SAVE THE CHILDREN
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
ROLE PROFILE
JOB TITLE: Humanitarian Program Development and Advocacy Advisor
TEAM/PROGRAMME: Humanitarian
LOCATION: Yangon, Myanmar
GRADE: TBC
TYPE OF CONTRACT: 12 months fixed term
CHILD SAFEGUARDING:
Level 3 - the responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with or
access to children or young people
ROLE PURPOSE:
The Humanitarian Programme Development and Advocacy Advisor provides overall leadership,
vision, management and strategic direction to Save the Children’s humanitarian programme
development, policy and advocacy work in Myanmar. He/she is responsible for the development
and implementation of advocacy strategies that will influence government and other institutional
policies and practice to achieve positive and lasting changes to fulfil children’s rights and needs.
The post holder will lead the development of a funding strategy and grant proposals for the
humanitarian team, ensuring adequate resources are secured for humanitarian program activities
from both grants and the funds of SC members. This will include working closely with
Humanitarian Director and technical advisors, identifying strategic leads and concepts, which can
be designed into programs/projects that contribute to the overall strategy of SC Myanmar. The
post holder will also work closely with the Finance and Grants Manager to ensure that proposals,
reports and projects are developed and implemented in compliance with donor requirements.
He/she will also act as the focal person for humanitarian advocacy enquiries within in the Country
Office, from Save the Children International and individual Save the Children members, and within
the Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group. The function will involve advocacy on immediate
crisis and response activities as well as related longer term humanitarian issues affecting children
in Myanmar. The function will be part of and work closely with the Humanitarian Team in order to
ensure that key advocacy messages remain relevant to Save the Children’s programs, operations
and overall positioning within the sector, and to ensure message are adhered to at all levels.
He or she will play a central part in ensuring that Save the Children is a credible presence
internationally on Myanmar, and will also have an active role in cross-organisational advocacy
activities within Myanmar.
SCOPE OF ROLE:
Reports to: Director, Humanitarian and Recovery
Staff directly reporting to this post: None
KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY:
Programme Development
 Working closely with Humanitarian, PDQ teams and field teams, lead the development of
concept notes and funding proposals for humanitarian response and recovery. Develop a
funding strategy for the Humanitarian department, and contribute to the development
thematic plans and technical content of project proposals.
 Develop ideas and proposals for program based on analysis of the changing humanitarian
situation for children, such that the quality of submission to donors is improved and that
new proposals include appropriate research and analysis
 In close coordination with the Humanitarian Director ensure effective planning, including
contributing to annual operational plans and quarterly plans, to meet the objectives of the
strategic and thematic plans within the financial framework of the program.
 Seek and manage technical support from external people to develop high value and risk
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ROLE PROFILE
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funding proposal, as and when agreed by the Humanitarian Director.
Alongside the Humanitarian Director, represent SC to government, the UN and other
international agencies, donors and bodies, identifying opportunities to advocate SC’s
position and raise funds through building key stakeholder relationships.
Alongside the F&G Director, ensuring that SCI and SC members are kept appropriately
communicated on all aspects of SC humanitarian programmes.
Explore, with the Director PDQ and other team members, any potential research,
innovative and creative work that could be mainstreamed into our CAP
Advocacy Leadership and management
 Provide overall leadership, vision, strategic direction and management of the Save the
Children humanitarian policy and advocacy work
 Develop an overarching humanitarian policy and advocacy strategy for Myanmar, with
specific components on Rakhine and Kachin; and regularly review their relevance. If
needed, develop stand-alone strategies on Rakhine and Kachin.
 Lead on the development of relevant and realistic advocacy plans and coordinate their
effective implementation with the in-country Humanitarian Team and the Humanitarian
Advocacy Working Group.
 Ensure advocacy coherence and reinforce effective synergies between humanitarian
programmes and advocacy to maximise Save the Children impact for children in Myanmar
 Ensure that humanitarian advocacy is an integral part of Save the Children’s work to
achieve lasting change and ensure that advocacy approach and work is reflected in the
Country Strategic Plan (CSP), the Country Annual Plan (CAP) and programme strategies.
 Work with the programme team to ensure substantial integration of advocacy into holistic
programme planning and implementation, including training and mentoring of programme
staff in advocacy techniques
 Carry out advocacy capacity building with field staff and Save the Children colleagues, as
needed.
Advocacy tactics
 Establish on quarterly basis an advocacy calendar with key moments and opportunities
identified for humanitarian advocacy at national, regional and international levels (to be
updated on a monthly basis). Be alert to seize advocacy opportunities when and as they
arise.
 Prepare high-quality briefings, letters and other written material for internal and external
use, ensuring strong evidence-base in messaging and following agreed sign-off
procedures
 Provide analysis of how children have been affected, the national policy response, policy
framework and humanitarian environment, as well as of other factors such as UN
coordination, security and current and future challenges which have an impact on children
and their access to humanitarian assistance, health, education, and protection services.
 Provide high level representation for advocacy work in-country, with identified advocacy
partners, targets and influencers
 Support Save the Children Members and SCI to lobby decision-makers at high level in line
with Save the Children agreed advocacy messages (on an international level)
 Undertake and/or commission research on specific humanitarian issues affecting children
in Myanmar, to inform present and future advocacy choices and to build Save the
Children’s position and reputation with key stakeholders on Myanmar
 Produce policy briefing papers, policy position statements and public communication
related to key advocacy issue, working with the Myanmar Senior Management Team, the
SCI Regional Office and the HAWG to identify areas and opportunities where public-facing
advocacy would be strategic and relevant
 Undertake vigorous networking to continually inform, challenge, and improve advocacy
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messaging and tactics, investing in relationships and attending coordination meetings and
forums
Work closely with the Humanitarian Director and the Global Media Unit to advise on media
lines and media strategy and to make optimal use of national and international media to
influence key advocacy targets and public opinion
In collaboration with the in-country communications resource, seek creative and influential
routes to profile issues of importance for children affected by humanitarian emergencies,
and to develop and implement an acceptance strategy aiming to improve the
understanding and acceptance of communities in relation to the work and values of Save
the Children and the wider humanitarian community.
Alliances and partnership
 Ensure the inclusion of Save the Children partners’ perspectives and input in advocacy
processes
 Work closely with other organisations to develop joint advocacy initiatives when relevant
and beneficial
Monitoring and evaluation
 Working with the Monitoring & Evaluation team, feed into M&E processes to help ensure
that advocacy implementation and impact are effectively monitored and evaluated
(including through the use of the Advocacy Measurement Tool)
 Provide information and analysis to relevant HAWG calls to support global advocacy, and
where relevant feed into the HAWG crisis country watch
 Ensure SC emergency response strategies and situation reports have clear advocacy
objectives and strategies, and indicators for assessing the impact of SC advocacy work
 Write on regular basis short stories illustrating the success of advocacy work
 Report on annual basis as part of the Country Annual report on key achievements of Save
the Children’s humanitarian advocacy work
 Document learning from monitoring and evaluation processes and ensure learning is used
to improve delivery of advocacy work
Risks management
 Lead in identifying and managing potential risks associated with Save the Children’s
private and public positions.
 Coordinate sign off procedures for briefing papers and other public materials, ensuring risk
management process is shared throughout sign-off process
SKILLS AND BEHAVIOURS (our 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 others to do the same
 Achieves goals by influencing external agenda/policies through using high quality
advocacy work
 Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
 Future orientated, thinks strategically
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Collaboration:
 Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, 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 creative/innovative solutions to problems or tasks
 Makes independent decisions and solves problem on new and complex issues, requiring
creative thinking to find best solutions
 Drives innovation to seize new opportunities in our external environment to maximise Save
the Children influence
 Willing to take disciplined risks
Integrity:
 Honest, encourages openness and transparency
 Use information from a variety of sources to inform decision making
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE:
 A minimum of 5 years programme development and/or advocacy experience in a corporate
or an NGO environment, with experience in successfully leading the development and
implementation of advocacy strategies
 Experience development and implementing programs for, preferably with solid experience
in more than one of the Save the Children priority sectors: education, protection, rights
governance, HIV/AIDs, health and nutrition, and emergencies
 Experience in leading the creation and implementation of a strategy, demonstrating the
ability to identify the necessary steps towards an ambitious goal
 Experience leading the preparation of the narrative and financial sections of proposals and
reports for donors, including ECHO, DFID and OFDA and Save the Children members.
Understanding of CAP and Appeal processes
 Good understanding of donor compliance and SC reporting mechanisms and requirements
 Experience of a range of campaigning and advocacy techniques and tactics, working with
and developing a range of advocacy tools suited to different approaches
 Experience in influence government, donors, and other organisations through
representation and/or advocacy
 Demonstrable creative ability in accessing new funding opportunities, expertise and ideas
 Demonstrable track record of leading change which has led to significant results for the
organisation and their stakeholders
 Resource management, training , capacity building, coaching, and mentoring skills
 Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing and
negotiation
 Proven ability to analyse and communicate complex information to a wide audience in a
succinct and compelling manner
 Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an environment with people
from diverse backgrounds and cultures
 Strong research and policy development skills
 Experience of building networks, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the
organisation
 Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward
and ensuring buy in
 Experience in operating to tight deadlines, using independent judgement within clear
SAVE THE CHILDREN
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
ROLE PROFILE
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parameters
Knowledge of children’s rights key international agreements and conventions
Commitment to Save the Children values
Excellence in written and spoken English
Date of issue:
Author : Jose Ravano