BACKGROUND Over the past 90 years, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has developed unparalleled expertise in responding to emergencies and helping uprooted communities to rebuild. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. The IRC is on the ground in more than 40 countries, providing emergency relief, relocating refugees and rebuilding lives in the wake of disaster.

The IRC is committed to a culture of bold leadership, innovation in all aspects of our work, creative partnerships and, most crucially, accountability to those we serve. The IRC is a tireless advocate for the most vulnerable.

Global Policy and Solutions Team

The Global Policy and Solutions team is a dynamic team that leverages the power of IRC’s ideas to solve the biggest challenges facing IRC’s clients across the “arc of crisis.” From combating the drivers of conflict to meeting the needs of displaced people, the team partners with innovative thinkers, experts and those with lived experience to identify solutions and bring them to life. We take pride in being solutions-oriented and creative. We are precise in our goals, tactics, and messages. We drive change year over year, knowing that system change takes dedicated focus while maintaining the flexibility to respond to emerging needs across the globe. Finally, we are collaborative, working not only with programs, strategy, research and innovation, and communications teams across the IRC, but also externally, constantly seeking to new ideas and perspectives from others in our sector and beyond.

The Purpose of the Role

As the Policy Adviser, you are in the epicentre of IRCs idea marketplace: the solution network. You will be responsible for developing solutions that are high impact, have amplification potential and are doable. You are a critical thinker and curious about IRCs programs, practice and partnerships. You seek to make the most of IRC’s knowledge across departments, and look for new and creative partnerships outside the organization. You help IRC cultivate a network of policy analysts and policy makers that enable you to rapidly test new ideas. You are clear communicator and can distil the complexity of policy for a range of audiences. This team is bold, quick moving, open to new ideas, and collaborative, working as part of IRC’s broader External Relations Department to delivering on shard policy, profile and funding objectives.

Key Working Relationships

Internal contacts: Policy and Advocacy colleagues across the globe; IRC country teams; Technical Excellence leads; International Programs leads; Communications; Awards Management; President’s Office; External Relations Department

External contacts: Key experts in academic, research/think-tanks, multi-laterals, governments, INGOs and beyond

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

· Research and analysis: Maintain substantive knowledge on humanitarian trends and issues that impact IRC teams and clients. Conduct background research, and other desk and interview-based research, including the monitoring of information related to political, security, social, economic, and evolving global crises, in support of the development of new policy solutions. Work closely with Advocacy & Influence colleagues to track and analyse policies and legislation of governments and other actors in the international community that impact humanitarian crises and responses, with a particular focus on the EU and key member states such as France.

· Collaboration and Convenings: Build and maintain a network of internal and external stakeholders able to inform and support the development of country specific and thematic policy recommendations that are grounded in robust analysis of how conflict/political/other dynamics are driving humanitarian crises. Lead and support the development of private IRC policy roundtable events with senior decision makers to support and inform our policy development process.

· Solutions generation, content, and message development: Leads the drafting of internal and external policy positions and papers (reports, briefs, etc.) that support and drive the development and adoption of policy solutions, and that can be leveraged across IRC for influence, funding, and profile-building opportunities. Maintain core messaging on priority crises and themes for consistent voice.

· Thought Leadership: Be IRC's authoritative voice on solutions for the most pressing issues facing our clients. Lift other policy voices as appropriate, especially those of crisis-affected individuals and local organizations. Works with advocacy and communications colleagues to support the development of briefings for senior leaders and communications products that reflect and advance the priorities of the policy and solutions team.

- Focused Advocacy and Advocacy Analysis: Support advocacy team, representing the IRC in meetings with key policy officials and decision makers and/or contributing to briefs for targets. Where relevant, help identify advocacy targets (esp. political appointees, civil servants) - Policy Communications: Provide subject matter expertise to communications team to shape global communications including op-eds and press releases. This may include acting as lead writer or reviewing existing materials from other departments to provide policy expertise and analysis. - Spokesperson: Serve as IRC spokesperson with media and at other external engagements as needed

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Experience

· Demonstrable experience working on complex humanitarian and/or development issues

· Demonstrable experience in policy analysis and policy strategy and development

· Strong research, analysis and writing skills developed through academic study of professional roles.

Demonstrated skills and competencies:

- Extensive knowledge of humanitarian aid and response, particularly related to fragile and conflict affected states, displacement, and post-conflict issues. - Strong understanding of the international policy environment in which humanitarian policy priorities are discussed and addressed, including international donors, the United Nations, multilateral development banks. - Good understanding of the relevant policy and budgetary landscape in the EU and key member states, particularly France, and familiarity with leverage points within key institutions that can be targeted to achieve policy change objectives. - Bias towards collaboration and ability to bring diverse stakeholders together to ideate and problem solve. - Ability to think strategically, synthesize complex information and develop innovative policy and advocacy approaches. - Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate successfully with experts, high level decision-makers, and colleagues in the humanitarian and development field. - Excellent writing skills and the ability to translate complex material and data into coherent narratives that resonate with policymakers. - Fluency with key parts of the IRC’s strategy and existing policy strategy. - Ability to work on tight deadlines. - Initiative and ability to work independently on fast-paced issues, and juggle competing demands.

Languages

- Fluency in English essential - French highly desirable - Other European languages a plus

Working Environment: Office work environment with hybrid working options. Up to 15% travel required

Candidates must have the right to work in the IRC location they will be working from which will be Germany or Belgium.

Deadline for the applications are May10th 2023.

IRC UK strives to be an equal opportunities employer. IRC UK is committed to equality of opportunity and to non-discrimination for all job applicants and employees, and we seek to ensure we achieve diversity in our workforce regardless of gender, race, religious beliefs, nationality, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability.

IRC UK welcomes applications from all candidates, including underrepresented groups and refugees who have the right to work in the UK.

IRC UK will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable adjustments to participate in the job application and/or interview process, and for essential job functions if appointed to a role. Please contact us if you may need such adjustments.

If you have any questions or need assistance with the online recruitment process, please contact the IRC UK HR team at applications@rescue-uk.org

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