Advocacy Officer – Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative At BRAC

Career with BRAC International

BRAC is an award-winning international non-governmental development organization, with the vision of a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination, where everyone has the opportunity to realize their potential. BRAC is a leader in developing and implementing cost-effective, evidence-based programs to assist poor and disadvantaged communities in low-income countries, including in conflict-prone and post-disaster settings. It is an organization of and for the people of the Global South, pioneering new development and social enterprise approaches to equip communities to achieve prosperity. As well as being the world’s biggest NGO by the number of staff and people directly reached, BRAC has regularly been ranked the number one NGO in the world by the Geneva-based NGO Advisor, an independent organization committed to highlighting innovation, impact, and governance in the non-profit sector. BRAC retained the top spot in 2020 among the top 500 NGOs for the fifth consecutive year.

BRAC was founded in Bangladesh in 1972 by Sir Fazle Hasan Abed. It started its first program outside of Bangladesh in Afghanistan in 2002 and has since reached more than 6.5 million people in 11 countries in Africa and Asia. BRAC has a holistic approach to development that uses a wide array of programs that include microfinance, education, health, agriculture, gender, and human rights. BRAC invests in communities’ own human and material resources, catalyzing lasting change and creating an ecosystem in which the poor have the chance to seize control of their own lives.

About the Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative

The Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (“UPGI”) is a global unit of BRAC that was founded in 2016 to build off the success of BRAC’s Ultra-Poor Graduation program in Bangladesh. BRAC UPGI aims to position the Graduation approach as a key driver to eradicate extreme poverty worldwide. It does this by:

• Advocating for uptake of the Graduation approach by policymakers, national governments, multilateral institutions, and non-governmental organizations; and
• Effective adaptation and implementation of the Graduation approach in countries around the world, supported through technical assistance and capacity strengthening for external stakeholders.

In 2002, BRAC pioneered the Ultra-Poor Graduation (“Graduation”) approach in Bangladesh – a holistic intervention to help people lift themselves from extreme poverty – after recognizing that existing poverty alleviation programs were not reaching the poorest people. Through the provision of livelihood assets, cash transfers, and continued mentoring and training, the Graduation approach addresses participants’ multidimensional needs within the local context and ‘graduates’ people from extreme poverty into sustainable livelihoods.

Graduation is an evidence-based, scalable intervention proven to break the poverty trap for the long term. So far, BRAC’s flagship Graduation program has impacted over 2 million Bangladeshi households—totaling over 9 million people. To help eradicate extreme poverty, BRAC UPGI is working to scale globally by integrating Graduation into existing government programs and help 21 million more people lift themselves from extreme poverty by 2026.

But BRAC UPGI cannot do it alone. This is beyond the means and capacity of a single organization- no matter how ambitious or innovative. Sustainability and scale demands change at the systems level with active government engagement. BRAC UPGI is committed to creating effective solutions that leverage the available resources and existing programming to achieve the long-term benefits demonstrated by Graduation. The organization is partnering with governments, as well as multilateral institutions, NGOs, and civil society, in countries where BRAC UPGI thinks it can have maximum impact and drive greater uptake for Graduation.

About the Position

The BRAC Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) seeks to hire an Advocacy Officer to support UPGI’s Policy and Advocacy Unit in their efforts to scale the Graduation approach through policy change. The position will support the administrative needs of the unit, as well as engage in broader strategy development and execution. The Advocacy Officer will report directly to the Head of Advocacy and will work closely with other team members to support the design and implementation of UPGI’s advocacy initiatives, particularly facilitating coordination and support for national level advocacy.

The candidate should have an interest in and exposure to policies and efforts related to poverty reduction, social protection, women’s empowerment, as well as a strong commitment to BRAC’s mission. Candidates with previous experience working in UPGI’s priority regions(Asia and Africa) are encouraged to apply, particularly those with experience in one or multiple UPGI priority countries (Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania).

While the position is remote and may be based globally, candidates based in or near a BRAC International office will be strongly considered, particularly in Kigali, Rwanda or Nairobi, Kenya. Irrespective of location, work hours would need to be flexible to overlap with the Eastern time zone.

Responsibilities:

• Support planning, development and implementation of advocacy strategies in partnership with global advocacy team members and UPGI national-focused colleagues.
• Support partnership cultivation efforts with key policy stakeholders, including but peer NGOs, multilateral organizations, donors, government officials, coalitions, and local CSOs
• Support efforts to ensure collaboration, coordination, and training for advocacy colleagues
• Report on developments, trends, shifts, and attitudes regarding Graduation and key policy agendas, including any shifts in the global development agenda.
• Conduct research to identify relevant policy initiatives as well as background research on advocacy partners and targets
• Draft advocacy material, including content for newsletters, reports, promotional materials, knowledge products, training materials, policy briefs, and talking points
• Work with MEL colleagues to establish metrics for measuring impact and to evaluate results and impact of advocacy activities
• Conduct administrative functions to support the Policy and Advocacy Unit, including scheduling meetings, arranging agendas, preparing meeting briefs, ensuring external meetings are entered in the CRM, etc
• Facilitate and support cross-functional collaboration with communications team, technical assistance team, UPGI leadership, and other BRAC and BRAC International colleagues as relevant
• Other duties as assigned.

Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation to achieve the program’s goals of safeguarding implementation.
• Practice, promote and endorse the issues of safeguarding policy among team members and ensure the implementation of safeguarding standards in every course of action.
• Follow the safeguarding reporting procedure in case any reportable incident takes place, and encourage others to do so

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required, Masters degree an advantage, with a preference given to candidates with degrees in international development, public policy or another relevant field
• Strong understanding of the development and poverty reduction sector, particularly related to financial inclusion and social protection, and familiarity with government systems
• Previous experience working in development and/or with governments in Africa or Asia(see priority countries above)
• 3-5 years of experience working in poverty reduction and development and advocacy preferred
• Strong ability to conduct research and communicate messages in a compelling way to multiple audiences
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively as part of a remote, multicultural team;
• Highly organized with the ability to take initiative and effectively manage competing work streams and deadlines
• Diplomatic, with strong interpersonal skills, and a high degree of cultural sensitivity and appreciation;
• Excellent writing and speaking skills in English required. Additional languages are a plus.