Advocacy & Communication Officer

Starting Salary: $33,795 

Contract: 1 Year Contract (renewable)  

Location: Kinshasa, DRC 

**Please note that we will only accept applications completed in English**

Job Profile

The Advocacy & Communication Officer will manage CAFOD’s SIDA funded project entitled: “Tu Faulu Pamoja - Succeeding Together. The project ensures women and youth are represented in the decision-making and peacebuilding processes by amplifying their voices through capacity strengthening of youth and women movements and associations, small grant dispersing, and accompaniment in community-tailored activities. The Communication and advocacy officer will require significant experience and skills to oversee the development of strategic advocacy plans that enable partners to overcome barriers and influence effective legal frameworks and policy processes. Your communication skills and ability to work with others will build strong relationships that enable a coherent voice to shape peacebuilding processes.

The successful candidate will have experience of working with a wide range of stakeholders at grass roots and senior levels and ensuring that processes and outcomes are documented at all levels of the project cycle to donor standards. They will also have strong interpersonal skills, and leadership capacity to drive change while working with local partners

The Advocacy & Communication Officer will report to the Deputy Country Representative (with dotted strategic reporting to the Country Representative) and will be responsible to lead on overall Public Relations and communication of the project.

The post holder will be expected to undertake frequent travel to the project implementation areas. The post will be based in Kinshasa with frequent travels in Goma and in other implementation provinces.  

The scope of the post falls into the following functions:

• Civil society participation in advocacy processes
• Managing women’s and youth empowerment projects
• Strong knowledge of gender issues and social inclusion of youth
• Economic empowerment
• Strong skills to communicate transformative change
• Strong Knowledge of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 2250

In addition, it is crucial that the postholder understands the value of bringing a Catholic/ faith voice to strengthen the call for justice, solidarity and sustainability. Valuable experience in working with a range of cultures and in different contexts and experience in deploying a range of tactics to challenge the power dynamics that exclude people from decision-making is essential. The postholder is expected to demonstrate commitment to ensuring that decision-makers take the perspectives of those experiencing the effects of poverty seriously in decision making. 

Key Responsibilities

Advocacy, Representation and Communication

• Act as a key focal point for CAFOD TFP project, and, under guidance of the Deputy Country Representative, be a focal point with key stakeholders and project partners in DRC regarding project related advocacy and communication issues.
• Represent CAFOD at clusters meetings and relevant working groups, interagency, government and other platforms for the purposes of coordination of advocacy, response and sectoral policy development in collaboration with the advocacy and governance team in CAFOD.
• Collaborate with HQs Advocacy and governance teams and focal persons where needed and ensure that TFP related advocacy content is coherent, up to dated and effective, and informed by our experience and that of our partners
• Support partners to develop and update their advocacy strategies  ’ relevant advocacy positions and policy recommendations reflecting project contents and partner voices
• Promote CAFOD and Project profile internally and externally in media and communications, collaborate with stakeholders – those of internal and external communications team in supporting the timely writing and gathering of stories and images and oversight of the TFP country-level communications plan.
• Identify advocacy issues, preparing and implementing advocacy plans, documentation and communicate lessons and good practices from the implementation of TFP to various users.
• In coordination with CMT, identify opportunities to influence system wide Governance policy issues in support of more effective project engagement on country’s global policy frameworks
• Provide the country management team with governance and Peacebuilding rends, identifying areas of potential interest for strategic engagement, advocacy, and partnership-building
• Organise / guide TFP briefings on specific products/information to donor and relevant coordination mechanisms.

Overseeing effective relationships with stakeholders:

• Provide guidance and support to partner staff, and other members of the Project team in their work, to develop and nurture effective relationships with partners. In some cases (e.g. strategic partners), the post-holder can take a more active role in developing those relationships.
• Work with Programme Officers and the team to support or facilitate the development of partners’ capacities on advocacy work and to promote transformative change in their work. This includes the development of tailor-made advocacy capacity development plans;
• Ensure that the Tufaulu Pamoja partnership portfolio is regularly reviewed and that individual relationships are monitored against CAFOD’s and partners’ partnership standards and expectations.
• Serve has focal point person for youth and women’s empowerment and gender equality programs and provide technical and programmatic support to the management and field staff as well as report to donors.
• Building self-esteem within project participants and capacity through mentoring support
• Work with other projects and stakeholders to help women and youth movements access credit and economic literacy and promote greater agency
• Interact with politicians, decision makers and community leaders with a view to improving status of youth and women and the shifting of gender norms.
• Equip elected and former women parliamentarians and aspiring women politicians d with coalition and consensus building skills and advocacy on variety of issues, including women specific issues.
• Facilitate ToT s for youth and women’s organizations to become agents of reform and change and provide effective political leadership training at provincial and local levels
• Ensure improved communities’ awareness and perception of the role of women politicians as effective decisionmakers in government

Financial and funding management:

• Manage the project costs budget and cash flow (implementing manager/budget holder responsibilities), monitoring income and expenditure, and ensuring that the latter is done in compliance with agreed parameters and policy.
• Develop the grant disbursement plan and ensure that financial reports are on time and accurate
• Drawing from the objectives and agreed upon key activities in the project proposal, develop detailed implementation plan and budget forecasts and reports.
• Plan training of grantees on financial aspects and ensure compliance with donor requirements.
• Ensure accurate and timely financial reporting on programme work.
• Ensure the programme complies with CAFOD’s financial management standards, including managing financial risks.

Internal and external representation:

• In co-ordination with the Deputy Country Representative and the Project team develop, nurture and sustain relationships and effective communications with relevant stakeholders, including local government, national networks and other agencies working in DRC.  This will include other Caritas/ agencies.
• Provide timely and up to date information the CR to to sustain relationships with relevant bilateral agencies working in the project implementation area, including SIDA, DfID and the EC, seeking opportunities for programme funding, where applicable.
• Effectively communicate with other teams within CAFOD to ensure that the programmes are well understood, and that information is available for fundraising and other communications, including publications, media briefings, development education, etc. This may involve participating in communities of practice, working groups, supporter events, etc, as agreed with the Country Representative.
• Participate in the cluster and or other inter-agency meetings in the implementation area.

 Systems and compliance:

• Overseeing the effective use of CAFOD’s systems to share programme knowledge and inform decision making. This includes overseeing compliance with agreements, regulations and requirements attached to our work.

Safeguarding

All CAFOD staff share the responsibility to promote and maintain a strong safeguarding culture, including identifying the key actions they should take given their role and responsibilities. Your role is responsible for ensuring that the programming work you are accountable for is safe, accessible, dignified and inclusive, providing ongoing support and follow-up to our partners in this area.

Job-specific competencies

1. Understanding and first-hand experience of institutional funding work/projects, priorities, trends and donor conditions.
2. Experience using programme cycle management tools effectively to deliver work within an agreed programme framework, including programme integration.
3. Able and committed to facilitate or support the development of partners’ capacities.
4. Financial management understanding and experience.
5. Ability and willingness to travel for approximately 12 weeks per year), sometimes at short notice and to areas of potential risk
6. Languages (French and local languages are essential)
7. Thematic experience in:
   • Governance and Advocacy
   • Human rights
8. Peacebuilding
9. Gender programming (DRC experience preferable)
10. Protection mainstreaming
11. Cash distribution and/or microfinance
12. Smallholder market-oriented agriculture (desirable).

Desirable Criteria

• Have a master’s degree or equivalent in communication, journalism, international relations, public administration, or related field
• Previous work experience in the country/sub-region.
• Understanding of key country/sub-regional humanitarian trends and/or previous experience on governance and Peace-building work.

Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults

CAFOD recognises the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect.  CAFOD, and all its staff and volunteers, undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse.  CAFOD is committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount.  Any candidate offered a job with CAFOD will be expected to adhere to CAFOD’s Safeguarding policy and sign CAFOD’s Code of Behavior as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references, and appropriate screening checks can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. CAFOD also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of, and consent to, these recruitment procedures.