Consortium Policy and Advocacy Coordinator

Position description

CARE is a global leader in fighting poverty and delivering innovative solutions to empower communities. With a mission to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice, CARE works in over 100 countries, focusing on gender equality, sustainable development, and resilience. We do this by working for the empowerment of women and communities that are disproportionately affected by climate change, natural disasters or conflict. In doing so, we create structural change, in close collaboration with partners, governments, and communities.

CASCADE

The CASCADE programme (CAtalyzing Strengthened policy aCtion for heAlthy Diets and resiliencE) aims to improve food security and contribute to the reduction of malnutrition of at least 5 million people, with a focus on women of reproductive age and children in Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda. Using an advocacy-centered approach that galvanizes government, businesses, and communities, the program has 2 Strategic Objectives:

• to increase access to and consumption of healthy diets,
• to increase the resilience of households to economic and climate-related shocks

Efforts across the 6 countries are contextually driven and are 1) strengthening food systems and nutrition policy and government accountability for financing and implementing these; 2) re-engineering markets and mobilizing private sector; 3) mitigating the effects of negative cultural norms and practices on nutritional well-being and diets of women of reproductive age and children under 5 years of age; 4) strengthening capacities of mothers and families of young children to access healthy diets year round; and, 5) systematizing data and learning for policy and decision-making at all levels of government.

CASCADE is 5.5-year program, now in its fourth year, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The program consortium is led by CARE Netherlands with participation from CARE USA and one major international partner, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Country programs also partner with a range of different local partners to enhance sustainability of interventions.

Job Overview

The Policy and Advocacy Coordinator for CASCADE is responsible for providing advocacy and policy technical assistance for the six CASCADE country teams.

Advocacy is a core activity as well as an essential lens for the CASCADE programme across the five intervention domains of the CASCADE theory of change. CASCADE capitalizes on and reinforces the multi-level, multi-sectoral nutrition policy and advocacy actions and networks of CARE and GAIN global advocates, including the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement. Government institutions, private sector providers, and women of reproductive age (WRA) and children have been identified as the three stakeholder groups that will bring about the intended changes in the food systems in the six target countries.

The CASCADE consortium policy and advocacy advisor is expected to provide expertise and technical advice, and support country teams to develop and implement meaningful activities across all intervention domains that have a policy and/or advocacy component. At the global team level, this role will also require linking with other technical team members to ensure cross-domain linkages are reinforced, policy and advocacy wins are captured, and lessons learned are documented. Specific position-related responsibilities are listed below.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. TECHNICAL ADVICE ON ADVOCACY & POLICY – 40%

• Support, advise, and coach advocacy and policy staff in the six countries with development and implementation of their advocacy strategies and activities in line with CASCADE objectives. This includes participating in country team calls, leading the Policy and Advocacy Group team meetings, and contributing to the regular reviews of work plans, annual reports, and knowledge, learning and communication products, etc.
• Support teams to regularly complete the Advocacy Log Book to document their work, and as appropriate ensure entry of implementation trajectories that lead to a policy systems-level ‘win’ through the CARE AIIR tool (Advocacy and Influencing Impact Reporting Tool), which is a framework that enables the team to document, measure, and communicate the impact of CASCADE’s advocacy and policy-influencing efforts.
• Liaise with global team staff leading social accountability work (Community Score Card), gender transformation efforts, as well as activities for nutrition integration and social behaviour change, to support coherence and linkages with advocacy work in countries, transnationally, and globally.
• Support country staff to connect the outcomes of the social accountability mechanisms to advocacy efforts and initiatives at the appropriate level, including local, province/district, national, regional, international levels.

2. FACILITATING CROSS-COUNTRY LEARNING – 15%

• Facilitate mutual learning, skill-building, and exchange among CASCADE advocates and policy staff, making use of available tools and resources, while also making the linkages with other technical intervention domains and expertise areas
• Lead the Consortium Advocacy Group as a platform for cross-country exchange and learning.

3. LEADING DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTS FOR CASCADE’S ADVOCACY & POLICY WORK – 30%

• Conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis of the advocacy log book entries making use of the Advocacy Log Book Dashboard, as well as the system-level policy wins through the AIIR tool;
• Identify key themes across countries emerging from CASCADE’s advocacy and policy work;
• Ensure that advocacy and policy wins, milestones, and lessons are documented in technical and/or learning briefs for external audiences with support from MEAL and Knowledge Management, Learning, and Communications (KMLC) Team.

4. LINKING COUNTRY ADVOCACY AND POLICY WITH REGIONAL AND GLOBAL LEVELS – 15%

• Keep informed of developments in global food and nutrition security policy environment and share these within CASCADE as appropriate;
• Formulate the annual work plan for global and regional advocacy and collaborate with KMLC team to ensure CASCADE representation in relevant external events;
• Keep informed of and contribute to relevant advocacy efforts at different levels, including with the European Commission (EC) and within the Netherlands;
• Coordinate with GAIN, CARE Nederland, and CARE International advocates and policy staff to keep informed of key institutional issues and positions and leverage opportunities;
• Coordinate with CASCADE technical experts to develop and define positions and talking points on relevant issues.

CONTACTS

The Consortium Policy and Advocacy Coordinator is managed by the Project Director, reports to the Senior Technical Programme Manager, coordinates the consortium Policy and Advocacy Group, and provides ongoing support to CASCADE advocates and policy staff in the six CASCADE countries. The position coordinates closely with global technical advisors (e.g. nutrition, gender, MEAL, Knowledge Management, Learning, and Communications). The position is a member of the CARE Nederland Sustainable Development Team and contributes to the Food Systems & Nutrition Security Impact Area.

Qualifications

• At least 5 years’ relevant experience providing technical advice, coaching, and skill-building for advocacy and policy staff;
• Substantial experience in African contexts;
• Relevant degree (e.g. agriculture, public health, nutrition, food systems, etc.) and knowledge and experience on nutrition policy and advocacy;
• Experience using social accountability to inform advocacy efforts (examples: community score cards, social audits, local governance performance assessments, budget monitoring, etc.) required;
• Excellent coordination skills to achieve results across organisations without a line management responsibility;
• Familiarity with Office 365 suite of tools;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
• Academic work and thinking level;
• Experience working with multi-country teams remotely and with working cross-culturally with people in different languages, time zones, and skill sets;
• Fluent in English (speaking, reading, writing); French, Portuguese, and/or Dutch would be preferred.

CARE maintains a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and child abuse and takes all concerns and complaints about sexual exploitation and abuse and child abuse involving CARE staff and related personnel seriously.

WHAT DOES CARE NEDERLAND OFFER?

• An interesting position where taking initiative is stimulated.
• A gross monthly salary based on BBRA scale 10, classification depends on relevant working experience.
• One-year contract with possible extension.
• International informal work environment in which you work with colleagues from different backgrounds to achieve the goals of CARE Nederland.
• Open work culture characterized by weekly joint coffee moments and regular staff meetings.
• Office location in The Hague.
• CARE Nederland requires the successful candidate for this position to be based in The Netherlands.

Application instructions

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