Overview
The Director of Advocacy, Campaigns, Communications and Media leads a multi-functional portfolio including strategic advocacy, policy influence, media relations, brand positioning, and public engagement in a complex emergency context. The role holder is expected to work outside the normal role profile and vary working hours during major humanitarian emergencies.
Tasks Summary
- Lead the design and delivery of ACCM strategies to drive policy change and deliver impact for children.
- Advise the Country Director and SMT on external positioning, advocacy risks, and opportunities.
- Foster an accountable, inclusive, high-performing culture grounded in humanitarian principles, child safeguarding, and security standards.
- Ensure ACCM coherence across emergency response, humanitarian coordination, child rights governance, and development programming.
- Build and maintain strategic alliances with advocacy networks, child rights forums, and humanitarian fora.
- Align country advocacy with global campaign priorities and deliver relevant components of the Country Strategic Plan.
- Position Save the Children as a leading advocate for child rights.
- Oversee implementation of global and national campaigns, designing agile tactics and monitoring their impact.
- Lead proposal development and resource mobilization for advocacy and campaigns.
- Guide advocacy on protection, access, forced displacement, and humanitarian architecture.
- Lead emergency advocacy and communications, ensuring rapid-response messaging, safe participation, and principled representation.
- Lead all influencing efforts to promote unimpeded humanitarian access, operational space, and principled action.
- Develop specialised strategies and products on protection of civilians, grave violations, IHL/IHRL compliance, and accountability.
- Represent Save the Children in humanitarian coordination fora and donor mechanisms.
- Oversee humanitarian information management and crisis communications.
- Ensure consistent application of branding and communication standards and oversee production of high-quality materials.
- Build and maintain strong media relations to enhance visibility and manage crisis communications effectively.
- Lead timely production of press releases and child-focused humanitarian narratives.
- Provide strategic direction for long-term context-specific policy influence and system change.
- Conduct situational and needs analyses to inform humanitarian policy briefs and advocacy materials.
- Monitor policy developments, coordination mechanisms, and donor priorities.
- Ensure integration of field evidence and lessons learned into advocacy, communications, and programme design.
- Establish systems to monitor advocacy and campaign outcomes.
- Ensure delivery against KPIs, contribute to Country Annual Reports, and track relevant CSP milestones.
- Lead documentation and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices.
- Lead and manage the ACCM team with clear strategic direction, measurable objectives, and robust performance management.
- Build staff capacity through coaching, mentoring, and tailored development plans.
- Foster a culture of motivation, resilience, and wellbeing.
- Represent Save the Children in key advocacy, humanitarian, and policy fora at national and international levels.
- Cultivate partnerships with government, donors, UN agencies, civil society, and media.
- Support senior leadership in high-level diplomacy, crisis communications, and strategic advocacy.
- Coordinate with global and regional advocacy teams and lead the CO Humanitarian Advocacy Working Group (HAWG).
Experience Requirements
- Minimum of 10 years' progressive experience in senior positions delivering advocacy, campaigns, communications, and media work with INGOs in both development and humanitarian contexts.
- Experience in large-scale emergency responses and protracted crises.
- Demonstrable track record in working on humanitarian access, advocacy on International Humanitarian Law, and engagement with humanitarian coordination mechanisms (OCHA, clusters, HCTs).
- Experience in long-term policy influence on child rights.
- Proven success in designing and implementing advocacy strategies and campaigns resulting in measurable policy change, improved protection, or enhanced humanitarian response for children and communities.
- Experience managing external relations, government/UN agency/NGO/donor engagement, and high-profile media work in both stable and crisis settings.
- Proven management and leadership skills, including building, motivating, and developing diverse teams in high-pressure, rapidly changing environments (humanitarian and development).
- Highly developed interpersonal, negotiation, influencing, and communication skills (verbal and written).
- Excellence in concise, clear writing and presentation skills for diverse audiences: policymakers, humanitarian coordinators, donors, media, and communities.
- Strong analytical, planning, organizational, and coordination skills with ability to manage multiple priorities under time pressure.
- Experience in specific crisis contexts or similar conflict, displacement, or disaster response settings (desirable).
- Experience managing advocacy risk, crisis communications, and sensitive external engagement in politically restricted or insecure environments (desirable).
- Background in humanitarian coordination roles, protection in emergencies, child protection in armed conflict (CAAC), humanitarian architecture and donor relations in emergency settings (desirable).
- High-level external representation, including diplomatic experience, UN engagement, multi-country advocacy, or major international campaign leadership (desirable).
Qualification Requirements
Advanced university degree (Master's or equivalent) in policy, social science, communications, journalism, international relations, humanitarian studies, international development, or related fields.
