Public Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. Founded in 1933 at the call of Albert Einstein, the IRC is one of the world’s largest international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (INGO), at work in more than 40 countries and more than 25 U.S. cities helping people to survive, reclaim control of their future and strengthen their communities. A force for humanity, IRC employees delivers lasting impact by restoring safety, dignity and hope to millions. If you’re a solutions-driven, passionate change-maker, come join us in positively impacting the lives of millions of people world-wide for a better future.

IRC is seeking a Public Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator”, based in Nairobi for its Euro 30 Million five year, urban livelihoods program: Refugees in East Africa: Boosting Urban Innovations for Livelihoods Development (Re:BUiLD ). The Re:BUiLD program is funded by the IKEA Foundation and is being implemented in Kampala and Nairobi. The IRC is the Lead Partner coordinating a consortium of local and international partners to deliver the program. Re:BUiLD strives for urban refugees and vulnerable host residents to achieve economic self-reliance and benefit from strengthened urban economic, regulatory and social environments. Re:BUiLD aims to enable change at varying levels, from better access to livelihoods opportunities and inclusive services within communities, to improved refugee-related policies and more targeted and effective service delivery from national, regional and global actors. Key features of Re:BUiLD’s approach include flexible funding, adaptive design and knowledge and evidence generation.

Position summary:

The IRC seeks a Public Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator who will support country program teams in Nairobi, Kenya and Kampala, Uganda in the implementation of the IKEA funded Re:BUiLD program. Re:BUiLD aims to support refugee and host communities to achieve economic self-reliance through supporting 1) Access to sustainable livelihoods and 2) Ensuring that strong markets and effective and responsive city services are accessible to all.

The Public Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator will report directly to the Program Director and support service delivery and systems strengthening approaches; monitoring, advising, and maintaining stakeholder relationships; addressing fragmentation and supporting coordination and collaboration with City Governments ; and ensuring that the Community and Client Ownership Strategy is maintained. The Public Engagement and Advocacy Coordinator will also support program teams to ensure that Re:BUiLD approaches and activities are grounded in the local context, build upon city development plans, and support existing local processes, are shaped and trusted by communities and clients, and contribute to sustained ownership and local delivery of services.

Job Responsibilities:

Technical Support and Coordination:

• Support the development of community engagement strategies and strong stakeholder and client relations, ensuring the sustainability of the Community and Client Ownership Strategy.
• Support the development of strategies to promote synergies in alignment with city government authorities Development Plans, and strengthen relationships, and leverage coordination among city government authorities, civil society, local neighborhood, private sector, and development and humanitarian actors at city, country and international levels.
• Identify and support capacity sharing interventions that strengthen the delivery and scaling of city services, plans, and policies that serve refugees and host communities in Nairobi and Kampala.
• Develop a strategy for mainstreaming systems strengthening, good governance principles, and processes aimed at increasing community participation, responsiveness, and accountability.
• Support public engagement, citizen involvement, and public consultation strategies for city governments in Kampala and Nairobi
• Support city governments with robust public engagement including refugees in decisions that affect them, including policies, plans, strategies, programs and services, for the purpose of making decisions that are more informed and reflective of public concerns and values .Provide leadership in the analysis, development of strategies or adaptation of service delivery models, tools, and systems to motivate city systems change.
• Provide analysis, capacity-building, monitoring and implementation support to both Uganda and Kenya teams.
• Identify opportunities for cross-country learning and coordination, document and disseminate best practices.
• Contribute to the development of annual work plans for Re:BUiLD.
• Work in close collaboration with team members to ensure integrated programming.

Management:

• Contribute to the development of program staff in Uganda and Kenya through training and mentoring on community engagement, urban resilience, systems strengthening, and community led development approaches.
• Ensure that the community engagement and city systems strengthening aspects of the program are implemented according to defined work plans to achieve program deliverables.
• Through strong planning and monitoring, identify potential obstacles to programmatic success in a timely manner, and implement corrective actions as needed.
• Introduce quality assurance initiatives to address efficiency, effectiveness, or compliance concerns.

Job Requirements

• Master’s degree in urban planning and development, public administration, economics, international development, law or social science.
• A minimum of 5 years working with city governments, implementing and/or managing urban, decentralization or governance related programs is required, preferably also within a humanitarian, international development setting.
• Demonstrable technical expertise and working knowledge of participatory processes and methodologies.
• Demonstrable technical expertise in urban management, city planning, community engagement, and public sector management.
• Technical expertise in curriculum development, training needs assessment and training facilitation, as well as monitoring and evaluation of trainees.
• Strong writing, communication and organizational skills.
• Knowledge of common software (MS Office). Previous work experience in Uganda or Kenya preferred

Working environment:

Security level: Green. The security situation in Nairobi is generally calm.

Standard of Professional Conduct:

The IRC and the IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – our Code of Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, Accountability, and Equality.

Commitment to Gender, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion:

The IRC is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all persons are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. The IRC expressly prohibits and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or bullying of the IRC persons in any work setting. We aim to increase the representation of women, people that are from country and communities we serve, and people who identify as races and ethnicities that are under-represented in global power structures.

For application: https://careers.rescue.org/us/en/job/req49729/Public-Engagement-and-Advocacy-Coordinator