Southern Engagement & Influencing Lead, Inequality Campaign

Closing date: August 6th 2015 17:00 BST
Interviews: w/c 17th August
Job title: Southern Engagement & Influencing Lead, Inequality Campaign
One year fixed-term contract (with possibility of extension)
Based in: Nairobi (preferred) (subject to being able to establish a contract of employment)
Salary: Competitive

Oxfam International is an equal opportunities employer, committed to diversity within the workplace.

One person in three in the world lives in poverty. Oxfam is determined to change that world by mobilizing the power of people against poverty.

Around the world, Oxfam works to find practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive. We save lives and help rebuild livelihoods when crisis strikes. And we campaign so that the voices of the poor influence the local and global decisions that affect them. In all we do, Oxfam works with partner organizations and alongside vulnerable women and men to end the injustices that cause poverty.

This post will be part of the OI Secretariat, and Oxfam’s Inequality (Even It Up!) Campaign Team, which operates remotely across the globe.

In October 2015, Oxfam launched a new monumental global campaign to end economic inequality. Even It Up is currently active across 30+ countries worldwide, of which over half are in the global south.

We are looking for an exceptional senior campaigner to provide crucial leadership and support to the engagement of campaigns teams from the global south in the Even It Up campaign – ensuring momentum, resourcing and alignment between the global to regional and national objectives and strategies, and across Oxfam teams. The successful candidate will contribute significantly to the ongoing power analysis and strategic direction of the campaign, and provide leadership and oversight on key global campaign projects and activities.

The successful applicant will have extensive experience with building and implementing dynamic and successful campaigns and advocacy strategies at the global level and in the global south, as well as a strong understanding of principles for successful influencing of political and private sector targets in the global south specifically. S/he will have keen leadership skills, with an ability to lead and navigate complex group dynamics to build collaborative relationships and to lead the development and implementation of large projects.

Fluency in English required. French and Spanish fluency would be advantageous to the post holder.

Job Purpose

This post will provide leadership and support to the engagement of campaigns teams from the global south in Oxfam’s worldwide campaign on inequality, Even It Up. The successful candidate will also provide strategic leadership on building global campaign activities with strong ties to and resonance with our national and regional campaigns on inequality around the globe.

Job Dimensions

• Senior management position required to provide strategic and operational management of a discrete and specialist function or area of activity on behalf of the confederation
• Influences decisions affecting OI and the wider confederation
• Builds, manages and influences relationships across the confederation to deliver agreed outcomes
• Significant autonomy to anticipate and plan work
• Assimilates and processes complex information, identifies trends and recommends plans and actions
• High internal impact requiring complex analysis and problem solving
• Subject area specialist with wide ranging experience, ability to advise at senior level and design workable solutions to complex problems

Key Responsibilities

Building strong national campaigns and coalitions in the Global South (50%)
Working closely with Even it Up Regional and Country leads, this role will be accountable for driving the southern dimension of our Even It Up global campaign objectives; being an ally and resource to regions and countries, supporting their ambition and vision for their national and regional strategies, while ensuring alignment with global level work to ensure all plans are set to deliver real external change.

This work will include:

• Supporting southern countries and regions to build strong national campaigns, as well as providing active support to countries and regions on the implementation their campaigns, either through capacity building activities to serve common needs across multiple campaign countries, or through engaging in specific campaign moments with countries where appropriate.
• Playing an active role in global project teams, with emphasis on providing leadership on the engagement of southern allies, and creating linkages between national campaign strategies and global objectives.
• Working with fundraising colleagues to drive opportunities to raise funds for Even it Up campaigning in specific countries/regions.
• Representing country positions and demands to inform global campaign development processes.

Lead on ensuring linkages to and embodiment of Oxfam’s WIN* strategy and principles (25%)

*WIN is Oxfam’s strategy to achieve more profound and lasting change by focussing our work on influencing For many southern country teams this is already a reality. For others, it represents a much bigger shift in approach and skills toward building Oxfam as a ‘Worldwide Influencing Network’

This role will be the main interface between the Even It Up campaign and relevant global WIN groups. The post-holder will ensure our campaign countries are WIN pioneers – contributing to and benefiting from Oxfam’s institutional drive toward excellence in influencing.

This will include:

• Implementing agreed processes on the formal engagement of countries within the Even It Up campaign (from country selection to support);
• Identifying priority/strategic Even it Up campaign countries in the global south where focussed attention on WIN will lead to a step change in campaigning capacity and effectiveness, and supporting those countries to create concrete WIN plans in 2015/2016;
• Ensuring clear accountability of country, regional and global teams supporting southern countries in the campaign’s delivery.
• Prioritizing and showing leadership and support toward increasing digital skills and capacity in Even it Up southern countries;
• Working closely with WIN teams and with programme colleagues across Oxfam to align and advocate for resources to support the effective implementation of country campaign plans, and collaborate on best practices as the WIN strategy evolves.

Internal co-ordination of southern campaigning and influencing work within the Even It Up global campaign team (25%)

The post-holder will ensure high quality coordination and collaboration between national and regional Even It Up campaigns, as well as creating space for meaningful linking and learning, and co-creation of future work between countries, regions and our global team. This will include:

• Convening Even It Up staff from the global south to establish a community of practice and collaborative coordination of southern campaigning and influencing work on inequality, and to ensure active participation and leadership within campaign structures.;
• Being a catalyst for southern campaigns’ engagement in effective co-creation of future global priority areas of work for the Even it Up campaign.
• Convening face-to-face and virtual meetings as required of the Even It Up southern campaigns and influencing team, as well as linking and learning event(s).
• Participating as a permanent member of the Even It Up Campaign Management Team, and being an advocate for increased leadership from the global south across all Even It Up Teams.

Key Working Relationships

• Reports to Head of Even it Up campaign, in cooperation (matrix management relationship) with a senior southern campaigns colleague ( yet TBD)
• Works closely with the Even It Up Campaign Management Team, and WIN Southern Influencing Team members, Even It Up Campaign Leads at the regional and national level in the global south, as well as relevant programme staff.

Key Competencies

Southern National Campaigning & Influencing

• Minimum five years demonstrable experience with building and implementing dynamic campaigns and advocacy strategies that have led to national and/or regional change in the global south;
• Multi-year work experience in one or more countries in the global south
• Strong understanding of principles for successful influencing of political and private sector targets in the global south.
• Strong understanding of principles of dynamic global campaigning and advocacy.

Leadership:

• Ability to lead projects in a clear and constructive way that inspires people to deliver
• Strong ability to lead and navigate complex group dynamics to build collaborative and positive team atmospheres.
• Excellent interpersonal and negotiation skills with demonstrable ability to lead, influence and motivate others

Communication

• Ability to liaise with a wide range of people, both internally and externally and at many levels, with credibility, tact and diplomacy
• Ability to get ideas across in a compelling and clear way
• Fluent spoken and written English,
• French and Spanish fluency would be advantageous to the post holder

Demonstrable affinity with the aims and objectives of the Oxfam Confederation

• Ability to think and work in a multi-disciplinary way
• Ability to operate effectively in a network environment
• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment
• Sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities

Works in a way that demonstrates the Secretariat’s values and behavioural competencies

• Honest and transparent
• Accountable
• Supporting each other
• Professional and striving for excellence
• Proactive and solutions oriented

HOW TO APPLY:

If you would like to apply for this job please do so via our website using the following link:http://www.oxfam.org/en/jobs/secretariat