Back Advocacy Manager – Child Rights (NATIONAL ONLY)

TITLE: Advocacy Manager – Child Rights (NATIONAL ONLY)

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Program Team

LOCATION: Bangkok Office (with 25% travel)

CONTRACT LENGTH: up to 1-year contract with possibility of extension, National Hired

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Advocacy Manager – Child Rights provides overall strategic leadership, management and strategic direction to Save the Children’s advocacy work in Thailand, and our relationships with key national and local government departments, NGOs, CSOs and other institutions. He/she is responsible to lead on the development and implementation of advocacy strategies that will influence government and other institutional policies and practice to achieve positive and lasting changes to fulfil children’s rights, with particular focus on education and child protection issues. He/she will advise and support relationship management and local authority engagement for Save the Children’s ongoing programmes, and in some instances lead these engagements directly

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Program Director

Indirect: Dotted support line from the Asia Regional Advocacy Advisor

Direct: None

Budget Responsibilities: N/A

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Leadership and Management

· Lead on developing the overarching country level advocacy strategy that would guide/inform future programme and proposal development for both child protection and education.

· Provide overall leadership, vision, strategic direction and coordination of the Save the Children’s advocacy work and ensure that advocacy is an integral part of all project designs and plans.

· Position Save the Children as the leading organization for children’s issues in the Thailand, with child rights at the core of the advocacy work.

· Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of child-related advocacy issues and of the positions of key actors, including ministers, political, civil society and economic leaders, academics, donors, media editors, etc.

· With programme teams, develop relevant and coherent advocacy strategies and plans, coordinate their effective implementation and regularly review their relevance and impact

· Ensure that evidence and best practice generated by Save the Children’s programmes is used to inform advocacy work.

Coordination and Representation.

· Advise and support project teams with local authority engagement and collaboration.

· Lead in identifying and managing potential risks associated with Save the Children’s public positions and design strategies to mitigate the risks that have been identified.

· Provide high level and local representation for advocacy work, identifying and building relationships with key targets and allies, and lobbying decision-makers and influencers.

· Maintain an advocacy calendar with key moments and key opportunities for advocacy. Be alert to seize advocacy opportunities when and as they arise.

· Prepare high-quality letters, articles, policy briefs, position statements and other written material and related to key advocacy issues, in English and Thai.

· Undertake and/or commission research, alongside SC Technical Experts on specific issues to inform present and future advocacy choices and to build Save the Children’s position.

· Work closely with the Communications, Media and Campaigns Coordinator to support and advise on public campaigns and campaigning, and to make optimal use of national and international media to influence key advocacy targets and public opinion.

· Work with Save the Children regional and global advocacy teams to ensure linkages of local, national and global advocacy issues in a manner that informs Save the Children advocacy at all levels, and to ensure coherence of messaging.

Alliances and Partnerships

· Develop and nurture relations with key advocacy coordination groups, organizations and forums.

· Work closely with other organizations to develop joint advocacy initiatives when relevant (e.g. Migrant Working Group, CRC Coalition, Thailand Safe School Network (DRR response in schools) or other protection/education working group at the national and provincial level). In many instances, serve as lead Save the Children representative in national forums.

· Maintain a tracker of all-important relationships, points of contact, networks and key issues for internal coordination and reporting.

· Ensure the inclusion of Save the Children, partners’ perspectives and children’s perspective and input in national and regional consultations and advocacy processes.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

· In collaboration with the MEAL team, establish monitoring and evaluation processes of advocacy work and ensure that advocacy implementation and impact are effectively monitored and evaluated.

· Ensure that learning and knowledge management is used to improve delivery of advocacy work.

· When and where appropriate, share advocacy learning and best practices with other stakeholders internally and externally.

Capacity Building

· Build advocacy capacity of programme staff and of Save the Children partners’ staff through induction, orientation, training and development/implementation of advocacy plans.

Humanitarian Advocacy

· In emergencies, and as part of ongoing Refugee Rights work in Thailand and through The Committee for Coordination of Services to Displaced Persons in Thailand (CCSDPT) Advocacy Working Group, and UN ISWG, lead on the development of advocacy messages and, coordinate with Global Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group and other stakeholders in SCI and SC Members.

Fundraising for Advocacy

· Work with Business Development and Awards teams to ensure that advocacy is included in project proposals as much as possible and required resources are adequately budgeted for.

BEHAVIOURS

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

· Bachelor’s degree in Development, Social Science, Law, Public Policy or equivalent preferred but not required

· Minimum of five years advocacy experience in a corporate or an NGO environment, with experience in successfully leading the development and implementation of advocacy strategies

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

· Experience in leading the creation and implementation of an advocacy strategy, demonstrating the ability to identify the necessary steps towards an ambitious goal.

· Experience in influencing government, donors, and other organizations through representation and/or advocacy.

· Strong understanding of the Thailand political system and legislative process.

· Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills (including influencing and negotiation) and highly developed cultural awareness (including an ability to work well with people from diverse backgrounds)

· Experience of a range of campaigning and advocacy techniques and approaches

· 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

· Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner

· Experience of building networks, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organization

· Fluency in written and spoken English and Thai required

· Commitment to Save the Children’s values

Desirable

· Knowledge of children’s rights, key international agreements and conventions

· Experience working on Child Protection and Education for All Policy in Thailand

· Research and policy development skills

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.**

Safeguarding Our Staff

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Anti-Harassment Policy.

Health and Safety

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

Interested candidates should apply and submit a motivational letter, comprehensive CV, expected salary and details of at least 3 referees via the following link;

https://stcuk.taleo.net/careersection/ex/jobdetail.ftl?job=2100043E&tz=GMT%2B07%3A00&tzname=Asia%2FBangkok

“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”