Advocacy Manager

Are you passionate about bringing the voices of the crisis-affected people to the forefront? 

Are you committed to helping people obtain access humanitarian assistance? 

We are now looking for an experienced manager to lead our advocacy work in one of our biggest humanitarian operations. Read below for more details about the position and we look forward to receiving your application.  

NRC in Afghanistan

Afghanistan remains a protracted and complex emergency. Conflict-induced displacement and recurrent natural disasters occur at the same time as ongoing return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) established operations in Afghanistan in 2003. We respond across Afghanistan, including in hard-to-access provinces, by providing  Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance, Education, Shelter, Food & Livelihoods, Camp Management and Emergency programmes.  For the past 2 years the  NRC Afghanistan programme has grown exponentially. Funding has grown to over 190 million NOK in 2018, with a dedicated team of over 1400 staff, in 5 areas offices and 8 field offices, our operations are spread across Afghanistan reaching highly volatile environments with lifesaving assistance and protection. NRC has been a champion for principled humanitarian action and reaching affected people in hard-to-reach areas. The government, UN agencies, donors and other stakeholders now recognize NRC as one of the most significant and important humanitarian players in Afghanistan. 

About the position

The Advocacy Manager provides overall leadership, management and strategic direction to NRC’s policy and advocacy work in Afghanistan. S/he is responsible for identifying priority protection concerns for advocacy, strengthening the incorporation of advocacy into all aspects of NRC’s activities and guiding NRC’s advocacy messaging to promote an improved protection and humanitarian response environment in Afghanistan.

The Advocacy Manager reports to the Country Director. 

Responsibilities

• Identify and coordinate NRC’s advocacy response to prioritized protection issues both within the country and internationally
• Develop and implement country-specific advocacy strategy, aligned to overall country strategy
• Develop and implement a media and communications strategy aligned to the overall country strategy
• Line management, including development of staff
• Ensure advocacy coherence and reinforce effective synergies between programmes and advocacy by working closely with programme staff to integrate advocacy into programme planning and implementation.
• Ensure systematic training on advocacy and communication and build capacity of technical staff
• Provide high quality protection analysis on key humanitarian and displacement trends and prepare evidenced-based policy briefing papers, policy position statements and other public-facing advocacy products when strategic and relevant
• Liaise with other NRC Country, Regional and Global Representation Offices to coordinate the strategic delivery of advocacy messaging and to maximize impact
• Advise on media lines and media strategy, ensuring potential risks associated with NRC’s positions are assessed and sign-off procedures are adhered to
• Represent NRC to key stakeholders, strengthen strategic advocacy networks and identify opportunities to advocate NRC’s position

Download the detailed Job Description at the bottom of this page

Our ideal candidate has: 

• Experience from working in complex and volatile contexts
• Post-graduate with minimum 5 years of relevant Manager/ Adviser experience within the humanitarian field
• Solid understanding of international legal and policy processes relating to displacement
• Documented/proven results related to the position’s responsibilities, particularly in analysis, drafting of messages, coordination and networking
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
• Strong managerial and interpersonal skills
• Knowledge about own leadership skills/profile
• Fluency in English, both written and verbal
• Professional knowledge about protection principles and advocacy, and the use of media for public advocacy
  
  

What we offer: 

• Contract period: 18 months
• Salary/benefits: According to NRC’s salary scale and terms and conditions.
• Duty station: Kabul, Afghanistan 
• Grade 9  (See the NRC Global Job Grade Below) 
• Travel: Some travel expected to Afghanistan field offices and and internationally. 

Additional Information

This is an unaccompanied post/non family duty station, with shared housing/ accommodation of moderate standard. Due to the unstable security situation, recreational and social facilities are limited. All international staff working and residing in Afghanistan are obliged to pay income tax to the Afghanistan authorities.

Approved health certificate will be requested before contract start. Selected candidate need to provide certified University diplomas prior to applying for visa to Afghanistan.

NRC may be required to verify the identity of its partners and to check that its partners have not been involved in illegal activities.NRC reserves the right to use electronic screening tools for this purpose.

Please note that you are required to enter the geographical location for all your previous positions while registering your CV. There is no specific field for this information in our CV form, but you can use the "Company name" field for both company and location