Head of Policy, Campaigns and Comms

The role

We are currently looking for Head of Policy, Campaigns and Communications based in Vientiane Capital

Role Purpose

Policy, Campaigns and communications are central to securing lasting change in children’s lives and is a key aspect of Save the Children’s Theory of Change be the voice – build partnerships – innovate – achieve results at scale. Head – Policy, Campaigns and Communications takes responsibility for initiating and implementing the policy, campaigns, and communications strategy of SCI Laos PDR. With direct support from SPQI Director, he/she is responsible for the development and implementation of policy, campaign, and communication strategies that will engage with the public and partners, to influence government and other institutional policies and practices to achieve positive and lasting changes to fulfil children’s rights and support Government achieve their socio-economic development goals. With direct support from SPQI Director, the role is also responsible for developing a CO communications strategy tied to strategic goals (including policy, business development, and programming priorities), engaging with media to drive the implementation of this strategy and ensuring that all projects have individual communications plans that feed into the overall CO communications strategy. The role will work closely with technical and operations colleagues and with partners in Laos building their influencing capacity and building ownership and agency of local organisations. The post-holder will also engage with regional functional leads to leverage wider organizational support and resources.  In the event of a humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

KEY AREA OF ACCOUNTABILITY

As a member of the Senior Management Team, actively contribute to:

• the leadership of the Country Office
• the development  of  an  organisational  culture  that  reflects  our  dual  mandate  values,  promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors
• Help design and implement a coherent organizational structure that is consistent with agency practices and appropriate to program needs
• Help establish,  maintain,  and  improve  active  and  regular  working  relationships  with  government authorities, partner agencies including humanitarian and development donors, and local and international NGOs
• Standard Operating Procedures the Country Office complies with all Save the Children Management Operating Standards and
• Ensure that all required support is provided promptly, at scale and in line with the rules and principles during emergencies, working closely with the Regional Office

POLICY AND CAMPAIGNS

1. Engage with relevant colleagues to ensure that influencing is an integral part of Save the Children’s Theory of Change
2. Take initiative with support from SPQI Director for the collaborative development and implementation of a Country Office Influencing strategy, including clear policy and campaigning objectives, and ensure these are linked to broader strategic goals (impact, business development) outlined in the country strategic plan
3. Input into program design to ensure all programs have policy-level outcomes, and that sufficient resourcing is allocated towards the production and use of policy and influencing outputs
4. Lead the national level advocacy priorities across thematic and child rights issues (including financing) and represent Laos CO at regional and global platform
5. Produce policy documents papers and position statements, in consultation with relevant government ministries, to support the adaptation, implementation and financing of policy objectives relevant to Save the Children’s global breakthroughs
6. Work closely with the research and evaluation unit to ensure research priorities are linked with influencing priorities, and that policy work and influencing strategies and plans are informed by robust evidence
7. Work together with SPQI Director to ensure coherence and reinforce strong and effective synergies between the research, evaluation, accountability, learning and monitoring function to ensure evidence and data generated under programs is being used to influence policy
8. Take initiation in the design and delivery of campaigns linked to regional and global campaigning priorities
9. Take a leading role in driving the Child led advocacy campaign on Climate agenda and the community lead health campaign
10. Strengthen coalition building with local CSOs, including strengthening their capacity on policy influencing, campaign and communication components
11. Support the SPQI Director in identifying and managing potential risks associated with Save the Children’s public positions and design strategies to mitigate the risks that have been identified
12. Develop and nurture relations with key coordination groups across the organisations and ensure that Save the Children’s influencing work in country is informed by Save the Children global campaign strategy, thematic influencing strategies, the influencing steer of the Global Policy, Influencing and Campaigns Group, and regional priorities.
13. The post holder will work with SPQI Director to ensure that a percentage of total grant expenditure for policy and campaigns in line with global targets is agreed in order to deliver on our full Theory of Change.
14. Work closely with SPQI Director to build influencing capacity of programme staff and of Save the Children partners and ensure influencing is included in their plans and annual objectives

COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA

1. Lead the development and implementation of a CO communications strategy with clear linkages to influencing, business development and programmatic priorities laid out in the country strategic plan
2. Support program leads to develop and implement communications plans under each of their programs, linked to the overarching CO communications strategy
3. Undertake quality assurance on all communication outputs (including social media posts, media releases etc) to ensure these are high quality and promote the correct messages in line with agreed communications priorities
4. Build Save the Children’s brand in Laos by increasing our social media followers, media presence and influence with decision and policy makers
5. Work closely with Head of NBD to strengthen communication on external positioning of Save the Children in Laos among key donors
6. Oversee the production and quality of merchandise aimed to promote our brand
7. Plan, schedule and manage public events (such as children’s day) to a high standard and ensure safeguarding risks around these events are identified and mitigated
8. The post holder will ensure that a percentage of total grant expenditure for communications is agreed in order to deliver on our full Theory of Change.

SUPPORT SPQI DIRECTOR TO DEVELOP AND MANAGE AN EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO ACHIEVE INFLUENCING OBJECTIVES

1. Work with the programme team to ensure substantial integration of policy, communications and campaigns into holistic programme planning and implementation, especially ensuring that evidence and best practice generated by Save the Children’s programmes inform influencing and campaign work to achieve results at scale
2. Work with senior programme managers for the development of large grant proposals and ensure that influencing and campaigning is included in the grants and resources are adequately budgeted where relevant.
3. Strengthen capacity of Programme Colleagues on Policy influence, campaign and communication strategies and approaches
4. Establish on a six-monthly basis an events calendar with key moments and key opportunities for influencing. Be alert to seize influencing opportunities when and as they arise
5. Establish monitoring and evaluation processes of influencing work and ensure that policy and campaigns implementation and impact are effectively monitored and evaluated (including as part of the Country Reporting process)
6. Work with the REALM function to undertake and/or commission research on specific issues to inform present and future influencing and campaign choices and to build Save the Children’s position and coordinate high-quality briefings, letters and other written material for internal and external use
7. Produce policy briefing papers, policy position statements and public communication related to key issues to support government design and implement quality policy
8. Contribute towards the creation of an organisational learning culture that promotes the use of data, evidence and analysis and understands its link to quality and accountable programming;

EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT

1. Develop and maintain an in-depth understanding of key policy and campaign issues and of the positions of key actors, including key ministers, political, civil society and economic leaders, donors, media editors, etc
2. Complete alignment mapping between GOL priority and strategy documents and our country office priorities.
3. Keep up to date with GOL priorities and disseminate and share with the programming team.
4. Taking lead in the engagement with MONRE, on influencing the Climate Agenda, across all our thematic priorities, with sharp focus on Children’s participation
5. Position Save the Children as the leading organisation for children’s issues in the country, with child rights at the core of the policy work
6. Engage with partners, coalitions and networks including children to influence the public and decision-makers in line with Save the Children priorities and policy asks

37. The post holder will ensure that active policy, campaigns and external communications are used to influence public opinion and political commitment nationally in support of children’s rights

1. Work closely with the media country team to advise on media lines and media strategy and to make optimal use of national and international media to influence key targets and public opinion
2. Provide high level representation for the influencing work, with media, alliances and targets

HUMANITARIAN CONTEXT

1. In emergencies, with support from SPQI Director, lead on the development of influencing messages and, if required, a complete influencing strategy (in line with Save the Children’s humanitarian procedures and categorisation of emergencies) and work with the Humanitarian Influencing Working Group and other stakeholders in SCI and SC Members
2. Support Humanitarian colleagues (as needed) to develop emergency preparedness plans and conduct sectoral assessments (including gender analysis and disability situation analysis using SC assessment processes and tools) and to design and deliver emergency response and recovery programmes.

Qualifications

• A degree in Media, communications, journalism, public policy, law or another relevant discipline

Experience and Skills

• A minimum of 5 years policy, campaigning or communications experience in a corporate or an NGO environment, with experience in successfully leading the development and implementation of influencing strategies
• Experience in any of the campaigning and influencing techniques and approaches, including power mapping and analysis, crafting key messages and developing campaigning and influencing strategies
• Interpersonal and communication skills including influencing and negotiation
• A cultural awareness and ability to work well in an environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures
• Good results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner
• Research and policy development skills
• Experience of partnerships including building networks, resulting in securing significant new opportunities for the organisation
• Knowledge of children’s rights key international agreements and conventions
• Commitment to Save the Children values
• Excellence in written and spoken English

Technical competencies:

• Campaigning: Demonstrates an understanding of campaigning as a collected effort to influence external actors and shape social norms using policy, influencing communications and mobilisation tools.
• Policy: Organises activities to influence external actors’ policy and practice that impact children through evidence and knowledge from children at the technical and political level.
• Public Engagement: Organises activities to create an action-orientated public environment for national and international political and policy change by inspiring, demonstrating and harnessing widespread support for people to take action.
• Communications and media: Experienced at developing communication strategies with supporting implementation plans and budgets, and engaging media effectively to drive high quality implementation of these strategies

Generic Competencies

• Being the Voice of Children: Promotes evidence-based policy and public engagement that includes the voices of children and their communities
• Advancing Equality & Inclusion: Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do considers the most deprived and marginalised children
• Building & Strengthening Partnerships: Promotes working with diverse partners as critical to delivery
• Child Rights: Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers
• Risk-taker: willing to take disciplined risks for children

Contract length: Fixed term

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:

Interested candidates please submit a full application using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document including contact details of three professional referees (current and last line managers and HR department). Please also include details of your salary expectations and a copy of your ID card. Please note that we will require a copy of your Criminal Records (ໃບແຈ້ງໂທດ) later.

Apply via: https://hcri.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/job/13275

Save the Children International is a child-rights based organization. Safe recruitment is central to the safeguarding of children and young people that we come into contact with, and support through our programmes.

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 is an equal opportunities employer, qualified females, persons with disability and candidates from diverse cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

All employees are expected to carry out their duties in accordance with our global anti-harassment policy.