Advocacy and Media Manager At Save the Children

ROLE PURPOSE: The Advocacy and Media Manager will be primary responsible in the development and delivery of IRAQ Country Office’s ACCM strategy that is aligned to the organization’s mission, global advocacy and campaign initiatives, and the Country Strategic Plan and priorities, whilst ensuring it is high quality, impactful and well resourced, to bring about policy and social change. S/he will also take lead in designing and delivering innovative advocacy, influencing and Media strategies. To influence policies, decisions and practices to achieve positive and lasting change for children in IRAQ.

The function will also be responsible for maintaining a positive public image of Save the Children by developing and sharing of quality information and other communication materials, managing and updating social media platform and supporting other staff members to achieve brand consistency in line with organizational policy standards and donor requirements and providing technical advice and support to colleagues across departments, including senior management.

S/he will work closely with the Regional Office and members across the Save the Children movement to ensure joined-up advocacy plans and messages and to collaborate on opportunities to involve children in Iraq in regional and global advocacy initiatives. The post holder will also be responsible for positioning Save the Children as the leading organisation on children’s issues in Iraq through external representation, networking and relationship-building with decision-makers, UN agencies, and local and national partner NGOs and INGOs.

S/he will act as Media focal Point for the Country Office, taking a strategic view of media opportunities and requests, including assessing considerations of reputational risk and child safeguarding, and working with the Campaigns and Communications Officer to raise the profile of Save the Children’s work with and for children in Iraq.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE: Reports to: Director of Program Development &Quality & Advocacy- PDQA Staff reporting to this post: Campaigns and Communications Officer Budget Responsibilities: None Role Dimensions: (e.g. complexity, relationships, communication with stakeholders)

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: Advocacy:

* Lead the development and implementation of the 2022-25 ACCM strategy, coordinating with relevant stakeholders across Save the Children and key partners. * Coordinate and lead the development of advocacy plans and messages, in coordination with the Regional Office, relevant global policy and advocacy colleagues, and other country offices in the region as needed. * Draft and distribute high-quality reports, policy briefings, and letters to government, policymakers, and other stakeholders. * Lead on the development and implementation of impactful research and advocacy products related to the strategic priorities of the Country Office, for use at the country, regional and international levels. * Ensure that all advocacy messages, documents, and strategies are evidence-based, drawn from our programme experience, and where possible reflect the input and engagement of children we work with. * Provide technical leadership and steer to senior management and other departments around priority initiatives and events as required. * Work closely with the Campaigns and Communications Officer to ensure close integration of advocacy and campaigns approaches and messaging. * Develop and maintain relations with key advocacy coordination groups across local, national, and international organizations in Iraq, providing input and support to joined up advocacy plans and activities. * In line with Save the Children International’s policies on Safeguarding, work closely with child safeguarding and protection colleagues to ensure that all children involved in advocacy, campaigns, communications, and media work are protected from any potential harm or repercussions.

Capacity Building, Representation, Partnerships and Networking: * Identify key opportunities and events for the Iraq Country Office to position itself as a leading organization for children’s issues in the country. * Represent Iraq Country Office at high-level events and roundtables & key policy/advocacy events * Network and build strategic relationships with external actors in policy making, civil society and NGO and INGO community. * Support in identifying and establishing partnerships with other CSOs that will advocate for and deliver our priorities and ambition for children. * Take lead in provision of capacity-building on advocacy and influencing to key staff and partners * Support Program managers and Technical Leads in engagement with the government and other key stakeholders * Build and maintain effective, collaborative strategic relationships with the government, UN agencies and other national and international agencies to influence them on child rights programming * Perform any other duties as requested by line manage.

Media: * Proactively establish and manage relationships with key national media contacts. * Assess and evaluate media requests, balancing opportunities with risks. * Provide advice and support to the Campaigns and Communications Officer to deliver media visits, content collection trips, etc., as needed. * Write press releases and other media materials suitable for national and/or international media, as appropriate. * Liaise with the Save the Children Global Media Unit on key messages, narratives, and anticipation of risks. * Ensure the Country Director is adequately briefed and prepared to participate in any media interviews. * On occasion, act as the media spokesperson for the Country Office. * Oversee the implementation of the Social Media strategy by the Campaigns and Communications Officer. * Overall responsibility for ensuring Save the Children child safeguarding policies and processes are followed in relation to all media activity

People management and development: * Day-to-day direct line management of the Campaigns and Communications Officer. * Ensure all Country Office staff participating in/supporting ACCM activities involving children receive regular and up-to-date safeguarding training. * Undertake regular performance management, including setting of annual performance goals and objectives, conducting quarterly performance reviews, addressing under-performance and challenges, and provision of constructive feedback and support to ensure delivery of results in line with work plans and deliverables; * Support the professional development of direct line reports, including the identification of development needs and opportunities, such as coaching/mentoring, training, stretch assignments to build and maintain technical skills and competencies required, as well as build staff capacity at all levels to ensure they are able to be effective ambassadors for SCI work * Ensure capacity building of relevant Country Office staff in meaningful and effective child participation.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning: * Ensure that ACCM strategy implementation and impact are effectively monitored and evaluated in line with team MEAL processes, so that we continuously improve the way we work for children. * Feed into Country Office, regional and global MEAL reporting systems and mechanisms.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice) Accountability: * holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values * holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved. Ambition: * sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same * widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others * future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale. Collaboration: * builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters * values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength * approachable, good listener, easy to talk to. Creativity: * develops and encourages new and innovative solutions * willing to take disciplined risks. Integrity: * honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS Degree in relevant field such as Social Science, Human Rights, Governance, Development policies etc

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS. Essential * Five years working experience in advocacy, campaigns, communications, and media engagements * Strong understanding of approaches for communicating information to a wide range of audiences * Ability to multi task, work under pressure and to meet tight deadlines, responsive to external requests and strong team player. * Strong understanding of context and Government policy processes. * Excellent writing and communication skills with excellent command of the English language * Proven ability to communicate verbally with a wide range of actors and audiences * Ability to review and edit reports and products (in English) for dissemination and publications * Experience in identifying target audiences and devising engagement and advocacy strategies to engage, inform and motivate current and potential partners * Previous experience of working on child rights issues in a humanitarian and/or development context. * Excellent writing skills for the preparation of newsletters, brochures, documents, reports and correspondence * Strong understanding of and experience in different advocacy methods and tactics. * Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies. * Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in a matrix management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures

The Organisation We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard.

We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030: * No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday * All children learn from a quality basic education and that, * Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children. We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information: Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations.

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Save the Children does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process.