Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager Kulea Watoto - Kampala

Job Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world's leading crisis response agencies, providing life-saving assistance and supporting recovery and reconstruction for people affected by war and natural disasters. Active in public health, education, livelihoods, women's empowerment, youth development, and protection and promotion of rights, IRC assists people from harm to home.

The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting refugees, vulnerable host communities and various institutions in the country notably the government, community-based organizations, the civil society, and the private sector. Currently, the IRC in Uganda has presence across six sub-regions and six refugee settlements, implementing programming in the sectors of health, protection, and rule of law (PRoL), women’s protection and empowerment (WPE), economic recovery and development (ERD), and education. IRC Uganda also implements cross-cutting programming focused on systems strengthening and accountability to affected persons. As part of IRC Uganda’s strategic ambitions, the IRC works closely with local actors, including civil society organizations, local non-governmental organizations, local and national governments, among others, to strengthen their capacity and with intentions of transferring more resources for locally led implementation and support to our clients.

Job Overview: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has received a $10 million grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to implement a three-year project titled ‘Kulea Watoto’ – meaning ‘nurturing children.’ Kulea Watoto is an initiative aimed at improving early childhood development and transforming livelihoods of refugees and host communities in Uganda by providing nurturing care and early childhood learning opportunities, and to build their own skills to generate income for their families. The project will use a unique two-generation approach to reach out to young children under five years of age and their caregivers in Yumbe, Kyegegwa and Kampala districts, implemented in partnership with four local partners – the AfriChild Centre, Madrasa Early Childhood Program, Kabarole Research and Resource Centre and Literacy and Adult Basic Education (LABE). To achieve this, the project will offer learning sessions for parents and caregivers on responsive caregiving and provision of early learning opportunities, improved links to children’s services in local communities, livelihoods training, and start-up funding for promising business ideas, and more.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) and caregiving is a core organizational priority at the IRC with links to Health, Education, Child Protection, and Nutrition as detailed by the Nurturing care framework. Through Kulea Watoto program, the partners seek to meaningfully enact policy change that will strengthen the enabling environment for quality ECD service provision with a focus on government and multilateral actors, humanitarian structures and systems.

To support these efforts, IRC’s ECD team and Uganda Kulea Watoto team is looking for a Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager to enable ECD-focused policy and advocacy efforts in Uganda. The desired candidate will have strong experience working on policy advocacy and communication in Uganda and understands well the importance of early childhood development and responsive caregiving. The position will report to the Project Coordinator Kulea Watoto with technical reporting lines to the ECD Policy and Advocacy Advisor and with strong links to the Kulea Watoto project team and partners, collaborate with the IRC communications and Advocacy Coordinator, especially for external representation and publication of advocacy materials, work with RMEL Manager, MEAL Coordinator to generate data to inform advocacy agenda. This role will focus on: •Bringing attention to the developmental needs of young children in conflict and crisis settings through advocacy, raising the profile of IRC and partners’ work in this area •Conducting a deliberate process of informing and influencing decision-makers in support of evidence-based change, including resource mobilization •Support in the design and tailor communication messages and materials suited to advocacy work and desired impact.

Duties and Responsibilities: The Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager will be responsible for the following key deliverables: Execute Kulea Watoto’s Policy and Advocacy strategy: in collaboration with Kulea Watoto Project Coordinator, Communications and Advocacy Coordinator, partners (especially AfriChild), Global ECD Policy Advisor, Kulea Watoto technical staff, and other regional advocacy focal points, this scope of work will be achieved through: •Developing targeted policy and advocacy goals tailored to context as well as enable strategy execution. Goals will focus on strengthening awareness of the existing positive policies for children and strengthening implementation at national and district level. •Supporting Kulea Watoto technical staff and partners to embed policy change in program operations as they relate to the institutionalization of ECD and caregiving. •Developing policy advocacy capacity at the country level through one-to-one coaching, training activities, and workshops.

External Representation and Relationship Management: •Raise awareness and influence decision makers such as line ministries including Ministries of Education and Sports (MoES), Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development (MGLSD), and Health to invest in and adopt effective early childhood development and caregiving solutions, communicating IRC’s policy advocacy expertise and vision. •Create, enhance, and leverage a network of relevant contacts that foster national policy and advocacy partnerships in collaboration with country, district, and regional stakeholders, serving as focal point for any policy partner relationships. •Represent the IRC at relevant multinational, national, and district policy-related working groups, meetings, committees, and fora with donors and key policymakers and humanitarian settlement authorities.

Development of Policy and Advocacy Products: •Keep abreast of ECD and caregiving policy debates and research, sharing relevant evidence and policy developments with both partners and peers •Write updates and recommendations to key internal and external stakeholders to inform and influence policy and practice. •Contribute to the production of policy papers, briefs, and summaries targeting internal and external audiences in alignment with communications and viability scope of work •Develop and assist in the finalization of ECD & ERD specific advocacy talking points and presentations for events and meetings and support relevant staff with positioning and preparation prior to events and meetings as needed.

Project and Information Management: •Track regional and national advocacy engagements and help problem-solve when challenges arise •Support Kulea Watoto staff and partners to monitor and evaluate advocacy objectives and activities. •Keep tabs on relevant publications and readings and share them with Kulea Watoto staff and partners in the country. •Ensure policy and advocacy files and knowledge is organized and accessible for Kulea Watoto staff and partners.

Qualifications

•Graduate degree in relevant field such as Public Policy, Law, International Relations, or Journalism and Mass Communication or strong evidence of a combination of a bachelor’s degree and working experience in a similar field. •At least five years of experience working in policy advocacy, with proven experience developing and implementing policy advocacy strategies resulting in change. •Knowledge of policy context and decision makers in Yumbe, Kyegegwa and Kampala districts and can identify avenues for champion building, policy dissemination, policy enforcement, funds disbursement, and demonstrations of accountability •Passion for humanitarian programming and children’s issues especially in child development, economic livelihood, gender, and caregiving •Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to speak and write compellingly and competently in English and Swahili. Arabic is added advantage. •Demonstrated ability to successfully work in a fast-paced environment, within and across departments/functions and develop positive relationships with locally and remote based staff. •Strong facilitation skills and ability to support meetings and workshops with diverse stakeholders. •Self-directed, able to independently set priorities and solve problems with minimal guidance. •Excellent writing and editing skills: the ability to draft and edit memos, letters, reports, and proposals. •Good critical thinking; ability to synthesis a wide scope of information. •Solid organizational skills, with a proven ability to prioritize projects with attention to detail. •Flexible work attitude: the ability to work productively in a team environment, problem solve with minimal guidance and support any range of projects at a moment’s notice

Working Environment: •Standard office working environment •Position is based in Kampala, Uganda •Travel: Approximately 30% •Security: Kampala is Security Level 2 - yellow.

Standards for Professional Conduct: The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Gender Equality & Equal Opportunity: We are committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer generous benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances. We welcome and strongly encourage qualified female professionals to apply. IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. This position is only for Ugandan nationals to apply. IRC strives to attract, motivate, and retain qualified national staff in our programs.