NGO JOBS

Organization: Mercy Corps
Country: Iraq
Closing date: 04 Oct 2013

PROGRAM/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps has been operating in Iraq since 2003 and currently implements programs with funding from USAID, US Department of State, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, the UN and others. The organization has staff in three regional offices (Basrah, Sulaimaniyah and Baghdad) and several sub-offices throughout the country. While much of Mercy Corps’ work in Iraq to date has focused on addressing the emergency needs of the Iraqi people, increasingly Mercy Corps is focusing its efforts on helping Iraq build a new future through development programs.

With the common goal of strengthening communities and local governance, Mercy Corps’ current activities span many sectors, including economic recovery and market systems, negotiation and peace building, women and youth empowerment and civil society development. During this critical period of transition in Iraq, Mercy Corps is working closely with its Iraqi partners (government and non-government), local communities, and the private sector to develop strategies for successfully transitioning from humanitarian oriented activities to approaches that emphasize good governance, economic development, and peace-building. Since October 2012, Mercy Corps is implementing the $75 million ‘Broadening Participation through Civil Society’ program.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps and consortium partners are implementing the three-year Broadening Participation through Civil Society (BPCS) program,with the goal that Iraq’s democratic systems become more participatory and dynamic as a result of civil society sustainably deepening citizens’ social and political engagement; and the program objective to foster an increasingly professional, interactive and interconnected Iraqi civil society that offers greater opportunities for citizens to contribute to and benefit from the country’s development. These are achieved through five closely inter-related results: IR 1) Democratic engagement of citizens increased; IR 2) Institutional capacity of CSOs/NGOs increased; IR 3) Impact of civil society on public policy increased; IR 4) Enabling environment for CSOs improved; and IR 5) Special projects – civilian war victims assisted. Mercy Corps works closely with international and national NGO partners and with CSOs/NGOs that are part of the sub-grants component.

The Advocacy Technical Advisor position is a temporary position within Mercy Corps. The Advisor will support the advocacy component of BPCS and lead implementation of key advocacy activities under the third intermediate result (IR 3) with the aim to increase the impact of civil society on public policy. The proposed activities target Iraqi CSOs that are part of the Organization Development (OD) component (IR 2) and/or that receive a subgrant under one of the Advocacy and Elections RFA rounds (IR 1 and 3).

It is anticipated that the Advisor will work in Iraq over the following periods: 1) Approximately six weeks in August/September 2013; 2) Approximately two weeks in November 2013; Approximately two weeks in January 2014; 4) Approximately two weeks in March 2014; and 5) Approximately three weeks in May 2014.

The overall objectives of the Advisor are to:

• Support specific advocacy initiatives to engage and influence the political process on key reform issues as well as quality of life issues related to service delivery.
• Conduct trainings and oversee implementation of advocacy activities such as town halls, policy forums and legislative drafting conferences integrated with the Advocacy subgrants.
• Optimize the success of advocacy activities, by working closely with the OD Technical Director and Deputy Chief of Party/Senior Program Director to ensure integration of the advocacy component with the RFA, OD and Media related work.
• Build a cadre of competent national staff, specialized on advocacy, who can continue carrying out advocacy initiatives during Year 3 of the project.

ADVOCACY APPROACH:

Through grants and technical assistance initiatives BPCS will support Iraqi CSOs to engage and influence the political process on key policy reform and quality of life issues related to the delivery of key public services. In consultation with CSOs, key reform issues will be identified that: a) aim at improving essential public services; b) carry wide public, non-partisan support; and c) have so far been impeded by an absence of civic action or pressure on political leadership. Through the subgrant mechanism grants will be awarded to CSOs for issue-based advocacy campaigns and subgrantees will receive specialized technical assistance to help them develop and articulate appropriate policy solutions to public service delivery problems.

All BPCS program components will be integrated to provide effective support to the core initiative through grants and technical assistance to CSOs pursuing issue-based advocacy. In particular, BPCS will integrate advocacy initiatives into elections-related activities when such activities advance key policy reforms. This approach aims at raising awareness of the general public and voters, but also includes applying pressure on political parties, coalitions and election candidates not only to adopt public positions on the importance of key reforms, but also to propose concrete policies in their campaign platforms that could be carried out after the elections. Post-elections, the focus of the CSO subgrantees will shift to monitoring government effectiveness in delivering on promised reforms to service delivery.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Advocacy Framework Development and Capacity Building

• Development of the overall Advocacy framework addressing approach, structure, work plan, curriculum needs, learning outcomes, etc.
• Development of a detailed Advocacy work plan including all training and technical assistance activities including preparation, implementation, follow up, evaluation, etc.
• Development of a Capacity Building plan for the three Advocacy national staff
• Capacity building of the Advocacy national staff.

Strengthening Advocacy Skills of CSOs

• Organizing of five skills building advocacy training rounds to improve CSOs ability to plan and conduct advocacy programs that impact public policy. The trainings will be for a total of 60 CSOs under the advocacy grants component and 20 CSOs under the Organizational Development (OD) component. Each round will include 16 NGOs and consist of three modules for a total of 160 participants (two per CSOs, 32 participants per round).
  • Module 1: Foundational Advocacy Skills (3 days)

This three-day training module will transfer skills to identify and assess local needs, build strategic relationships with like-minded organizations or individual activists, and communicate their efforts to a wider audience. Workshop topics would include: how to conduct issue-based research in order to identify community priorities; how to identify strategic relationships and assess their areas of influence; how to organize issue-based forums to gain feedback from community members and discuss potential policies; and how to create a message to share information with strategic partners.

• Module 2: Planning and Carrying out Advocacy Campaigns (4 days)

This four-day training module will build on module one and provide skills to create and implement a full-scale advocacy campaign. Training topics would include: how to organize and implement advocacy efforts; how to analyze research or outreach information; how to define community priorities and policy needs; and how to conduct media and public relations—using both traditional and new social media techniques—in order to advance the goals of the campaign.

• Module 3: Applying Advocacy for Policy Development (4 days)

The third and final advocacy module will be a four-day training and teach participants skills to apply advocacy efforts to inform and influence policy development. Participants will access the findings and relationships from their advocacy efforts to translate community needs into policy proposals. Training topics consist of legislative drafting and analysis; negotiation skills for political outreach and policy debates; basic principles for policy development; and policy monitoring and advocacy campaign evaluation.

• Organizing of five, three-day ‘watchdog’ seminars/workshops for 30 CSOs under the Advocacy Grants component (three seminars) and for 20 CSOs under the OD component (two seminars), for a total of 150 participants (three per CSO).
• In close cooperation with Mercy Corps Iraq and HQ, development of the advocacy and watchdog training curriculum to meet the needs of the grant recipients and OD participants.

Applying Advocacy Skills of CSOs

• Organizing three, two-day TOT workshops to assist 30 CSO under the Grants component with organization and implementation of town halls and/or policy forums, for a total of 90 participants (three per CSO).
• Providing technical assistance for up to 60 CSOs that may propose legislative initiatives at the national or provincial level as part of their advocacy grant activities. Organizing three, two-day Legislative Initiatives workshops for 60 CSOs, totaling 120 participants (two per CSO).
• In close cooperation with Mercy Corps Iraq and HQ, developing the curriculum for the town halls and/or policy forums TOT to meet the needs of the grant recipients and OD participants.
• In close cooperation with Mercy Corps Iraq and HQ, developing guidelines for technical assistance/training to CSOs on legislative initiatives.

Other Duties

• Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to bring credit to Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its humanitarian mission.
• Any other duties as required by the OD Technical Director.

Organizational Learning:

As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve - we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries:

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts towards accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: None

ACCOUNTABILITY

REPORTS DIRECTLY TO: OD Technical Director

WORKS DIRECTLY WITH: Country Director, Deputy Country Director, Deputy Chief of Party, Senior Program Director, OD Technical Director, national Advocacy team, Grants and Compliance, Human Resources, Admin, Finance and Procurement staff, as well as staff of other programs implemented in Iraq

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

• Masters Degree in International Development, Social Sciences, Project Management or related field and at least ten years work experience in the field of international development.
• At least 5 years’ experience in policy and advocacy work within an international setting. Ideally, the candidate has relevant experience running campaigns or projects him/herself.
• Experience writing and delivering Advocacy-themed training modules.
• Experience working closely with national CSOs (in the Middle East).
• Demonstrated experience and ability to professionally and appropriately represent the organization and negotiate and defend Mercy Corps’ interests with a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Demonstrated attention to detail, ability to follow procedures, meet deadlines and work independently and cooperatively with team members is required.
• Experience with staff training and mentoring.
• Excellent organizational, administration, and management skills.
• Excellent English writing skills.

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The successful candidate will have demonstrated ability to lead and communicate effectively with team members of varied work styles, follow procedures, and meet deadlines and will show flexibility and creativity in planning and problem solving. S/he will have proven ability to learn quickly, take initiative, and be accountable for results and at the same time, understand the larger picture while remaining focused on the details. The Advisor will have an ability to live within a complex security and political situation and to follow strict security protocols and will be able to work both independently and as part of a team.

LIVING CONDITIONS/ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS:

The staff member will be based in Baghdad, Iraq (with possible travel to Sulemaniyah, Erbil and/or Basrah) and will be housed in group housing (or hotel where housing is unavailable). When in Baghdad, the team member should expect unreliable electricity, and periodic inability to move around the town/area due to insecurity. This is an unaccompanied post.

Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours when deployed in a field posting or on a visit/TDY to a field posting. Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

How to apply:

APPLY VIA URL:
http://mercycorps.silkroad.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.dspjo...