Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behavior at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

Annual Salary and Benefits –

As Per Policy

Internal Job Grade –

C1 international

Contract type –

Fixed Term (Till March 31, 2022)

Reporting to Matrix Manager –

Country Director

Staff reporting directly to this post –

Media and Communications Coordinator

Key relationships/interactions –

Internal: Country program team, regional and HQ teams,

External: Partners, Somali NGO consortia, UN agencies and other relevant actors

Location –

Hargeisa, Somaliland – with travel to Mogadishu, Garowe and Nairobi

Shaping a stronger Oxfam for people living in poverty.

Department Purpose

The Influencing and Communications Manager has a broad mandate overseeing campaigns, research, communications, media and other related influencing initiatives of the Country Office (CO). This mandate is further broadened by working across diverse thematic areas mentioned earlier. The ability to balance such diversity of complex tasks is paramount for success in the role.

Team Purpose

The CO has a humanitarian advocacy strategy and is undergoing revisions to the overall Country Strategy, which will be finalised around August. Influencing will have greater prominence in the new Country Strategy, where the CO seeks to address systemic issues of injustice. The post holder is required to engage with a wide diversity of actors, including extensive civil society and government engagement in Somalia and Somaliland, global networks (Oxfam and others) and regional networks. This includes engaging allies and other stakeholders in Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Washington, London, Brussels and other centers for strategic influencing. In line with Oxfam’s commitments towards localisation, the position also delivers technical and institutional support for local civil society on influencing, communications and related areas, with much of Oxfam’s influencing work being partner-driven, and then amplified by Oxfam. The position is dynamic and intellectually stimulating, and reports directly to the Country Director.

Job Purpose:

• To serve as campaigns, policy and communications lead and provide leadership, strategic guidance and supervision to Oxfam staff and partners on these topics.
• Lead on the initiation, design and review of research on critical issues in collaboration with Oxfam staff, allies and partners, such as on gender, localization and other issues.
• Identify and respond to ad hoc influencing opportunities, such as in relation to humanitarian and socio-economic developments in Somalia and Somaliland.
• Ensure an exceptional standard for all of Oxfam’s influencing and communications work, and timely, appropriate and high quality support for partners’ influencing efforts.
• Maintain and expand partnerships to expand influencing potential, nationally, regionally and globally, according to strategic objectives.
• Support the capacity and institutional development of partners in relation to influencing and communications, such as through mentoring, coaching, workshops and strategy development
• the position will cover for in country maternity cover

Job Responsibilities

• Own Oxfam’s advocacy strategy in Somalia, working closely with partners, programme staff and Oxfam’s wider network to monitor and evaluate it, updating and adapting as necessary.
• Oversee quality control of Oxfam and partners’ research and policy initiatives, from ToR development to dissemination, including technical design of research and editing particularly, plus thematic inputs such as on gender, debt relief and localisation.
• Review all Oxfam communications products for external dissemination, ensuring quality control, while also developing and disseminating communication products, such as human interest stories and overseeing (but not delivering) video productions.
• Plan and implement comprehensive and coherent campaigns on agreed strategic issues, including events, research launches, digital campaigning and more to maximise influencing impact.
• Promote and ensure the realisation of advocacy integration across Oxfam’s work, including links with communications, MEAL and programmatic activities.
• Identify and secure funding for influencing initiatives both within Oxfam and externally
• Link with and feed into various Oxfam networks, including working with regional colleagues in Ethiopia and Kenya, global colleagues such as in Europe and North America, and various thematic groups.
• Participate in the Steering Committee for and oversee the Strengthening Gender-Just, Locally-Led Humanitarian Response in Somalia programme – a US$200,000 programme supporting localisation in Somalia and Somaliland implemented by the Somalia NGO Consortium.
• Produce, commission and/or manage various products including research reports, briefing papers, statements, talking points, Q&A, strategies, thematic briefs and similar products covering humanitarian, development and political issues, both for internal and external use.
• Provide technical support to Oxfam staff and partner organisations on influencing, research, communications, strategy development and related areas.
• Line manage Oxfam’s Media and Communications Officer, with the possibility of line managing other staff as the influencing and communications department ideally expands.
• Represent Oxfam in internal and external fora, such as with the Somalia NGO Consortium, UN Agencies, donors and various working groups, particularly the SNC’s Advocacy Working Group, Debt Relief Working Group and localisation-focused networks.
• Identify and capitalise on opportunities for influencing in a strategic fashion that contributes towards Oxfam and partners’ mandates, particularly around women and youth issues.

Job Requirements

Required Skills and Competences:

• The post holder must have a proven record and commitment on development and humanitarian affairs and ability to travel within Somalia, plus to Addis Ababa and Nairobi, according to Oxfam standard operating procedures and security protocols.

Essential

• Strong advocacy background, with experience of leading teams and processes regarding policy and advocacy work at local, national and international levels. This experience has ideally been gained in complex environments, with multi-dimensional humanitarian and developmental policy issues, and preferably within larger NGOs.
• Ability to and proven experience of power and stakeholder analysis, and navigation of highly complex and politically sensitive environments, ideally in a conflict setting;
• Knowledge and understanding of at least some of protection issues, humanitarian assistance, WASH, food security, localisation of aid, and peace and security dynamics. Expertise on all areas is not expected, but a willingness to learn and preliminary understanding are important.
• Commitment to and demonstrated understanding of women’s empowerment and gender-related issues in humanitarian, development and armed conflict settings, where a prominent gender lens must be applied to all work, both mainstreaming and standalone.
• Excellent research, analysis and writing skills and proven capacity to develop position papers, articles and policy notes. These skills and experience will be coupled with significant and proven experience of managing others to produce research and analysis outputs;
• Excellent communication skills, including, but not limited to writing human interest stories, preparing content for social media, and reviewing and signing off on all office communication materials, including photos and videos. Photography skills an asset.
• Proven ability to communicate verbally with a wide range of actors and audiences, including the ability to build relationships with a variety of stakeholders at different levels from crisis affected Somali women and men to diverse civil society to decision makers.
• High level networking skills, including prior experience in alliance building with other organisations and expanding the influencing work of national NGOs and networks, with a particular focus on women right’s organisations;
• Understanding of and commitment to conflict sensitive programming and demonstrated ability to integrate conflict sensitive principles in influencing and communications work; and
• Fluency in English; knowledge of Somali an asset.

Desirable

• Understanding and experience of Somalia’s complex and evolving political, humanitarian, and development situation (D);
• Clear, demonstrated experience working across nexus programming (peace, humanitarian and development) with a major focus on localisation.

Key Attributes:

• Understanding and experience of Somalia’s complex and evolving political, humanitarian, and development situation (D);
• Clear, demonstrated experience working across nexus programming (peace, humanitarian and development) with a major focus on localisation.

Organisational Values:

• Accountability – Our purpose-driven, results-focused approach means we take responsibility for our actions and hold ourselves accountable. We believe that others should also be held accountable for their actions.
• Empowerment – Our approach means that everyone involved with Oxfam, from our staff and supporters to people living in poverty, should feel they can make change happen.
• Inclusiveness – We are open to everyone and embrace diversity. We believe everyone has a contribution to make, regardless of visible and invisible differences.

Key Behavioral Competencies
(based on Oxfam’s Leadership Model)

Competencies

Description

Decisiveness

We are comfortable to make transparent decisions and to adapt decision making modes to the context and needs.

Influencing

We have the ability to engage with diverse stakeholders in a way that leads to increased impact for the organization We spot opportunities to influence effectively and where there are no opportunities we have the ability to create them in a respectful and impactful manner.

Humility

We put ‘we’ before ‘me’ and place an emphasis on the power of the collective, nurture the team and play to the strengths of each individual. We are not concerned with hierarchical power, and we engage with, trust and value the knowledge and expertise of others across all levels of the organization.

Relationship Building

We understand the importance of building relationship, within and outside the organization. We have the ability to engage with traditional and non-traditional stakeholders in ways that lead to increased impact for the organization.

Listening

We are good listeners who can see where deeper levels of thoughts and tacit assumptions differ. Our messages to others are clear and consider different preferences.

Mutual Accountability

We can explain our decisions and how we have taken them based on our organizational values. We are ready to be held to account for what we do and how we behave, as we are also holding others to account in a consistent manner.

Agility, Complexity, and Ambiguity

We scan the environment, anticipate changes, are comfortable with lack of clarity and deal with a large number of elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways.

Systems Thinking

We view problems as parts of an overall system and in their relation to the whole system, rather than reacting to a specific part, outcome or event in isolation. We focus on cyclical rather than linear cause and effect. By consistently practicing systems thinking we are aware of and manage well unintended consequences of organizational decisions and actions.

Strategic Thinking and Judgment

We use judgment, weighing risk against the imperative to act. We make decisions consistent with organizational strategies and values.

Vision Setting

We have the ability to identify and lead visionary initiatives that are beneficial for our organization and we set high-level direction through a visioning process that engages the organization and diverse external stakeholders.

Self-Awareness

We are able to develop a high degree of self-awareness around our own strengths and weaknesses and our impact on others. Our self-awareness enables us to moderate and self-regulate our behaviors to control and channel our impulses for good purposes.

Enabling

We all work to effectively empower and enable others to deliver the organizations goals through creating conditions of success. We passionately invest in others by developing their careers, not only their skills for the job. We provide freedom; demonstrate belief and trust provide appropriate support.

Oxfam aims to attract great talent that not only fits the job but also Oxfam’s high standard of values and principles, who shares and demonstrates Oxfam’s commitment to prevent and eradicate any type of misconduct including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, any other type of misuse of power or lack of integrity and financial misconduct.

We are committed to promoting the welfare of children, young people, and adults. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us. We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation. People of all gender identities, sexes, sexual orientations, races, colours, religions, cultures, abilities, etc. are eligible for this position.