Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media Director

ROLE PURPOSE: 

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) in the CO, the Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media (ACCM) Director shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office. The ACCM Director in his/her capacity is responsible for providing leadership to ensure excellence in our public and private facing advocacy, campaigning, media and communications on the humanitarian crisis and situation of children in Ukraine as well as our longer-term development work.

The purpose of the role is to lead and manage the external and internal Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media work for the Ukraine Country Office including the advocacy strategy development and implementation as a prioritized response, supporting the priority programmatic areas, such as Child Protection, Food Security, Education in Emergencies, and humanitarian space/operational space issues. The role will support the Senior Management Team in risk mapping, mitigation and management on issues identified as most relevant for the CO, and develop policy analysis and strategic planning in response to those issues.

As it is a humanitarian response, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF THE ROLE:
Reports to: Country Director

Role Dimensions: Ukraine country office is a high complexity country, with an annual budget of USD100 million, and approximately 350 staff.

ACCM is an integrated and critical part of our work in Ukraine, with the need to ensure humanitarian access, increased international visibility and donor interest in the crises, protection of children from grave violations and international pressure to end the conflict.

Staff directly reporting to this post:  Campaigns and Child Political Participation Manager, Senior Media & Communications Manager, Senior Advocacy Advisor on Child Rights and Senior Advocacy Advisor on Accession and Early Recovery

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

As a member of the Senior Management Team, contribute to:

• Leadership of the Ukraine Country Office
• Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects the full programming spectrum (humanitarian and development) values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and supports staff to deliver outstanding results for children.
• Help design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to country office needs
• Ensure that all required support is provided promptly, during emergencies or times of humanitarian crisis.
• Develop risk mitigation management plans in response to SMT, regional office, centre (HQ), or Member identified risks to the delivery of quality programs for children with focus and ownership on ‘Speaking Out’.
• Ensure strong linkages between Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media function and other Directors on the SMT so that advocacy is well resourced, evidence based and program driven and that programs are enhanced through advocacy.

Advocacy Strategy Development and Implementation

• Lead Ukraine’s Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media team with a clear vision and integrated workplan and objectives, including setting SMART goals for the team and securing buy-in from key internal stakeholders. 
• Lead the country office’s strategy to protect children in conflict, ensuring coordination and engagement across all departments to deliver on the strategic objectives.  The postholder will hold primary responsibility for risk mitigation and management associated with the delivery on this strategy, including current advocacy priorities related to 1) humanitarian access, 2) EU accession and early recovery, 3) de-institutionalisation of children and 4) return of forcibly transferred children from outside of Ukraine
• Revise, strengthen and implement the Country Office’s overall advocacy strategy, identify policy and practice change, on the basis of Save the Children’s experience, that would promote and protect the rights of children in Ukraine.
• Based on Save the Children (SC) program priorities, and identified priority issues for children, develop key advocacy messages and identify targets from lessons learned, assessments, research and evidence gained through project implementation.
• Develop and implement advocacy objectives and initiatives, both short and long term, encompassing a wide range of issues and audiences.
• Develop and implement a plan for national level advocacy and influencing as part of the overall advocacy strategy, involving partners, technical experts and national actors where appropriate.
• Work with the Ukraine Advocacy Group and the Regional Office to develop and implement and plan for international advocacy, identifying key strands of work to be collectively taken forward by the CO, RO, Members and Advocacy Offices. 
• Ensure that the Ukraine Advocacy Group has the resources it needs to complete agreed objectives and activities, including via updating and collaborating with the group on the Regional Middle East & Eastern Europe Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group, European Migration Advocacy Group, DI-coordination groups and others, through regular high-quality written updates and briefings.

Situation and advocacy analysis

• Working closely with programs, provide analysis of how children have been affected by the crisis in Ukraine, the national policy responses and policy frameworks, as well as other factors such as UN coordination, funding for the response, security and current and future challenges that have an impact on children and their access to humanitarian assistance, health, education and protection services.

Advocacy and policy products

• Draft and otherwise support the production of advocacy products as outlined in the advocacy strategy for use at the country, regional and international levels including supporting the Centrality of Protection (COP) and Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) Advocacy and Campaigns strategy in country.
• Ensure that all advocacy messages, documents and strategies are evidence-based, drawn from field experience and assessments, of high quality and effective, and are approved by the Country Director, the Regional Advocacy and Resource Mobilisation Director, Regional Humanitarian Advocacy Lead, the Humanitarian Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Technical Working Group and the HAWG. When necessary ensure advocacy products are signed-off according to the SCI sign-off procedures.
• Lead or support external advocacy coordination forum, including within the Ukraine Response Advocacy specific fora, supporting the Country Director in preparation for the Humanitarian Country Team and other relevant interagency fora, promoting or ensuring inclusion of Save the Children prioritized child rights issues in these essential coalition fora.
• Keep a watching brief on policy makers and other key players in relation to children’s rights issues and identify opportunities to raise awareness and influence policy change.
• Lead and coordinate Save the Children’s engagement with humanitarian policy issues and related advocacy, including by developing briefing papers, engaging with the Humanitarian Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Technical Working Group, as well as supporting the in-country operations team to navigate issues relating to humanitarian access, humanitarian principles, centrality of protection, counter-terror legislation and other pressing policy issues.
• Lead on exploring new policy areas for the Ukraine Country Office, including on contentious topics such as engagement with the ICC, policy on reparations, military use of civilian objects, kidnapping and other topics where sound judgement of opportunity and risk needs to be considered.

 External Engagement and Influencing 

• Develop good knowledge of local and national government structures (in Ukraine and in key Member capitals), parliamentary and political processes and key decision making structures and how to influence them. 
• Undertake a range of lobbying, communications and other activities to inform and persuade policy makers, including donors and politicians, of the value of SC’s policy recommendations.
• Build systems for research, analysis and documentation that underpin evidence based advocacy and influencing at national and international levels.

Coordination & Representation

• Develop and cultivate strategic relationships with other agencies engaged in advocacy and policy work in the Ukraine. 
• Develop and maintain a network of external contacts with key individuals in the government, donors, NGO sector, civil society and the media.
• Represent SC at various policy forums and advocacy opportunities at national and international levels, as directed. 
• Act as a spokesperson for Save the Children to a variety of external audiences including policy makers and the media, as directed.

Campaigns Planning and Delivery

• Lead the development of an integrated campaigns plan aligned with the country strategic plan.
• Lead the planning and implementation of Save the Children global campaign ‘Generation Hope’ in Ukraine 

COMPETENCIES FOR THIS ROLE:

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

• Master’s degree in social science, Journalism & Media or related field.
• A minimum of 5 years demonstrated experience in progressively responsible positions at senior management levels.

Essential

• At least 10 years’ experience in a humanitarian or development environment, preferably leading advocacy and policy change in humanitarian/conflict contexts.
• Prior management experience working in emergency response contexts or fragile states.
• Significant prior experience working in advocacy on humanitarian issues, child rights, human rights, and/or development issues.
• Experience of influencing and advocacy work including lobbying, policy development and information provision in humanitarian issues.
• Excellent skills in advocating towards government officials in developing countries.
• Experience of and strong skills in developing and implementing humanitarian advocacy strategies.
• Proven skills in media and communication work, including interviews on Radio and TV.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and lead research, surveys and other activities oriented towards developing positions and evidence base.
• Highly developed communication skills both written and verbal in order to establish effective relationships with a wide variety of internal and external audiences including at a geographical distance
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
• Fluency in Writing and Presentation skills in English required
• Good attention to detail
• Extensive knowledge of child rights and international humanitarian law
• Understanding of UN and donor operations at country level 
• High level analytical and strategic thinking skills
• Cultural awareness and ability to build relationships quickly with a wide variety of people
• Patient, adaptable, flexible, able to improvise and remain responsive and communicate clearly and effectively under pressure
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with experience in managing multicultural teams.
• Experience in coaching, capacity-building and supporting the development of a team, including supporting junior members of staff to deliver high-quality output. 
• Experience in managing risks associated with advocacy and communications in high-risk settings, including in developing risk management plans and mitigation measures. 
• Advanced understanding of Protection issues arising from a conflict setting, impact on protected populations, and implications for humanitarian aid agencies.
• Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
• Commitment to Save the Children values

Desirable

• Experience working for an international humanitarian organisation in humanitarian contexts
• Experience with programs, program development, proposal writing, or implementation a plus.
• Experience in coordination of various stakeholders a plus
• Experience solving complex issues through analysis
• High Fluency in writing and presentation skills in local language
• Has a strong international network within advocacy and policy settings
• Understanding of the issues concerning the INGO sector with an in-depth knowledge in communications, marketing and/or fundraising
• Demonstrable track record of leading change, resulting in significant results for the organisation and their stakeholders.
• Strong results orientation

We offer a competitive package in the context of the sector. Interviews will be held on ongoing basis, advertisement will be closed once a person is identified.

Ability to secure Schengen and Ukraine visa required. 

The Organisation

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 environment where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued. 

Application Information:

Please attach a copy of your CV and cover letter with your application, and include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations.  

• 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.
• All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.