Policy and Advocacy Officer

Job Title:Policy and Advocacy Officer
Location:Palestine / Jordan
Reporting to :Chairperson of ACEA

Key relationships:
ACEA’s office ; ANHRE; Coalitions’ coordinators ; Project Managers of the CSEF in the Middle East and  East Europe.

Description of the Arab Campaign for Education for All and the relevant Unit:
Arab Campaign for Education for All (ACEA) is an independent, non-profit coalition, consisting of networks, coalitions, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations, teachers' unions, associations and other sectors which are interested in education in the Arab countries. ACEA seeks to unite and mobilize the efforts of civil societies to ensure the accomplishment of the goals of Education for All.

The founding of the Arab Campaign for Education for All comes within the framework of the Global Campaign for Education “GCE” that was based on  Jomtien  conference 1990 and Dakar conference in April 2000.

ACEA is committed to achieve three major objectives – which are :
1-Enhance the status of the Arab campaign of education, increase its impact and promote it locally, regionally and internationally.
2-Pressure and influence decision makers to enact and activate laws and regulations to ensure that policies and budgets meet the government’s obligations towards achieving the goals of Education for All.
3-Develop the institutional structure of Arab Campaign for Education.

ACEA’s Advocacy unit basically focuses on external action and aims to make policies, practices, and decisions more effective at providing quality basic education for all children, youth and adults.

At the national level, civil society education coalitions work to promote progress toward Education for All (EFA), national education goals and other critical education issues through public awareness, mobilization, policy participation, advocacy, research and monitoring activities.

ACEA is currently implementing “The Civil Society Education Fund” (CSEF) project .This project helps to operationalize the role of civil society in driving international and national progress toward EFA and other national education goals.

Through CSEF, civil society  education coalitions are building their capacities ,facilitating cross-country and cross-regional learning across civil society networks, strengthening their participation in national education sector planning and policy processes, building greater public awareness of and engagement in education issues, improving the quality of their research, policy and lobbying, and working together across countries and regions to share learning and engage with international processes.

For 2014 ,CSEF is designed to meet an overall aim which contributes to the achievement of national education goals and Education for All by ensuring the effective participation of civil society organizations and citizens in education debates and sector planning and review.


Job Purpose:

The purpose of this job is to co-ordinate Advocacy unit , supervise, assist, and monitor the Advocacy programs, manage the activities and advocacy projects that ACEA supervises , develop ACEA’s engagement with CSEF project involved coalitions . In addition, the job requires to deliver coordinated policy, lobby, advocacy, research and analysis across ACEA’s priority issues in order to enhance the status of ACEA, increase its impact and promote Education for All (EFA) goals globally regionally and nationally.

Specifically this job aims to :
-Coordinate with the educational coalitions and assist them to develop result based reports of their work
-Help the educational coalitions to develop indicators of quality education
-Activate advocacy and campaigns at national and regional levels
-Develop the capacities of the coalitions in campaigning and advocacy work
-Assist the coalitions to develop advocacy messages and shape the campaigns
-Supervise and monitor the advocacy projects
-Develop the evaluation matrix for the coalitions’ campaigns
-Report on the advocacy project
-Coordinate with and among coalitions to share and document lessons learned, sucees stories, challenges, achievement, effective networking, ….… etc.
-Provide the educational coalitions with the latest data, numbers, analysis and studies to help them to improve their work


Summary of key areas of responsibility


1-Raise the profile of ACEA with decision makers and opinion formers and increase its impact on Education status  in the Arab World
2-Ensure relevant linkages are made between ACEA’s thematic and regional units and CSEF project advocacy objectives.

3-Assist in shaping the advocacy focus of ACEA’s programs through its activities and ensure the intervention of the processes of lobbying  and policy-making  at national and regional level.


Duties :

1-Raise the profile of ACEA with decision makers and opinion formers and increase our impact on Education status  in the Arab World
-In liaison with the chairperson of ACEA and the coalitions  project managers , develop and implement ACEA’s policy and advocacy  work with the coalitions in the Middle east and Europe countries .
-Supervise, monitor and reporting advocacy projects and evaluating the coalitions’ campaigns .
-Develop contacts and maintain dialogue with officials in relevant educational institutions, member states and representatives to ensure the development and implementation of more effective policies in support of EFA.
-Active participation and involvement in awareness-raising campaigns , EFA-related international forums and bodies.
-Mobilization of prominent advocates for education plus permanent dialogue with EFA partners, including governments, multilateral and intergovernmental agencies, civil society, parliamentarians and the private sector.
-Participation and utilization of media events to convey direct messages to a wider public audience.

2-Ensure relevant linkages are made between ACEA’s thematic and regional units and CSEF project advocacy objectives.
-Monitor ACEA’s  policy developments, in conjunction with UNESCO and  other educational institutions ; identify opportunities to influence institutions , and act as an internal focal point on Education issues .
-Ensure close links between ACEA’s advocacy work and that of its member states at the Arab World and other levels.
-Co-ordinate advocacy work on the right to education for  all children, youth and adults issues across the regional civil society education coalitions with local and international NGOs and networks related to education sector , in addition to other relevant bodies.
-Work with ACEA’s thematic advisers and partners like ANCEFA, ASPABE, CLADE  to define and implement ACEA’s  policy priorities and messages. This may involve writing ,editing  and disseminating briefings, discussion papers and policy documents through various networks.
-Identify potential sources of funding for ACEA and its member coalitions .

3-Assist in shaping the advocacy focus of ACEA’s programs through its activities and ensure the intervention of the processes of lobbying  and policy-making  at national and regional level.
-Develop the capacities of initiatives and coalitions  to enhance the whole capacity of ACEA and its partners in campaigning and advocacy wok.
-Provide assistance and support to the coalitions and initiatives to develop policy and advocacy messages , planning and delivery of effective campaigns.

4-Other
-Assist in the drafting funding applications and funding reports for donors as appropriate.
-Recruit and manage interns and program assistants if appropriate.
-Assist in the efficient running of ACEA’s office on a day-to-day basis..



PERSON SPECIFICATION :

Experience:
-Minimum 3 years’ experience in NGO / Eu institution work particularly on educatin, public policy research, advocacy work
-Rigorous analytical skills and proven ability to write policy papers, briefings and articles.
-Proven ability to work collaboratively with other NGOs.
-Experience of lobbying within political and government sectors .
-Experience of producing policy materials for different audiences.


Knowledge:
-Knowledge in the following areas is required: includes public policy, international affairs, development issues pertaining to civil society, communications tools, and advocacy theories and principles.
-Knowledge of key national, regional and international institutions relevant to delivery of new policy.
-Research and analysis reports development of high standard, providing an objective and factual summary of the lessons learned with soundly based conclusions and recommendations.

Skills:
-Excellent communications skills  (written and oral English) presentation, interpersonal, influencing and negotiating skills for engaging with a wide variety of contacts.
-Autonomy and sense of initiative.
-Ability to communicate complex messages in an accessible manner for varied audiences.
-Proficiency in microsoft office programs.

Other:

Flexible approach to working hours , and willingness to travel regularly both at home and occasionally  to the locations of the implemented  projects abroad.


APPLICATION PROCESS

To apply : Please email your CV and cover letter detailing how you meet the selection criteria to ACEA team  at : [email protected] (please use subject heading Ref:).

Deadline for applications: 25 March 2014

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