Advocacy Advisor

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborating with the Geographic Lead, RISE and Opportunity teams in driving forward advocacy in relation to OSF Opportunities, key relationships, and critical priorities for a given geography.
• Represent OSF’s leadership in high-level policy events and processes. Develop and manage key relationships with intergovernmental institutions, governments, senior policymakers and economic, political, social and cultural leaders.
• Where appropriate, serve as OSF’s spokesperson on specific issues as designated by the geographic lead, MDs, or ELT
• Manage the coordination of advocacy strategies and partners across all Opportunities as well as aligning/linking up with and where appropriate leading global advocacy initiatives
• Develop and manage tools, tactics and partnerships for advocacy, and advise leadership accordingly
• Design advocacy strategies for Opportunities and lead on delivery as needed, including by being ‘embedded’ in an opportunity team or cross-opportunity flagship projects or big events/moments
• Create messaging and build narrative tools and approaches
• Design and implement appropriate MEL tools for measuring the impact of advocacy interventions

Essential Qualifications

• Educated to a degree-level (or equivalent)

Essential Experience

• Proven prior external advocacy experience in an international organization (public or private)
• Demonstrated experience of creating and measuring impact with designing advocacy strategies for a global organization on a wide range of issues.
• Knowledge and experience working across the range of issues related to the 19 OSF Opportunities and the OSF mission, in roles that have required the consideration, development and implementation of varied advocacy tactics to achieve moments of progress in public policy.
• Understanding of various tools, methods, approaches, and tactics for doing advocacy in challenging contexts within the global north and south
• Understanding of Campaign research, design, and implementation in the particular geographic context
• Experience in developing and implementing creative MEL for campaigns and advocacy across different movements, themes and contexts.

Desirable Experience

• Depending on position, geographical regional experience in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe/Eurasia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Middle East/North Africa, United States within a geography or set of themes/opportunities based on set goals.
• Manage staff and consultants, and contribute to team culture and development

Key internal relationships

• Director Programs; Leadership/EO; strategic capabilities
• Key external relationships
• External advocacy partners

Functional Competencies:

• Review and evaluate recommendations and requirements and to develop appropriate plans for self and others or deliver actions required.
• Assimilate and understand data and information from various sources to draw appropriate conclusions and make relevant recommendations.
• Apply appropriate analytical processes and procedures to support work outputs.
• Interpret and apply knowledge of laws.
• Obtain consensus between two or more parties who may have different interests, for the benefit of the organization. Negotiation may be with internal or external parties.
• Developing and implementing a strategic, organized and/or sustained effort to influence decisionmakers and those who influence them to enact or shape specific laws, public policies, practices, norms and/or attitudes in support of open society.
• Developing and/or implementing the strategy for an intervention made up of multiple coordinated activities (e.g., advocacy meetings, coalition building, grassroots/community mobilization, engaging unlikely allies, driving narrative change, and public communications) that are intended to re-enforce each other and drive towards achieving a defined outcome.
• Applying a set of well-defined practices and methodologies to document, understand, assess, and improve programs, policies, projects and teams over time.
• Make the case for and shape policy action or reform.
• Catalyzing collaboration amongst cross-sector actors toward shared goals and actions

Personal Competencies:

• The ability to communicate and deliver information verbally in a clear, concise and compelling manner.
• The ability and skill to express ideas, request actions and/or formulate plans or policies using writing skills.
• Establishes and nurtures relationships with external parties; exercises considerable discretion, often on sensitive topics; works independently of supervisor in carrying out most tasks, except matters concerning strategic direction.
• Commitment to continuous learning and growth in the areas of diversity, equality, inclusion, antiracism, and social justice
• Commitment to listening and working with humility and ways of working that are respectful to all people and that are respectful to all people and support space and voice for all diverse perspectives in our workplace.