Advocacy Manager

Support humanitarian policy analysis and advocacy for children's rights in Afghanistan.

Application deadline in 9 days: Thursday 4 Jun 2026 at 19:30 UTC

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Overview

Support humanitarian policy analysis and advocacy for children's rights in Afghanistan.

You have:

  • Education to BSc/BA/BEng level in a relevant subject or equivalent field experience
  • A minimum of three to five years in humanitarian advocacy in an NGO environment
  • Experience in supporting the creation and implementation of a strategy
  • Experience working with government, donors, and other organizations through representation and/or advocacy
  • Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing and negotiation
  • Knowledge of children's rights key international agreements and conventions
  • Excellence in written and spoken English

The Organization We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

· No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday · All children learn from a quality basic education and that, · Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information: Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/jobs We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

TITLE: Advocacy Manager TEAM/PROGRAMME: PDQA, Afghanistan Country Office LOCATION: Kabul GRADE: 2 CONTRACT LENGTH: Fixed Term

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE: The Advocacy Manager is responsible for supporting PDQA team in producing high-quality humanitarian policy analysis, research, and written products on issues affecting children in Afghanistan. Under the direction of the Senior Advocacy and Policy Advisor, the post holder contributes to evidence, analysis and drafting that inform SCI’s policy positions and advocacy priorities on humanitarian issues in Afghanistan. The role focuses on research, developing briefings, trend monitoring and supporting stakeholder engagement. During a major humanitarian emergency, the post holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE: The Advocacy Advisor will be responsible for developing products on issues affecting children in Afghanistan, including policy briefs, briefing papers, reports and original research.

Reports to: Senior Advocacy and Policy Advisor Staff reporting to this post: N/A Budget Responsibilities: N/A Role Dimensions: This role has extensive collaboration with programme teams, MEAL, cluster colleagues and external partners at working level.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Advocacy development and implementation • Support the implementation of SCI Afghanistan’s advocacy strategy, ensuring policy and evidence are integrated into advocacy priorities. • Maintain working-level relationships with humanitarian partners, UN agencies, donors and other stakeholders, under the guidance of the Senior Advocacy and Policy Advisor. • Support the preparation of advocacy initiatives, meetings, missions and campaigns, including drafting talking points, background notes, and presentation. • Manage, track and report on donor commitments tied to advocacy, • Support programme staff to develop achievable advocacy-specific objectives in project plans and logframes for new funding proposals. • Contribute to the development of SCI-AF analysis and policy on prioritised programme and children protection issues, linking them to prioritised advocacy issues. • Draft regular humanitarian policy products such as short reports, briefs, talking points and updates on education and literacy, child protection, children and armed conflict and violence against children. • Support and advance the Afghanistan CO policy objectives during emergencies, including drafting and distributing plans, advocacy-policy messages, policy briefs, and letters to governments, policymakers and other stakeholders, • Support thematic directors/advisors to articulate their top priority policy objectives and connect programme learning with advocacy opportunities. • Identify key opportunities and events for the SCI Afghanistan to strengthen its position as the leading organisation for children’s issues in the country. • Work with global Save the Children advocacy teams to ensure alignment with Afghanistan CO’s priorities.

Reporting • Provide project management, communications, policy and administrative support to the PDQA team, Save the Children Afghanistan CO partners, senior management, and other departments around priority initiatives and events, including humanitarian appropriations. • Support field teams in communicating and reporting on key programme and humanitarian developments in Afghanistan through summaries, short reports and coordinated updates. • Edit and prepare materials for clarity and accuracy.

Research • Working closely with Research, Evaluation, Assessment, Learning and Monitoring colleagues to agree a country office-wide research strategy. • Conducting a rigorous analysis of relevant existing secondary data and previously un-analysed primary data and writing a short overview of key findings and trends; • Conducting interviews with key SCI staff and potentially external experts on the topic of humanitarian policy, child protection and psychosocial support in displacement contexts; • Drafting a policy brief on the interlinkage of humanitarian policy issues and ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, with concrete policy recommendations, incorporating comments from the SCI team and delivering a final version. • Analysing the impact of international policies, e.g. on sanctions and political recognition of the IEA on the humanitarian and development outcomes in Afghanistan • Represent emergency- and response-related policy views of Save the Children in meetings with other departments within Save the Children as well as with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and policymakers stakeholders when delegates by the Senior Advocacy and Policy Advisor. • Contribute meaningful input into initiatives and communiqués; report on and track all relevant joint initiatives.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice) Accountability: • holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values • holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved. Ambition: • sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same • widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others • future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale. Collaboration: • builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters • values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength • approachable, good listener, easy to talk to. Creativity: • develops and encourages new and innovative solutions • willing to take disciplined risks. Integrity: • honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE • Education to BSc/BA/BEng level in a relevant subject or equivalent field experience • A minimum of three to five years in humanitarian advocacy in an NGO environment, with experience in successfully leading the development and implementation of advocacy strategies • Experience of working in humanitarian contexts and knowledge of key trends in the humanitarian, political, economic sectors • Experience in supporting the creation and implementation of a strategy, demonstrating the ability to identify the necessary steps towards an ambitious goal. • Experience of a range of campaigning and advocacy techniques and approaches • Experience in working with government, donors, and other organizations through representation and/or advocacy • Demonstrable creative ability in accessing new opportunities, expertise and ideas • Demonstrable track record of leading change which has led to significant results for the organization and their stakeholders • Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing and negotiation • Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures • Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets • Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner • Strong research and policy development skills • Experience of building networks, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organization • Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in • Knowledge of children's rights key international agreements and conventions • Commitment to Save the Children values • Excellence in written and spoken English.

Desirable: • Knowledge and/or experience of the Afghanistan crisis is desirable • National candidates and returning nationals are strongly encouraged to apply. • Experience in coalition building, advocacy, humanitarian protection and/or coordination 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.

Equal Opportunities The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity 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.

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

Potential interview questions

Can you describe a successful advocacy initiative you led in a humanitarian context? To assess experience in advocacy strategy implementation and results achieved. Provide a specific example that outlines the context, your actions, and the outcomes.
How do you ensure that the voices of children are included in humanitarian advocacy? To evaluate understanding and commitment to child safeguarding and participation. Pro members can see the explanation.
What challenges have you faced in advocating for humanitarian issues, and how did you address them? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
How do you approach building relationships with stakeholders in the humanitarian sector? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
What research methods do you use to inform policy development? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
How do you track and report on donor commitments related to advocacy? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
Can you provide an example of how you've worked with a team to meet an ambitious goal? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
How do you stay updated on key trends in the humanitarian sector? Pro members can see the explanation. Pro members can see the explanation.
Added 1 hour ago - Updated 57 minutes ago - Source: savethechildren.net