JOB OPPORTUNITY
Introduction
BRAC International is a leading nonprofit organization with a mission to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease, and social injustice. Our approach is grounded in the conviction that people living in vulnerable situations can be agents of change if they are empowered with the tools, skills, and hope they need to change their lives. We design proven, scalable solutions that equip people with the support and confidence they need to achieve their potential. BRAC’s institutional expertise on successfully implemented programmes is applied across 10 countries, touching the lives of over 130 million people, where our models are adapted according to the country’s context.
In 2022, the Mastercard Foundation in partnership with BRAC International (BI) started an initiative that will create positive and measurable impact for 1.2 million adolescent girls and young women and 9.5 million people across seven countries in East and West Africa, including Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda.
There is mounting urgency to support adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) living in poverty, which has been further amplified by the global pandemic. Through this partnership, scalable economic development approaches will be delivered in communities to foster the agency and voice of AGYW. They will have the opportunity to fulfill their aspirations, achieve sustainable livelihoods, and engage in advocacy issues.
In this regard, BRAC International is seeking applications from competent, dynamic and self-motivated individuals to fill the following position in Rwanda
Position: AIM Advocacy, Partnership and Knowledge Coordinator
Job Location: Country Office
Number of positions: 1
Contract nature: Two Year renewable depending on the performance
Job Summary
Stichting BRAC International is looking for a dynamic, creative and results-oriented advocacy and mobilization professional to lead the AIM programme’s advocacy and alumni engagement work at the country level. Working directly with AIM programme participants and country-level staff, this position will be supporting the programme’s advocacy agenda in the country; build capacity of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) to advocate for their rights and influence policies; support programme participants to identify advocacy spaces and facilitate their leveraging of those. The Officer will work closely with the programme team to establish a detailed work plan, processes and procedures that will be geared towards ensuring a seamless transition for programme participants while also developing effective strategies for alumni engagement and management. By doing so, we aim to ensure the sustainability of the programme’s impact and foster continued self-advocacy among our alumni in their respective communities.
In addition, the role will also serve as the in-country knowledge management focal point, ensuring proper documentation, knowledge sharing, and dissemination of best practices to enhance the overall impact and effectiveness of the program.
Key Duties/Responsibilities:
The Grassroots Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement Officer will be responsible for the development and delivery of the advocacy and alumni engagement strategy of the Mastercard Foundation Accelerating Impact for Young Women in Partnership with BRAC (AIM) programme. Working closely with the Programme Manager – AIM, the position will do the following:
Provide Advocacy and alumni engagement strategy
- Support the Programme Manager in the development and rollout of the AIM programme advocacy and alumni (network of graduated programme participants) engagement strategy.
- Work closely with the Programme Manager to prepare the annual work plan, complete with detailed activities, targeted towards the operationalization of the advocacy and alumni engagement strategy.
- Prepare a mapping of key stakeholders instrumental to the operationalization of the advocacy and alumni engagement strategy and lead these engagements.
- Coordinate tailored support to programme participants, including capacity strengthening on evidence-based advocacy, negotiation and effective communications and media engagement skills.
- Coordinate and provide support to the national and subnational level Advocacy initiatives
- Represent AIM in National and Regional foras as required
- Support in research within the country to facilitate evidence based Advocacy actions.
- Work closely with field teams to research and identify transition options in the areas and create transition procedures ahead of the cohort completion. This will also involve working with MF teams to ensure the transition process to MF in the SOP is adhered to in practice.
- Lead the transition and alumni management part of the AIM programme by ensuring most programme participants who transition to either MF groups or other networks are fully supported and outcomes are tracked.
- Work closely with the program team to institutionalize the YDCs to use the YDC platform for grassroots advocacy and undertake other relevant activities to deepen the impact of the YDCs at the community level.
- Support field teams to organize local level workshops/meetings/sessions with external stakeholders to get the buy-in and approval of government authorities.
- Provide support to the Monitoring & Evaluation Manager to evaluate the impact of advocacy initiatives; produce reports on the progress and outcomes of the advocacy work.
Knowledge Management
- Work closely with the Manager – Knowledge Management & Learning (AIM) to support the knowledge management component at the country level
- Work as a knowledge champion and help support process documentation, good practices and success stories compilation.
- Stay up to date on the latest research and remain informed on issues such as women’s social and economic development, youth-led advocacy, alumni engagement, group self-governance, and gender equality.
Outreach, external engagement and communications
- Organize alumni events and keep alumni up to date with BRAC work including inviting them to BRAC events, learning sessions, field visits and other events.
- Support delegation of young women’s participation in events such as the International Women’s Day and International Day of the Girl.
- Lead Supporting the leadership in opportunity identification and advocacy networking including forging working relationships with strategic partners and key stakeholders.
- Research and identify opportunities at the national and regional levels where BMT can bring the narrative, evidence, lessons, and priorities from the AIM programme to major national events to be shared with key decision-makers and practitioners.
- Perform other responsibilities, as requested by the Programme Manager.
- Safeguarding Responsibilities
- Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment and exploitation to achieve the programme’s goals on safeguarding implementation
- Act as a key source of support, guidance and expertise on safeguarding for establishing a safe working environment
- Practice, promote and endorse the issues of safeguarding policy among team members and ensure the implementation of safeguarding standards in every course of action
- Follow the safeguarding reporting procedure in case any reportable incident takes place and encourage others to do the same
Education and Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree or Masters in Social Sciences, International Development, Public Relations, Communications, Journalism, Law.
- 4 – 6 years’ experience in leading advocacy portfolios, community mobilization, campaign management, stakeholder management, and/or supporting self-governance transition of youth groups, preferably in social and economic development.
- A robust understanding of the policy landscape around AGYW’s social and economic development, preferably in the African context.
- Prior experience in programme-related knowledge management processes.
- Prior experience working with women groups in advocacy and campaign work.
- Experience in strategic relationship and partnership management.
- Prior experience in local level advocacy, including experience with community mobilization
- Ability to set up groups, with community support, for self-governance
- Knowledge of training content and methodologies for youth on advocacy and/or rights
- Knowledge of the systemic barriers to girls and women social and economic development particularly in the African context.
- Good understanding of knowledge management systems
- Excellent written and communication skills, including the ability to foster productive working relationships with strategic partners and diverse stakeholders
- Proficient in MS Office
- Ability to coach and motivate colleagues with key advocacy messaging and skills.
Safeguarding Policy:
BRAC is committed to safeguarding children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share the same commitment. We believe every stakeholder and every member of the communities we work with has the right to be protected from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation – regardless of age, race, religion, and gender, status as an individual with a disability or ethnic origin. BRAC holds a zero-tolerance policy against sexual exploitation, discrimination, exploitation, abuse and harassment. Violations to stated policies will be subject to corrective action up to and including termination of contract.
If you feel you are the right match for the above-mentioned position, please follow the application instructions accordingly:
Candidates need to send a signed Cover letter in PDF format indicating the title of the position applied for, an updated CV mentioning educational grades, years of experience, and notarized copies of academic qualifications. All those documents should be sent through email: sbirwanda.recruitment@brac.net, Application deadline is 17th November 2023
Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be called for interview.
