The position as NGO Forum Advocacy and Communications Coordinator is hosted by CARE, but is part of the NGO Forum’s Secretariat.

The NGO Forum was established in 2012 to facilitate information sharing and coordination activities for international and Syrian NGOs operating in northern Syria. The Forum’s role is to positively increase the impact of humanitarian activities in response to the Syrian crisis, which is now in its seventh year. The NGO Forum membership provides cross-border operational support to the large populations of people in need in North West Syria. The NGO Forum Secretariat supports this role, promoting coordination and collaboration of a diverse Forum membership, assisting in identifying and responding to advocacy issues and events, and is actively engaged in capacity building and skills transfer for NGOs operating in southern Turkey. At the time of writing, the NGO Forum represents almost 70 Syrian and international NGOs as members or observers.

In late 2014, the humanitarian response for Syria in the region shifted to take on a “Whole of Syria” approach, which has increased the need for strong, high level, persuasive advocacy development and coordination at the NGO Forum level.  The NGO Forum continues to increase the reach of broad policy and advocacy messages in support of the NGO community in Turkey. This included the development of an Advocacy Working Sub-Group (AWG), part of the NGO Forum, which has expanded the number of targeted campaigns that the NGO Forum was able to undertake. This post will provide leadership and vision to the development of a more robust external response to issues facing all NGOs in southern Turkey. 

Under the direct supervision of the NGO Forum Coordinator, the Advocacy and Communication Coordinator will perform the below duties, as well as undertaking other responsibilities as may be agreed:

Responsibilities and Tasks

Job Responsibility #1 Advocacy    % 50 of time

• Develop an information analysis capacity within the NGO Forum utilizing knowledge of NGO Forum members to support evidence-based advocacy and coherent representation of NGO interests within the wider humanitarian context.
• Support information management, ensuring information sharing and timely dissemination;
• Work with NGO Forum members on the identification of their advocacy needs and draft policy papers relating to relevant issues identified by the NGO Forum platforms;
• Chair and support the NGO Forum AWG through the provision of strategic leadership on issue identification, message development and capacity building to AWG members;
• Regularly develop advocacy and policy materials such as position papers, key messages, and other materials as requested to ensure that the NGO Forum members’ interests and voices are adequately represented externally;
• Represent the NGO Forum externally at policy and advocacy related events and meetings, as well as with outside parties interested in the overarching policy issues regarding the work of the humanitarian community;
• Draft and maintain a clear advocacy plan and calendar which are responsive to key events and dates throughout the year; oversee the NGO Forum website and archival storage;
• Liaise closely with other regional fora and global advocacy representative’s platforms to ensure messaging is coherent, connected and in the best interest of member organizations on issues of interest at both the Turkey hub level and the Whole of Syria level;
• Provide support to the core meetings of the NGO Forum, in particular to the NGO Forum General and Steering Committee Meetings;
• Assist in the drafting of the regular donor reporting and other regular reporting responsibilities of the NGO Forum Secretariat.

Job Responsibility #2 Communication     % 50 of time

• Build   strategic   partnerships   to   maximize   the   NGO   Forum’s   communications   impact, consolidating and building upon outreach efforts and manage NGO Forum’s proactive relations with global media.
• Ensure the consistency of the NGO Forum’s public position through communications across media and digital platforms including NGO Forum website, Relief web, Twitter, Facebook, and others.
• Document and share lessons learnt and the best practices for humanitarian and development assistance delivery in NW Syria.
• Develop innovative solutions to enhance the NGO Forum’s visibility, online presence and impact on the humanitarian and development assistance delivery in North West Syria.  This includes identifying and establishing relationships with actors relevant to NGO Forum activities (global and regional NGO Forum networks, training agencies, global humanitarian, and development platforms etc.).
• Establish – if needed- and manage communication working group or task force to achieve collective plans for members to participate in, and utilize members different resources to emphasize on NW Syria humanitarian needs
• Supervise communication staff or consultant when needed to achieve NGO Forum Communication objectives. 

Qualifications

Education/Training

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (Social Science, Public Administration, Business Administration, Developmental Studies)

Desired

• Master’s degree in Social Sciences, Development studies or other related fields or equivalent combination of education and work experience

Experience

Required

• At least five years of experience in advocacy and implementing initiatives aimed at influencing and bringing positive change;
• At least five years of humanitarian experience, of which at least two years are focused on global-level policy, advocacy and communications for NGOs (or similar);
• At least two years’ experience working on strategic level issues, including significant coordination and representation experience;
• Demonstrated In-depth understanding of the Middle East situation, in particular of issues relating to the humanitarian cross-border situation from southern Turkey, in order to effectively develop appropriate advocacy and campaign messages and work with members and partners to strengthen commitment and achieve results;
• Experience in research and report writing to high standards and proven analytical ability, with strong editing skills;
• Experience working with national NGOs and implementing partners in a complex humanitarian environment and within a UN-lead cluster system;
• Ability to supervise and effectively manage diverse teams with strong religious and cultural sensitivities.

Technical Skills

Required

• Excellent understanding of the Syria crisis and the context in Northwestern Syria.
• Strong ability to develop and foster relationships with key stakeholders within an organization.
• Excellent coordination skills
• Ability to undertake international and regional travel as required;
• Fluency in English written and spoken.
• Strong skills in written communication, including effective report writing
• Strong skills in inter-personal communications, able to work effectively with multiple stakeholders in a complex, multi-actor environment.
• Strong team player, able to develop and maintain effective working relationships within a distributed and dynamic team.
• Strong ability to build relationships internally and externally such as networking, negotiation and communication;
• Ability to manage stress and meet competing priorities in a timely manner, producing high-quality outcomes;
• Competence with MS Office applications, including Word, Excel and Outlook.

Desired

• Arabic and/or Turkish language skills highly desired.

Child Protection Policy

Child abuse in all forms is unacceptable to CARE Turkey, which recognizes its responsibility to protect children from harm in all areas of its work. CARE Turkey is committed to ensuring a child-safe environment and is applying a zero-tolerance approach towards any kind of child abuse and exploitation.

Discrimination, Abuse and Harassment Policy

CARE Turkey expressly prohibits and will not tolerate any form of discrimination, abuse, harassment (sexual or otherwise), based upon race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status, citizenship status, disability, or military status. CARE employees and related personnel must under no circumstances take part in any form of discrimination, harassment, or abuse (physical, sexual or verbal), intimidation or exploitation, or in any other way infringe the rights of others inside or outside CARE.

HOW TO APPLY:

Interested candidates, please attach a Curriculum Vitae in English and a Cover letter (in a separate file of no more than one A4 page) describing how your skills and experience match the requirements of this post, following to provided link when you click on the apply button.

Applications in languages other than English will not be reviewed.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted

** CARE International is an Equal Opportunity Employer **