Apply: Tearfund Regional Advocacy Advisor

By Gift Ejeh Ojima
July 17, 2024

Deadline: 24 July, 2024

Location: West Africa

Tearfund is seeking to fill the position of Regional Advocacy Advisor, West Africa.

Tearfund is a Christian organisation partnering with the local church wherever possible to see change in the lives of those in greatest economic need.

Responsibilities

Work with countries to develop and review all the country’s strategies to ensure that advocacy is prioritised, implemented and measured in line with Tearfund corporate strategy and good practice
Work with countries to conduct stakeholder analyses and develop a stakeholder engagement plan for the achievement of the countries’ strategies
Develop a regional advocacy strategy as an enabler for the achievement of country strategy outcomes
Explore and implement inter-regional advocacy initiatives for West Africa/ECA/SEA and Pan-African collaboration on campaigns and engaging the African Union (AU)
Contribute to the proposal development processes in the regions by providing technical input and quality assurance during the assessment and design processes
Contribute to fundraising processes that emerge from Tearfund’s strategic and action plans
Contribute to IT systems development that will grow the effectiveness of Tearfund’s advocacy and movement building
Conduct desk-based research on policy and practice issues in the region
Engage local movements, community groups and partners on priority issues on an ongoing basis in order to allow a bottom up setting of the policy and practice agenda
Identify, leverage, monitor, and maintain an overview of needs and opportunities for advocacy issues
Identify advocacy channels to be used for the achievement of advocacy objectives
Develop, carry out, and monitor advocacy strategies for agreed priority themes
Monitor the public policy, development and humanitarian environment across the region, providing briefing papers, and analysis, and recommending appropriate public policy responses
Document, record and disseminate lessons learnt from advocacy initiatives implemented by staff, partners, and other organisations, and share this learning with staff across Tearfund
Represent Tearfund in external advocacy engagements and distil learning from the engagements to the country teams
Manage key relationships with churches and decision makers
Work with the DMEAL teams in the countries and at the region to mine data to inform advocacy efforts
Work with the regional thematic and communication staff to develop advocacy products and curate content for advocacy messaging
In close collaboration with the Regional Communication Officer, advise on any media work or campaigns that include policy messages and have advocacy objectives
Help develop the voices of activists and church leaders, providing them with platforms to influence policy and practices
Discern and communicate narratives, with local allies and partners, that can unite action and influence thinking in the public square
Represent Tearfund at relevant interagency technical and coordination network

Requirements

Graduate degree or equivalent, preferably related to Development or Humanitarian Studies, Advocacy, Policy or International Relations
Experience in liaising with policy-making organisations
Good knowledge of movement building
Good understanding of development issues and international relations
Understanding of the role of public policy in development
Understanding of policy reforms in the African French-speaking countries
Eight years, minimum, of proven knowledge and experience in advocacy, this could be within the NGO sector, government, or churches
Experience in policy knowledge and research
Experience in writing reports and policy briefings
Experience in strategy plans and formulation
Experience working in coalitions
Strong networking skills
English proficiency
Ability to write reports and policy briefs
Ability to research and analyse information
Ability to be flexible and to cope with changing priorities and plans
Ability to articulate issues using evidence compellingly
People developer and motivator
Humanitarian motivation
Emotionally and spiritually mature
Influential, diplomatic, assertive, has tact and determined
Willingness to travel and live in basic and potentially insecure conditions
Concern for the poor and commitment to social justice
Ability to lead group times of biblical reflection, worship and prayer
Strong team player
Understanding and sensitivity to cross-cultural issues
Flexible and adaptable to ever-changing environments