The Ugandan Jobline

Job Title:   Director of Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media (ACCM) – Re-advertised

Organisation: Save the Children International

Duty Station:  Kampala, Uganda

About US:

Save the Children International is an international relief organization that was established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic opportunities, as well as providing emergency aid in natural disasters, war, and other conflicts.

Job Summary: The Director of Advocacy, Communications, Campaigns and Media (ACCM) leads the function responsible for Save the Children Uganda’s advocacy, campaigns, communications and media, in line with achieving the country strategic plan.

The postholder will focus on ACCM in our thematic and programmatic priorities of child protection, education (and particularly ensuring the safe return of all children to school), health and nutrition, and child poverty and child rights governance in development, humanitarian and nexus context.

As well as leading the country office’s Advocacy, Communications, Media and Campaigns functions, the Director will line manage the senior staff within the ACCM department, ensuring that they are aligned with country priorities and supporting the day-to-day operations of the country office.

As a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), the Director of Advocacy, Communications, Campaigns and Media (ACCM) shares in the overall responsibility for the direction and coordination of the Country Office (CO).  The ACCM Director will work in close collaboration with senior leaders across functions, but especially with the Country Director, Programme Development and Quality Director and the thematic leads. The ACCM Director will also ensure that Uganda’s ACCM strategy is aligned with regional and global priorities – and will use this network to maximize our impact for children in country.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

As a member of the Senior Management Team

• Assume leadership of the CO; support the development and implementation of the Country Strategic Plan and the achievement of the organizational goals.
• Help establish, maintain and improve active and regular working relationships with host government authorities, partner agencies including humanitarian and development donors, and (I)NGOs.
• Ensure the CO complies with all organizational policies, procedures and standards.
• Ensure that all required support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with the rules and principles during emergencies.
• Lead on design and implementation of a coherent organizational structure that fits and serves the organization’s practices and programmatic ambitions.
• Ensure that ACCM principles are fully integrated into Save the Children programs in Uganda, aligned with ACCM strategy, and regularly monitored and adjusted.

Advocacy The Uganda CO’s thematic priorities are education, child protection, child poverty, child rights governance and health and nutrition. For these focus areas, the following responsibilities apply:

• Define key advocacy opportunities and targets at local, national, regional and international levels and lead, mobilize and coordinate local, national, regional and international advocacy colleagues to influence these, as appropriate.
• Collaborate with thematic advisors to define and implement research agenda which will serve as evidence for advocacy strategy and operational plans at local and national level.
• Collaborate with thematic advisors on policy analysis and lead the development and update of policy position papers and other advocacy activities to influence national policies and strategies, specific legislation and resources for children and influence public opinion on national policy implementation across our thematic priorities.
• Liaise with field-based staff, key INGO, UN and other stakeholders in-country to ensure Save the Children has up-to-date information and policy analysis on the humanitarian, development and human rights situation.
• Support the Country Office to update and monitor advocacy risk assessments for the activities and objectives across the programmatic portfolio and define adequate mitigating strategies.
• Ensure that all response related advocacy messages, documents and strategies are evidence-based, of high quality, authorized by the Country Director when necessary, and approved according to the Save the Children sign-off procedures.
• Position Save the Children nationally as the leading advocate on children’s rights in Uganda.

Communications & Media Oversee communications function to complete the following, in line with day-to-day office functions, donor requirements and country strategic plan:

• Production of accurate, clear and consistent information and communications outputs that highlight the development and humanitarian situation in Uganda including case studies and feature stories.
• Produce visually appealing and brand-aligned external marketing materials that support our campaign, advocacy and programmatic priorities.
• Ensure all materials are designed and published according to Save the Children’s brand guidelines.
• Lead in the development of multimedia and social media materials, including photos, videos, infographics, animations, etc.
• Lead the development and production of communications materials for specific projects as required by projects, determined by the communications calendar.
• Ensure that there is a clear social media plan and keep social media and the website updated with high quality and timely content.
• Support the development of program proposals and budgets where they relate to communications activities.
• Build relationships with key media houses to ensure timely placement of key stories as required.
• Ensure high-quality internal communications materials across our internal channels. Working alongside HR and other teams, promote sharing, learning, and interactive dialogue among staff.

Campaigns: Oversee campaigns function to complete the following, in line with day-to-day office functions, donor requirements and country strategic plan:

• Identify opportunities and potential partners, alliances and coalitions for campaigning to meet our advocacy and/or programmatic priorities.
• Ensure campaigning activities are budgeted for within programme proposals where relevant.
• Design, plan and deliver Save the Children’s campaign agenda via popular mobilization events, high level advocacy events, online presence and media collaboration.
• Support design, planning, delivery and monitoring of child and youth led campaigns.
• Integrate Save the Children global campaigns and other global/regional campaigns where possible and relevant.
• Provide content and contributions to global and regional campaigns where possible.
• In collaboration with the MEAL team and project staff, establish monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for campaigns and ensure that implementation and impact are effectively monitored and evaluated.

Human Resource Management and Development

• Ensure regular coordination meetings are held across ACCM to ensure integration of strategy across all functions, especially the PDQ and Operations departments.
• Support Develop to Perform (DTP) process for all line managed staff, ensuring that all staff have development plans in place and are receiving support.
• Set workplans of all line managed staff, with regular one on ones to discuss the progress of milestones.
• Represent ACCM during regular SMT meetings and ensure perspectives of staff are voiced.
• Build the broader advocacy capacity of Save the Children in Uganda by providing technical support to programme teams and to the business development unit, especially through programme design phase.
• Ensure that advocacy positions and ACCM activities are written into all relevant program proposals and corresponding resources are allocated within budgets.
• Ensure good performance and quarterly reporting on advocacy and campaign funding KPIs to the regional office.

Country Office Strategic Leadership and Representation

• Lead the development/revision implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the SCUG advocacy strategy (and operational plan) that aligns directly with the Country Strategic Plan and the SCI global advocacy agenda.
• Lead the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the SCUG media, communications and campaigning strategy and plans, including speaking out on children’s rights.
• Work closely with Business Development and technical specialists to develop new projects and ensure that advocacy and communication are strategically incorporated and adequately resourced and budgeted for in new proposals.
• Represent Save the Children at appropriate country-level working groups.
• Support the Country Director and other relevant Country Office staff in high-level advocacy work towards relevant authorities and key targets.
• Ensure coordination of advocacy messages and activities between the field offices, Country Office and the regional and international levels.
• Build strong networks and relationships with internal and external stakeholders in Uganda.

Child Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Ensure meaningful and ethical participation of children and promotion of their voice in ACCM activities.
• Work with safeguarding staff in Uganda to ensure specific and contextual country level guidance is available to protect children who participate in media or communications work from exploitation, increased vulnerability, or any form of harm or indignity.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The applicant must hold a Bachelor’s degree in communications/Public Affairs, Law or International Relations – or any other any related field
• Overseas experience is strongly preferred.
• 10+ years prior experience working in advocacy on humanitarian or development issues, child rights, and human rights.
• Excellent skills in advocating towards government officials, humanitarian actors and UN agencies in developing countries.
• Proven experience of and strong skills in developing and implementing advocacy strategies.
• Proven experience using public engagement and mobilization to achieve advocacy objectives.
• Experience developing highly engaging, creative and effective communications and social media products to achieve advocacy objectives.
• Understanding of NGO, UN and donor operations at country level.
• Demonstrated leadership skills and experience building teams.
• Experience in working with other NGOs and coordinating inter-agency advocacy activities, strategies and products.
• High-level analytical and strategic thinking skills, strong research skills and good attention to detail.
• Cultural awareness and ability to build relationships quickly with a wide variety of people.
• Patience, adaptability, flexibility, and ability to improvise and remain responsive and to communicate clearly and effectively under pressure.
• Excellent planning, management and coordination skills, with the ability to organize a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities.
• Strong leadership skills with an ability to seek people’s views while also taking responsibility to determine the most appropriate course of action and to act decisively.
• Strong communication (written and spoken), and interpersonal skills in English, with experience in managing multicultural teams.
• Strong awareness and knowledge of the Uganda context.
• Prior experience working in office and field environments in developing countries.
• Proven skills in media work, including interviews on Radio and TV.
• Knowledge of child rights and international humanitarian law.

How to Apply:

All candidates who wish to join Save the Children should apply online at the link below.

Click Here

Deadline: 18^th August 2023

For more of the latest jobs, please visit https://www.theugandanjobline.com or find us on our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/UgandanJobline

Related Jobs