Emergency Response Roster - Humanitarian Advocacy & External Engagement Director

Join Our Emergency Response Team

With over 70 years of experience, our focus is on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. We help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith. Come join our 34,000+ staff working in nearly 100 countries and share the joy of transforming vulnerable children's life stories!

Job Purpose

In line with the WVI Disaster Management Standards for global emergencies this position fills an essential function of Advocacy & External Engagement for World Vision's Humanitarian Responses. This role is critical to providing continued advocacy & external engagement guidance, capacity tools, reporting, and direct support to the Humanitarian Responses.

This role is responsible for designing and directing the implementation of the Response's advocacy and external engagement strategy, in line with the overall Response priorities, supporting the operational and programmatic goals.

The incumbent will be responsible for implementing long term and/or time-bound, intensive and targeted influencing strategies to achieve shifts in international policy towards children and families affected by the Disaster/Crisis, with a focus on fragile contexts. Specifically, this will focus on strengthening protection of children's rights during the response, on addressing operational constraints to ensure World Vision can reach the most vulnerable children with humanitarian assistance.

She/he will have strong representation, negotiation, policy knowledge and influencing skills, as well as a well-developed network of external industry contacts. The external engagement aspects of this role will be contributing towards positioning World Vision with key stakeholders to grow response income from UN/other multilaterals, as well as increase World Vision's influence on the response, and strengthen existing partnerships. S/he will be responsible for providing direction to and supporting World Vision's external engagement with Tier 1 and 2 stakeholders in coordination with sector leads, global capitals, regional and field leadership. S/he will identify influencing opportunities, lead planning and preparation for events and engagements, as well as represent World Vision externally. They will support senior leaders and other World Vision staff to do the same.

This role will manage critical internal coordination mechanisms, such the Advocacy Response Group, which brings together advocacy experts from across the World Vision Partnership (field, global, regional, fundraising offices) and coordinates closely with Global Center Disaster Management Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Team (GCDM H-Policy Team). The role will also track humanitarian financing trends for advocacy and influence and support the Response Operations with advocacy on access. This role will be responsible for reporting on advocacy and external engagement impact.

Key Responsibilities

• Directs the implementation of the Response's advocacy & external engagement plan.
• Collaborates with World Vision's humanitarian advocacy representation to the UN in Geneva and New York, regional and national capitals, on the Response.
• Initiates, contributes and/or leads development of relevant policies, reports, briefings and opinions on the Response, and works closely with GCDM H-Policy Team on research opportunities
• Advises the Response Director and Response's Leadership Team on major Response advocacy issues, implications of these on field operations and recommends strategies for addressing these, in particular in relation to access and humanitarian funding.

Representation & External Engagement

• Represents World Vision on Response humanitarian issues to governments and donors in the UN, with academia, and NGOs
• Maintains a network of external senior-level humanitarian contacts and builds new networks to grow World Vision's profile
• Ensures strong relationships, coordination and communication across Global Capitals, Support Offices and other relevant World Vision offices/teams on the Response policy engagements with external stakeholders
• Jointly with GCDM H-Policy Team identifies and oversees preparation of external influencing opportunities for Senior Leaders from the Response Team/Field Office, Regional Office and GC.

Response Operations Support & Impact reporting

• Leads the Humanitarian Response Advocacy Response Group (ARG) and participates in the Partnership Executive Team (PET)
• Works closely with the Response's operations and programming leads, ensuring the centrality of the rights of the children in WV's response strategy and grants applications.
• Maintains the updated mapping of national level clusters, working groups and other coordination mechanisms, ensuring the right level of participation for WV response staff.
• Provides strategic advice to the Response Director and Response Operations on context power mapping, private advocacy, and consequently implications for World Vision's engagement.
• Monitors HRP funding and prepares World Vision's engagement in Pledging Conferences, or other funding processes.
• Identifies critical child rights violations and protection issues through World Vision's assessments and leads with unique data driven advocacy.
• Ensures and supports advocacy & EE impact reporting by submitting inputs into relevant global reporting, including Advocacy Strategic Measures.
• Works closely with the Regional Advocacy Director and HEA Director to ensure Response advocacy objectives are integrated into Regional strategies.
• Trains and coaches the Response staff on humanitarian advocacy and external engagement.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL AND EXPERIENCE

Required Education, training, license, registration, and/or Certification

• 10 years relevant job experience, including in management, with significant time spent in active humanitarian response contexts
• A post graduate degree in a relevant field (equivalent of a Master's in international or public relations, international development, or law)
• Professional fluency in English.
• An excellent understanding of International Humanitarian Law and the humanitarian sector and its derivate standards, guidelines and tools, with a well maintained network of external industry relationships.

Required Professional Experience

• In depth understanding of civil society leverage points in the humanitarian system, including global community.
• Strong familiarity with relevant UN and coalition processes across NY and Geneva is a plus.
• Excellent writing skills and the ability to translate complex material and data into coherent narratives that resonate with policy makers and peers.

Preferred Experience, Knowledge and/or other Qualifications

• Professional-level fluency in a second UN language (esp. French or Arabic).
• Management of multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams, including virtual teams.
• Excellent negotiation and collaboration skills with a demonstrated ability to think strategically, synthesize complex information and develop innovative influencing approaches.
• Strong communication skills with a demonstrated ability to communicate successfully with players in all segments of the humanitarian field, including high level decision-makers.
• Leads independently on fast-paced issues, tight deadlines and juggle competing demands.
• Ability to travel internationally including support to field programmers in remote and challenging environments.

Required travel and/or work environment accommodations

• Ability to travel to/within domestically and Internationally as required.
• Work hours are often in excess of 12 hours per day during difficult periods of the response.
• Responses are often mounted in insecure or natural disaster-prone contexts, which may disrupt normal work patterns and generate staff safety issues.
• Work and housing environments may at times be well below normal standards in terms of facilities, equipment, food availability and hygiene.

Required Language(s)

Effective written and verbal communication in English. Other UN languages such as French, Arabic, Spanish, and Portuguese, are preferred. Local languages relevant to the Response's context are a plus.