Influencing and Communication Specialist

Influencing and Communication Specialist

Location: Kathmandu, Nepal – with field visits as require
Position Status: Full-time, Regular

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible. In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into action – helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within. Now, and for the future. Mercy Corps has been operating in Nepal since 2005, implementing programs in food security, agriculture, market development, financial services, youth engagement, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. We take a systems-based approach in our programming, with the aim of improving the lives and potential of vulnerable individuals and communities across Nepal.

Program / Department Summary

The Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance (ZFRA) is an alliance of nine organizations including international NGOs, private sector, and academic organizations, who have come together with the support of the Zurich Foundation to drive better policy and practice to reduce the negative impact of floods on peoples’ and communities’ ability to thrive.

The Alliance finished its first phase in 2018, second phase in Dec 2023 and third phase will run till Dec 2027. During this time, the Alliance will cover additional climate hazards – currently heat and wildfires, potentially storms in the future. And Phase 3 will have a much stronger focus on influencing and systems change.

Our vision as a joint Climate Resilience Alliance: The Alliance helps create, through multiple climate hazard resilience programming, a climate-resilient future where communities in different contexts – large and small, urban and rural – are adapted to a changing climate. We focus on those most vulnerable and most in need and enable them to thrive. We bring our evidence from ground-truthed programs to scale to achieve systemic change.

What we want to achieve: We continue to seek transformative change at scale, building on our community programmes to influence policy and practice at the local, national and global level. We will call for funding and action that supports adaptation measures that are scalable and sustainable. We ensure resilience building and adaptation is mainstreamed across other humanitarian and development action.

Our success is based on credible impact by community-driven programming, from which knowledge and evidence of good practice can be generated, which will help us provide the national or sub-national level advocacy to achieve the systemic change we have identified needs changing. Research will support us with the necessary in-country or global evidence. We both implement interventions ourselves and have a plan for creating intervention pipelines that can be invested into by other funders or by the government.

Mercy Corps is leading the ‘influencing and advocacy’ work within the Alliance, as well as making substantial contributions to work streams on knowledge management, research, and piloting innovative field programming with communities, private sector, and government. In Nepal, the Alliance is comprised of Mercy Corps and Practical Action. The Influencing and Communication Specialist will be part of a dynamic international team and play a central role in advancing Alliance work in Nepal and globally.

General Position Summary

The Influencing and Communication Specialist assumes responsibility to lead overall design, management, implementation, and coordination for ZFRA’s policy and advocacy work in climate adaptation and flood/heat resilience in Nepal. The Influencing and Communication Specialist will provide strategic oversight and leadership to help ZFRA in Nepal to achieve its project advocacy and influencing goals with summary of key functions as follows:

• Lead the development and delivery of policy, research, and influencing initiatives in Nepal.
• Provision of strategic direction and quality advice on policy analysis and evidence-based research.
•  Ensure effective implementation of knowledge sharing, knowledge management and influencing strategy.
•  Establishing and strengthening of strategic partnerships with government agencies, peer organizations, development partners, civil society, and private sector, think tanks, research institutes and media.

The Specialist’s primary focus will be on influencing in that country, but will also likely engage with global advocacy around some or all of the Alliance’s priority themes (DRR/CCA governance, EWS, NBS, heat, and urban).

The Influencing and Communication Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the Program Manager and work closely with Mercy Corps field-teams, Flood Resilience Alliance partner at the country level (Practical Action in Nepal) as well as Mercy Corps’ Regional Program and Advocacy Manager based in Bangkok, Thailand, and Head of ZFRA program based in the UK.

As Gender and Social Inclusion and governance cross-cutting components of all Mercy Corps program(s), The Influencing and Communication Specialist is also required to ensure GESI sensitivity is integrated into his/her work area.

Essential Job Responsibility

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY

The Influencing and Communication Specialist assumes responsibility to lead overall design, management, implementation, and coordination for ZFRA’s policy and advocacy work in climate adaptation and flood/heat resilience in Nepal. The Influencing and Communication Specialist will provide strategic oversight and leadership to help ZFRA in Nepal to achieve its project advocacy and influencing goals with summary of key functions as follows:

• Lead the development and delivery of policy, research, and influencing initiatives in Nepal.
• Provision of strategic direction and quality advice on policy analysis and evidence-based research.
• Ensure effective implementation of knowledge sharing, knowledge management and influencing strategy.
•  Establishing and strengthening of strategic partnerships with government agencies, peer organizations, development partners, civil society, and private sector, think tanks, research institutes and media.

The Specialist’s primary focus will be on influencing in that country, but will also likely engage with global advocacy around some or all of the Alliance’s priority themes (DRR/CCA governance, EWS, NBS, heat, and urban).

The Influencing and Communication Specialist will work under the direct supervision of the Program Manager and work closely with Mercy Corps field-teams, Flood Resilience Alliance partner at the country level (Practical Action in Nepal) as well as Mercy Corps’ Regional Program and Advocacy Manager based in Bangkok, Thailand, and Head of ZFRA program based in the UK.

As Gender and Social Inclusion and governance cross-cutting components of all Mercy Corps program(s), The Influencing and Communication Specialist is also required to ensure GESI sensitivity is integrated into his/her work area.

SECURITY

• Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country leadership.
• Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

• As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient, and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO BENEFICIARIES

•  Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring, and evaluation of our field projects.
• Team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values always and in all in-country venues.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY: N/A

ACCOUNTABILITY

• Reports Directly to: Program Manager
• Works Directly with: ZFRA Alliance III partners – Practical Action, Province Coordinator(s) and MRED program in Sudurpaschim

Supervisory Responsibility

Accountability: Country Director; Position Description; MACF grant agreement and policies; National staff policy handbook; Code of conduct and Mercy Corps policy and procedures.

Reports directly to: Director of Programs (DoPs) for all; specifically, MRED Regional Program Director for MRED.
Works directly with: Local implementing partner(s); private sector partner(s); and Mercy Corps DM&E, Finance/Compliance, and Operations team members

Knowledge and Experience

• Relevant degree (e.g. Master’s Degree in Environmental Science, Environment Management, DRR, Climate Science, international development, agriculture, communications etc.)
•  At least 5 years relevant experience with designing, managing, and implementing policy research and advocacy initiatives. Understanding of system change will be an asset.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation
• Excellent ability to conduct policy and stakeholder analysis through rigorous document reviews and network development, and articulate policy recommendations for advocacy and influencing.
• Ability to scope, design, and lead research to build evidence base for programming and advocacy as well as program impact evaluation.
• Ability to summarize and persuasively communicate complex information in written and verbal form to different audiences, including experience leading the production of external written policy products.
• Team player that can coordinate and facilitate tasks for program outcomes both internally and externally, with stakeholders including Alliance partners, national/sub-national/local governments, community groups, INGOs, NGOs, donors, UN, private sector and others.
• Ability to demonstrate an openness and willingness to learn about the application of gender, women’s rights, diversity and inclusion for all aspects of program work.
• Strong organizational skills and ability to effectively handle multiple tasks, work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Proficiency in written and spoken English and Nepali.
•  Demonstrated proficiency with the MS Office software (i.e., Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is required.
• Ability to frequently travel to remote areas and work effectively with an ethnically diverse team in a sensitive environment.

Success Factors

SUCCESS FACTORS

A successful Influencing and Communication Specialist will be able to develop and execute effective influencing strategies backed by solid communication products and knowledge management to achieve the project’s outcome. S/he will be able to coordinate, collaborate and strongly influence community, provincial and federal stakeholders to amplify projects’ influencing agenda, replication, and scale of project’s achievement. S/he should have the ability to travel frequently to remote areas and the capacity to develop and deliver training packages and tools as required in the project districts.

The most successful Mercy Corps staff members have a strong commitment to teamwork and accountability, thrive in evolving and changing environments and make effective written and verbal communication a priority in all situations.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives. We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening, and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact. We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

Safeguarding & Ethics

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

Application Method

For Registered Candidate:

Login to https://p2p.com.np/ with your username and password, click on the job you want to apply for and press “APPLY” that appears on the selected job page.

For New Candidate:

Go to https://p2p.com.np/
Register/Create new account,
Use your newly created username and password to login
Click on the job you want to apply for
And press “APPLY” that appears on the selected job page.

If cover letter/ CV is not attached, a pop up will appear The pop up will direct to “MANAGE COVER LETTER/ CV” page where you can add/upload cover letter/ CV, then press “APPLY” at the bottom of the page.

Application Deadline: Sunday 24th December, 2023

Tagged as: Communications Specialist, Kathmandu, Mercy Corps, NGO INGO