Syria Resilience Initiative – Advocacy & Policy Lead At CARE USA

JOB SUMMARY:

The Syria Resilience Initiative (SRI) is a partnership of organizations working together to increase the resilience of people affected by the conflict. We work alongside Syrians to recover their livelihoods and identify new opportunities; find innovative ways to overcome the challenges they face; and foster stronger, inclusive, and supportive communities. The SRI is led by three multi-mandate agencies – CARE, IRC, and Mercy Corps – who have been on the ground in Syria for over a decade, working together with local and international partners in all geographies and areas of control to help Syrians overcome repeated shocks and stresses.
The SRI is seeking an experienced and motivated Advocacy and Policy Lead to lead the SRI’s advocacy and influencing efforts within the wider humanitarian sector in Syria. S/He will work with SRI partners to produce joint content for advocacy, engage in and contribute to relevant forums on behalf of the SRI, create partnerships to increase SRI’s leadership and influence within the sector, and organize events and opportunities to share SRI messages on resilience-building in Syria. The Lead will coordinate and engage with the SRI partners’ Advocacy representatives to take forward these efforts.

The Advocacy and Policy Lead will have a minimum of 8 years’ experience in an advocacy role within the NGO sector, preferably in the Syrian humanitarian context. S/He will have produced policy briefs and developed advocacy messages for donor and peer audiences, organized events, be a confident spokesperson, have experience using social media for professional purposes, and be able to lead stakeholders to influence policy and strategy. S/he should be a strategic thinker and a ‘doer’, with the ability to identify strategic opportunities and make them happen.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Advocacy planning and strategy

• Develop the SRI’s Advocacy & Influencing Strategy and core messages, Advocacy Action Plan and Advocacy Calendar, engaging SRI partners in development.
• Ensure the Strategy and Action Plan are implemented and reviewed annually.
• Coordinate the SRI Advocacy Working Group, comprising partner Advocacy Lead representatives.
• Identify influencing opportunities and prepare plans for SRI engagement in these opportunities, working with the SRI Advocacy Working Group.

Produce and share content for influencing the Syrian humanitarian sector and stakeholders

• Identify relevant content (blogs, papers, social media, statements, etc.) for influencing opportunities and develop workplans to produce them, in collaboration with the Advocacy Working Group.
• Produce policy briefs, joint position statements, talking points or other advocacy materials and secure sign-off from SRI partners.
• Oversee maintenance and updates to SRI media channels (website, X, etc.), providing relevant and current content.
• Work with Program Quality and Learning Lead to generate content and information that serves as evidence for SRI core messages and influencing.
• Closely monitor policy issues, access and security, regional politics, humanitarian coordination and other issues that may impact the humanitarian situation and response in Syria, and where relevant prepare SRI positions.
• Provide comments and inputs on behalf of SRI into strategic materials produced by forums, donors, governments, etc.
• Ensure contractual communications deliverables for donors are on time and of high quality, maintaining a clear process relating to content generation and dissemination.

Engagement with sector forums, donors and other external stakeholders

• Support the Consortium Director in engagements with donors on policy and strategic issues for Syria, the humanitarian response, and early recovery and resilience programming in Syria.
• Plan and coordinate the SRI’s involvement in the annual Brussels Syria conference, and other events and meetings led by donors, NGOs, UN or other stakeholders.
• Build relations with coordination mechanisms (e.g. SIRF, NGO Forums, Working Groups, Clusters) and other humanitarian actors and stakeholders for cooperation on messaging, advocacy and influencing.

Organize and coordinate SRI-led advocacy initiatives

• Identify opportunities for campaigns, events, roundtables or other advocacy opportunities that SRI could initiate and lead in order to inform and influence humanitarian actors, UN, donors and policy makers.
• Include these opportunities in the Advocacy Action Plan and Advocacy Calendar.
• Coordinate and organize these events, working with the SRI partners Advocacy Working Group.
• Manage the publicity, promotion and logistics of these events, working with the PMU Senior Programs and MEL Officer.

Other relevant duties and responsibilities assigned by the manager

Internal Relationship:

• SRI Program Management Unit team members

External Relationship:

• SRI partner advocacy leads; donors; humanitarian Syria working groups, forums and clusters; international and Syrian response actors and NGOs; UN agencies.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Degree in communications, advocacy, international development, international relations, or any other related technical field. An equivalent combination of education and work experience may also be considered.
• Minimum 5 years work experience in policy analysis, communications or advocacy.
• Minimum 3 years of experience in the Syria context, Middle East or countries with similar fragile contexts.
• Strong background working on advocacy with INGOs and familiarity with key humanitarian coordination forums/mechanisms and stakeholders.
• Experience collaborating and coordinating with multiple agencies to conduct joint advocacy and influencing.
• Proven diplomacy skills and ability to articulate clearly, with impact and respect.
• Excellent networking skills and ability to form productive relationships with key stakeholders.
• Excellent writing, editing, and speaking standards in English.
• Experience producing influential pieces and events, policy briefs, talking points and social media (preferably to donors and humanitarian actors).
• Ability to work under pressure, and in highly politicized and rapidly changing contexts.
• High level of organization and prioritization skills – able to handle and deliver multiple deadlines and tasks simultaneously.
• Demonstrated ability as a strategic thinker, an identifier of opportunities and an implementer.
• Results and output focused.
• Ability to work well with diverse teams, build trust and respect among colleagues