Advocacy Coordinator

Contract

This is a DRC - Expatriate or National contract. More about DRC - Expatriate or National contracts.

This is a DRC - National contract. More about DRC - National contracts.

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has been operating in Ukraine since 2014 and is currently scaling up its operation in Ukraine to deliver lifesaving assistance and emergency response to people affected by the war.

The Advocacy Coordinator will be responsible for engaging key stakeholders to work on a diverse range of policy issues that impact the effectiveness of humanitarian programmes in support of the most vulnerable populations in Ukraine. Accordingly, the Advocacy Coordinator will guide DRC’s strategic positioning, technical policy development and implementation of advocacy work in Ukraine.

Under the supervision of the Country Director, the Advocacy Coordinator will be responsible for writing and implementing DRC Ukraine’s advocacy strategy and to further develop DRC Ukraine’s advocacy work. The Advocacy Coordinator works closely with DRC’s regional and global advocacy teams as well as with the country office’s communication team.

Main Responsibilities:

Strategic Advocacy

• Through engagement with DRC programme teams, advocacy staff, and key external stakeholders, develop an advocacy vision for DRC based on evidence from programmes and identified areas where DRC has added value. Build this vision into a country advocacy strategy, and hold leadership of delivery of the strategy.
• Ensure that all advocacy strategies, documents and messages, are evidence-based, drawn from field experience and assessments, of high quality, targeted, timely and effective.
• Ensure advocacy coherence and reinforce effective synergies between programmes and advocacy by working closely with programme staff to integrate advocacy into programme planning and implementation.
• Create contextual updates and crisis info documents, detailing the current context, protection concerns, and regulatory situations
• Develop and update talking points, top-line messages, briefing papers, advocacy reports and other advocacy asks for the DRC country program
• Suggest DRC positions on policies, practice, and framework of UN, donor governments, and/or the Government of Ukraine in its relation to the response, including in relation to emergency context and durable solutions.
• Support ongoing stakeholder mapping
• Participate in and support the relevant working groups of the Ukraine based NGO forum, including supporting the planning and drafting of relevant inter-agency products such as key messaging, public statements, high profile letters, briefings etc.
• Remain up to date on key issues at the national and regional level, through engagement with relevant stakeholders
• Alert the SMT, and the Regional Advocacy Coordinator, to relevant policy developments and provide analysis and input for various inter-agency meetings.
• Support programme leadership to articulate priority advocacy objectives as well as developing messaging on key issues within clusters, working groups, and area-specific forums.
• Support programme staff in incorporating and integrating advocacy into all aspects of DRC’s programme activities, strategy and budgeting.
• Contribute to the DRC’s global and regional advocacy strategies and initiatives, ensuring that the DRC Ukraine specificities are reflected and captured.
• Participate in, and conduct research to prepare for global advocacy joint calls on Ukraine and provide information and advocacy messages relating to the Ukraine humanitarian crisis.
• In collaboration with the MEAL unit, develop indicators and a framework as part of the advocacy strategy for measuring the effectiveness and impact of advocacy messaging

Representation & Communication

• Liaise with key UN, NGO and other interlocutors in country to ensure DRC has up to date information on the humanitarian situation and response in the region.
• Engage with the region and HQ on shared advocacy messaging
• Support in developing messaging for and actions around key national policy responses and frameworks, as well as other factors such as UN coordination, protection concerns, funding for the response, security and current and future challenges that have an impact on displaced populations and their access to humanitarian assistance and protection services;
• Build networks of key informants and stakeholders in country
• Represent DRC in advocacy-related and (as relevant) regional fora related to advocacy or as otherwise delegated by the CD, including the Advocacy Working Group.
• Support meaningful and safe participation of affected populations in DRC’s advocacy.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Coordinates and supervises the daily activities of the advocacy team
• Contribute to recruitment, capacity building, and performance appraisal of members of the team

Experience and technical competencies:

• At least 3-5 years' experience working in advocacy on humanitarian issues, refugee rights, human rights, and/or development issues.
• Experience of influencing and advocacy work including lobbying, policy development and information provision in humanitarian issues.
• Experience of advocating in various contexts of large scale, complex international conflicts and displacement crisis.
• Extensive knowledge about DRC’s Core Sectors (Protection, HDP, Shelter).
• Excellent skills in advocating towards government stakeholders in the UN’s Humanitarian Aid Architecture, including UN and donor operations at country and regional level.
• Excellent skills in advocating towards government officials.
• Experience of and strong skills in developing and implementing humanitarian advocacy strategies.
• Knowledge of human rights, international humanitarian law, rights-based programming, and protection principles
• Understanding of political and humanitarian context in the region and/or in Ukraine
• Demonstrated experience in context analysis

Education:

Bachelors degree in human rights, social sciences, media, or related discipline is compulsory. Advanced degree such as Masters or a combination of disciplines, is advantageous.

Full proficiency in spoken and written English.

Ukrainian or Russian is considered an asset.

Key stakeholders:

• DRC Ukraine’s Senior Management Team
• DRC Ukraine Programme teams
• DRC Ukraine Advocacy Specialist
• DRC Ukraine’s Communication Team
• DRC Europe Regional Advocacy Coordinator
• DRC Representation offices in Brussels and Geneva
• DRC Global Advocacy Press and External Relations Secretariate
• National and International NGOs
• Local authorities
• Donors and representatives of stakeholder states

We offer

Contract length: 12 months

Band: F – NON-Manager

Designation of Duty Station: Kyiv / Non-family duty station

Start date: February 2023

Salary and other conditions are offered in accordance with DRC’s Terms of Employment for international staff or DRC National Staff salary scale.

Application process

All applicants must upload a cover letter and an updated CV (no longer than four pages) in English. A****pplications sent by email will not be considered.

Closing date for applications: 13 January 2023