection analysis on key humanitarian and displacement trends and prepare evidenced-based policy briefing papers, policy position statements and other public-facing advocacy products when strategic and relevant.
• Develop strong, collaborative relationships with NRC brands and partners to understand their priorities and initiatives and identify opportunities for joint action and co-designed influencing efforts. The aim is to strengthen locally led advocacy through joint agenda-setting, analysis, and collective influencing.
• Advise on advocacy and policy lines and strategy for influence, ensuring potential risks associated with NRC’s positions are assessed and sign-off procedures are adhered to.

What you will bring

• Bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences, Journalism, Law, Human Rights, Public Communications, English, or any other relevant field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience working in advocacy in the humanitarian context and/or development or human rights. 
• Professional knowledge of humanitarian and protection principles.
• Experience in partnership-based programmes and with Nigerian civil society organisations.
• Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts.
• Communications and media skills, including internal communications and communicating with communities.
• Experience planning and overseeing joint advocacy or strategic initiatives with partner organisations or coalitions.
• Experience in managing a team and working within senior country management teams. 
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal, and fluency in one or more languages spoken in Nigeria is an advantage.
• Knowledge of the context in Nigeria
• Knowledge of civil society networks and protection and legal issues in Nigeria
• Experience with humanitarian protection programmes and humanitarian policy and advocacy
• Strong writing skills and analytical skills, preferably with a history of writing communications materials, and ability to produce quality advocacy work within tight deadlines.
• Excellent teamwork and collaboration skills, with experience working closely with programme teams, local partners, technical experts, and management.
• Strong organizational and personal management skills, with ability to priorities work issues to meet deadlines.
• Ability to work creatively, effectively and in an innovative manner and to identify and develop new ways to use advocacy and media to amplify partners’ work and NRC priorities.  
• Excellent networking and negotiation skills to develop good working relationships.