Duties / Responsibilities

The officer will report to the HDT Lead, while working closely with the Advocacy and Knowledge Translation team at APHRC.

Externally, s/he will work closely with local community leaders, youth/education/early childhood development (ECD) networks, national parliaments, government officers, sub-national government officers, Civil Society Organizations, funders, UN agencies, and regional economic groups such as EAC, EALA, SADC PF and ECOWAS/WAHO, among others.

The Policy and Advocacy Officer will:

• Coordinate and work with the HDT team in management of EIDM activities;
• Coordinate policy engagement, communications and capacity strengthening activities for HDT policy audiences;
• Respond to rapid response requests from policy actors while managing the rapid response service;
• Work closely with the HDT research teams to develop knowledge translation products such as policy briefs, fact sheets, and blogs;
• Conduct policy analysis on relevant issues related to HDT’s areas of focus.
• Work closely with the research teams in ensuring compliance with donor requirements such as writing of annual progress reports and updates to the project funders;
• Support the wider HDT mandate as requested including writing reports and fundraising efforts.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in ECD, education, public policy, public administration and social policy, anthropology, economics, politics and internal relations, sociology or any other relevant field
• At least three years’ post-qualification experience in advocacy, policy engagement and a year in research and analysis in ECD and/or education (including quantitative and qualitative).
• Excellent communication (written and spoken) skills
• Good interpersonal and organizational skills
• Experience of policy development and advocacy in ECD and/or education and/or youth empowerment and/or economic policy areas at a national, regional or international level
• Production of high-quality written work to influence policy outcomes
• Experience working with different stakeholders including communities, NGOs, CSOs, government ministries, and government bodies such as EAC, AU, SADC and ECOWAS/WAHO to inform and influence policy development would be an advantage
• Experience and evidence of fundraising work
• Flexible and adaptable approach, in order to respond to shifting priorities and a rapidly evolving external environment
• The ability and desire to acquire and maintain knowledge of a policy area or areas with a focus on ECD, education and youth empowerment
• This position is classified under Nationally Recruited Positions (NRP) Grade IV in our scales