Community Engagement and Advocacy Director

PACT Overview

Pact is an international nonprofit that works in nearly 40 countries building solutions for human development that are evidence-based, data-driven and owned by the communities we serve. Founded in 1971, Pact works with partners to build resilience, improve accountability, and strengthen knowledge and skills for sustainable social impact.

Department

Programs - Pact strives for a world where all people are heard, capable, and vibrant. The Programs Team helps realize this objective by bridging program management, technical support, and business development, enabling Pact to achieve its global strategy. We ensure program excellence through continuous learning, monitoring and evaluation and provide organizational and industry-wide thought leadership by leveraging a complementary set of cross-functional, multi-disciplinary skills, expertise, and experiences. The Programs team: influences progressive change through the development and implementation of global and regional strategies and business plans; supports advancement of innovative solutions; pursues new business opportunities; and drives effective internal and external engagement to maximize Pact’s impact across the globe. Across all aspects of its role, the Programs Department adheres to and promotes a culture of inclusion, accountability, and respect.

Position Overview

USAID/Ethiopia intends to award a four-year assistance activity entitled USAID Empowered Communities Activity (ECA) to improve health and nutrition outcomes through evidence-based and theory-grounded community ownership of health and strengthened social accountability systems and platforms. ECA will be primarily funded with family planning and maternal and child health funding; therefore, all expected results and proposed solutions should contribute to the betterment of the lives of women, children, youth, and men who access reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH-N) services.

Pact seeks an experienced Community Engagement & Advocacy Director for the ECA opportunity. The Community Engagement & Advocacy Director will be responsible for all aspects of design and implementation of technical strategies and interventions to achieve greater community engagement, empowerment, and ownership of RMNCAH-N services. S/he will provide technical leadership in evidence-based, theory-grounded approaches to strengthen community participation in RMNCAH-N and to integrate community engagement and advocacy activities that foster grassroots mobilization, partnerships, and leadership. S/he will oversee delivery of results-oriented technical assistance and capacity strengthening support to local partners; and ensure that technical priorities are in line with the objectives of the ECA award and relevant national strategies, the health needs of most vulnerable communities, and complement ongoing efforts by government and stakeholders in RMNCAH-N. The Community Engagement & Advocacy Director will report to the Chief of Party. This position is contingent upon award.  The anticipated period of performance is 4 years, and the anticipated start date is October 1, 2023.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead high-quality technical programming through hands-on guidance and support grounded in the program's objectives and expected results, ensuring integration across all results areas and adhering to expected technical quality and reporting requirements.
• Develop, implement, and refine a coordinated community engagement, advocacy, and social accountability strategy for improved health and nutrition outcomes, and ensure responsiveness to highly dynamic context in Ethiopia.
• Build relations with key stakeholders from national to grassroots levels, and actively collaborate with USAID, other USG and non-USG-supported community engagement investments, and implementing partners for effective coordination of community engagement and advocacy efforts.
• Direct, supervise, and coordinate the work of technical teams, ensuring alignment and adherence to technical strategies, guidelines, and performance standards in community engagement, advocacy, and social accountability, and joint development of solutions to implementation challenges
• Lead capacity strengthening of local partners and community structures for advocacy, community mobilization, and engagement for improving RMNCAH-N service delivery and improving local health system accountability and responsiveness.
• Work with health authorities and service providers at all levels to ensure alignment of project approaches and interventions in advocacy and community engagement with the local healthcare delivery system in Ethiopia.
• Lead development and adaptation of guidelines, tools, and other materials for strengthening advocacy, community engagement, and social accountability, and introduction of innovative implementation methods.
• Analyze project M&E data and work together with technical and Learning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (LME) staff to track and present progress made toward reaching project objectives and targets and make adjustments as needed to respond to community-level realities.
• Ensure that all project technical deliverables, program reports and documentation are met in a high quality, cost effective and timely fashion.
• Perform any other relevant duties as assigned by the COP.

Basic Requirements

• Master’s degree or higher, in public health, public policy, public administration, social sciences, or other relevant professional and advanced degree.
• At least ten (10) years of experience in technical leadership and management roles (preferably in public health and/or the social service sector), including at least five (5) years of experience in RMNCAH-N programming at community level.
• Subject matter expertise in RMNCAH-N, community engagement and mobilization, advocacy, social accountability, youth, gender and social inclusion issues.
• Experience working on and leading teams for USAID cooperative agreements and/or knowledge of USAID rules, regulations, and policies.
• Demonstrated experience in engaging and strengthening capacities of civil society organizations, community structures, private sector, and other non-state actors, as well as government entities at all levels in Ethiopia.
• Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, including civil society organizations, government institutions, private sector entities, and funders.
• Demonstrated skills in problem-solving, negotiating, decision-making, and consensus-building.
• Knowledge of Ethiopia's political, social, health, and economic context.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Fluency in English and Amharic (oral, writing, and reading) required.
• Ability to travel within Ethiopia and occasionally internationally.

Preferred Qualifications

Ethiopian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.