Advocacy and Policy Officer at Save the Children

The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, was established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and other conflicts. After passing a century, which it celebrated in 2019, it is now a global movement made up of 29 national member organizations which work in 120 countries.

ROLE PURPOSE:

All Save the Children programming in Kenya aims to develop and demonstrate evidence-based, replicable breakthrough solutions to problems facing children.  It is essential that good quality programme work and learning is then communicated to civil society, government actors, donors and other practitioners to advocate for better practices and policies for children.

Save the Children works with the Ministry of Health at National and County level through a health system strengthening approach. Through our advocacy work, we are ensuring that we are the voice for children especially in our programme areas that have some of the most deprived children in Kenya. Our approach to advocacy is based on the following key principles:

• Evidence (research and policy): our advocacy work draws directly on our programmes and is informed by evidence and best practices generated by our Monitoring, Evaluation, and Accountability and Learning (MEAL) systems and by our research. One example is the annual global report on mothers and children, the State of the World’s Mothers.


• Influence (media and advocacy): Our advocacy work engages all media and aims to catalyse public opinion and influence decision makers to bring about change.


• Outcry (mobilization): in partnership with civil society, children and community led initiatives, we mobilise children and communities to claim their rights and to monitor their implementation.

The Advocacy & Policy Officer  will:

Coordinate all health and nutrition related policy, advocacy and programme learning work at county level in Mandera County as well as at National level with support from relevant technical specialists and the country office Head of Advocacy and Communications.

The post holders will work closely with County and Sub County Health Management Teams, with the scope of the role including development and implementation of a county advocacy plan focused around health and nutrition with a special focus on maternal and new-born health, identifying and participating in county level health and nutrition networks that Save the Children can be a part of to contribute to wider agenda for children’s health and survival; identifying targets and processes to use learning to influence policy formulation/policy change/policy implementation; developing a research agenda to advance learning and policy on issues affecting the health and nutrition of children and mothers; packaging information/research findings and developing appropriate communication channels for dissemination of information/research findings; project documentation and dissemination; capacity building, learning and knowledge management.

Contract Duration: 1year (with possibility of extension)

Location: Mandera

Reports to: Programme Manager

Directly reports: Health Technical Specialists, Nutrition Technical Specialists, WASH Technical Specialist.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: 

Strategy development and implementation

• The Advocacy Officer will be responsible for providing strategic MNH advocacy, learning and policy support to the area office and ensure there is a coherent process linking the county and national level advocacy efforts besides leading budget advocacy work generally


• Maintain an in-depth understanding of key budgetary cycle moments, law and policy reform initiatives at the County.


• Ensures that all advocacy messages and documents are evidence-based and of high quality.


• In close collaboration with health and nutrition teams, the advocacy and policy coordinator, the Head of Advocacy and Communications, develop and implement a county MNH advocacy strategy that seeks to draw synergies between and integrate MNH with other sectors. Responsible for the delivery of an annual implementation work plan.


• Develop and implement relevant context specific strategies for effective child participation within the advocacy activities in collaboration with the field office teams and relevant staff at the country office.


• Support Health and Nutrition team in identifying policy and practice change, which would promote and protect the nutrition and health of children.


• Advocacy at National level for policy change to allow CHVs to treat uncomplicated wasting integrated in iCCM.


• Advocacy at National level for CHVs pneumonia treatment under iCCM


• Support policy & implementation framework development for CHS bill & Disability bill


• Formulate key MNH advocacy messages and targets from lessons learned, assessments, research and evidence gained through project implementation.


• Support budget advocacy for nutrition intervention and budget tracking to improve revenue generation and resource allocation for child survival interventions at county level in collaboration with other CSOs.

Advocacy and Communications

• In liaison with Advocacy coordinator, lead the county level monitoring and evaluation of advocacy-related objectives, mapping of key opportunities and events, organisation of Save the Children ‘moments’ and events.


• Linking to international process and in collaboration with field office staff and technical specialists oversee the development of advocacy materials – including policy briefs, position papers, press releases, Questions and answers and opinion pieces for county and national advocacy.


• Formulate, consolidate and support key policy and advocacy messages (including direct communication and advocacy) for health and nutrition generated from programme managers/Technical Specialists to influence county and national government, donors and other implementing actors.


• Develop good knowledge of county government structure, political processes and key decision-making structures and how to influence them on issues related to nutrition for mothers and children. Conduct power mapping to identify and engage key influencers in the County for increased resource mobilization and allocation to child survival interventions.


• Support the CHMT to revise and cost health, nutrition and emergency contingency plans in case of eventualities within the two counties, including through the use of household economy analysis(HEA) Baseline and Response Analysis information


• Undertake a range of lobbying, communications and other activities to inform and persuade policy makers, including donors and politicians, of the value of Save the Children’s policy recommendations for improving child survival interventions


• Lead the production and/or contribute to the development and dissemination of policy briefs/IEC fact sheets and county profiles to get nutrition on to the policy agenda at the county levels.


• Build systems for research, analysis and documentation that underpin evidence based advocacy and influencing at county level. This will include undertaking audience research and knowledge services mapping to inform communication and advocacy work.


• Advocate and create public awareness on fortified foods in the market, supplementation and dietary diversification through linkages with nutrition sensitive partners. Use database of trained workforce in the county to highlight gaps and lobby for sufficient resources to address these as well as for the transfer of skills between sub-counties in response to emerging needs

Building Partnerships 

• Identify local networks and coalitions and develop sustained partnerships/ alliances that are critical in the dissemination and/or application of research findings and/or learning to influence the policy and practice landscape. This includes representing Save the Children at strategic forums, networking with strategic CSOs and other social movement processes that are relevant to Save the Children’s policy work including Kenya health and nutrition platforms.  It also includes identifying and helping to nurture nutrition and health ‘champions’ to support our advocacy agenda.


• Support area offices to build partnerships with communities and programme beneficiaries in establishing accountability mechanisms, capacity building and knowledge management.


• Support the capacity building of programme and field staff and key partners on advocacy through training, sharing best practices and supporting learning and knowledge management.

Programme Development & Management 

• Liaise with relevant Technical Specialists and programme staff to ensure that advocacy approaches are integrated within and contribute to the achievement of project results and objectives and that sufficient funds are budgeted for implementation.


• Participate in Save the Children programme meetings and related sessions to draw out research-based advocacy messages in programmes.  Keep abreast of current research, national and donor policies and debates in Kenya, relevant to advocacy for nutrition.


• In collaboration with programme managers, monitor and evaluate child survival communication and advocacy activities within budgets, ensuring that indicators and methods are in place to allow evaluation of the achievements and develop regular reports on progress. Post holders will also contribute heavily to the design, development, implementation and dissemination of any nutrition related research.

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 others to do the same


• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others


• Future orientated, thinks strategically

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

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• At least 3 years’ experience in advocacy work, as well as contributing to the development and implementation of advocacy strategies. Experience working within Kenya Health systems is an added advantage.


• Excellent understanding of Kenya’s budget cycle and moments.


• An understanding of policy and legislative development processes at both national and county levels.


• Superior written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex arguments into accessible English for a non-specialist audience, and the ability to write articles that would be published in the mainstream press.


• Knowledge of the devolution processes, and its impact on the health sector.


• Excellent verbal communication skills, appropriate for high-level external representation (for example lobbying county governors, ministers, MCAs)


• Experience of developing advocacy strategies, knowledge and understanding of a range of advocacy techniques


• Experience of effective team work and outstanding inter-personal communication skills


• Experience of coalition building and working with civil society actors to deliver change


• Excellent understanding of Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030, policy and legal provisions in support of child survival.


• Fluency in spoken and written English and Kiswahili


• Commitment to Save the Children’s mission and values

Desirable

• An academic qualification with a minimum of Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Governance, International development , Community development or related field of study.


• Experience and training on policy and advocacy.


• Good knowledge of the nutrition and health field, including the work of academic/research contacts, NGOs, UN agencies


• Good presentation and analytical skills.


• Great negotiation and persuasion skills.


• Experience of policy research, having written and published policy reports and briefings and evaluating evidence of their impact.

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