GBLCAREERS

Plan International is an independent development and humanitarian organisation that advances children’s rights and equality for girls.

We believe in the power and potential of every child. But this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination. And it’s girls who are most affected.

Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners, we strive for a just world, tackling the root causes of the challenges facing girls and all vulnerable children.

We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. And we enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.

We have been building powerful partnerships for children for over 80 years, and are now active in more than 70 countries.

The Opportunity

The African Union (AU) is the primary pan African platform for promoting and protecting human rights, including the rights of children. Plan’s liaison office to the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa is aligned with Plan’s new Global Strategy “100 Million Reasons”, pursuing an ambitious strategy of influencing and advocacy to enable millions of African grils to learn, lead, decide and thrive.

Through contact and interaction with key AU decision-makers and Member States, the Director of the African Union Liaison Office engages in a strategic manner to gain political support for children’s and girls’ rights, as well as to influence AU policies and positions to include and address gender equality and contribute to a lasting environment in which the rights of children and youth are respected, protected, and fulfilled.

Specifically the role is charged with the responsibility:

To lead in defining and delivering Plan’s engagement at the continental level in Africa including program delivery, representation and advocacy.

To build relationships and linkages between Plan, African Policy making institutions, and civil society organizations across the continent in order to develop and enhance co-operation and impact on child rights related issues.

To ensure that Plan gains access to continental and regional forums and that the organization is known and sought out by decision-makers on issues related to children and child right.

To project and facilitate learning between Plan’s work and experience in Africa and the major institutional actors that are based in Africa. This will include the representation to UN bodies, INGOs, corporate sector and donors in liaison with the AU and the other institutions.

To connect the opportunities and needs for continental influencing with Plan’s national and global influencing and advocacy strategies by sharing critical information and participating in defining organisational priorities and advocacy objectives.

You will promote children’s rights within Plan by ensuring that all staff understand their obligations to protect children from harm, abuse and exploitation and their responsibility to work to the standards and procedures detailed in the organisation’s Child protection policy.

You will lead a high performing team – planning effectively for performance, including setting expectations and goals and defining job responsibilities; coaching and addressing underperformance and reviewing or evaluating performance.

Do you have what it takes?

In order to succeed in this challenging and varied role you will have;

• Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of working of program and networking experience, including within AU institutions.
• Extensive understanding of advocacy based programme approaches.
• Extensive understanding of Child Rights issues, with a strong understanding of the African dimensions of this.
• Extensive experience of hands on project cycle management experience.
• Extensive knowledge of pan African institutions, especially the AU, and a broad accessible network at pan African level.
• Extensive experience in building partnerships with pan African institutions, especially with the AU organs.
• Comprehensive experience in Child Rights based development work.
• Strong networking skills and the ability to build effective networks
• A proven track record in advocacy within the AU/African environment

Location: Based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with travel of 50 – 60% in the region and internationally

Type of Role: Fixed Term Contract

Reports to: Regional Director

Salary: Competitive salary

Closing Date: Wednesday 31st May 2017