Policy and Advocacy Senior Officer – Lebanon

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JOB CONTEXT:

After almost a year of hostilities across southern Lebanon, the conflict escalated on 23 September 2024, between IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and LH (Lebanese Hizballah). Indeed, the IDF (Israel Defense Force) continued its intensive airstrike campaign, focusing mainly on the Nabatieh and South governorates in southern Lebanon, also Beqaa and Baalbek-Hermel. LH (Lebanese Hizballah) has also increased the tempo and range of its strikes, though these remain largely within Israel’s Haifa and Northern district and predominantly target IDF bases. Key top leaders of the LH have been targeted and killed during the last days, including the Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, September 27th.

OCHA reports on September 30th, 211,319 displaced. But the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Sunday that as many as one million people had been displaced by the violence. Lebanese officials estimate, based on the 2006 experience, that approximately one quarter of the total number of directly affected and/or displaced individuals are in shelters. With many displaced in collective shelters still unregistered, the national Disaster Risk Management (DRM) dashboard is now reporting over 115,000 individuals in more than 660 shelters. The Government has opened a new batch of shelters, mainly in the North and Mount Lebanon. Meanwhile, non-governmental sites were also settled including 4 migrant specific shelters (opened and managed by NGOs); 3 embassy shelters; and 5 UNRWA sites which are now accommodating more than 1,400 displaced. Efforts to map displaced people in spontaneous shelters have also been initiated.

The five main districts from which people departed are located in southern Lebanon (Bent Jbeil, Marjaayoun, Tyre, and El Nabatieh), with one district in the east (Baalbek).

YOUR MISSION:

The Policy and Advocacy Senior Officer on the Lebanese crises works under the responsibility of the Country Manager for Lebanon covering policy and advocacy for the Lebanon Crises, and in close collaboration with the regional advocacy and communication officer, the HI Institute on Humanitarian Action and the Federal Advocacy and Institutional Relations team (AIR). She/he contributes to the design, implementation and follow-up of HI policy and advocacy strategies related to the Lebanese crisis, on national, regional and international levels. In this context, his/her missions are as follows:

Mission 1: STRATEGY AND STEERING

Responsibility 1.1: Analyse the humanitarian environment and define HI positions

• Monitor and analyze the humanitarian context, architecture and actors at play to identify the main positioning and ethical issues to ensure a principled humanitarian action
• Define and produce policy papers laying down HI positions in accordance with HI ethical guidelines and principles of intervention, liaising with relevant stakeholders at programme level and HQ levels (HI Institute and AIR)
• Undertake research and provide recommendations based on ethical guidelines
• Contribute to the risk-analysis for the adaptation of the advocacy strategy

Responsibility 1.2: Develop and update advocacy strategies and action plans

• Work with the regional advocacy and communication officer and the AIR team on developing and updating the joint advocacy strategy related to Lebanon crisis and ensure it is consistent across national, regional and international levels
• Lead the design and implementation of coordinated advocacy action plans at regional and national levels, and ensure they are properly implemented, in compliance with HI advocacy quality standards and procedures
• Identify key issues emerging from HI operations that would require advocacy for policy changes
• Carry out and constantly update a stakeholder mapping and power analysis to identify key advocacy targets and allies

Mission 2: OPERATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION.

Ensure that advocacy is based on reliable and up-to-date evidence and data

• Regularly liaise with key operational staff and external stakeholders to gather timely information and data to feed into federal and country-based advocacy strategies
• Ensure that the programme produces reliable and consistent data for advocacy purposes and that it is shared with the AIR team
• Lead or contribute to the preparation of advocacy tools (reports, briefing papers, talking points, medias/social media tools, collection of testimonies), in collaboration with the AIR team and HI federal Communication team

Organize the effective influence and outreach of HI vis-à-vis key decision-makers and networks

• Engage in relevant fora, networks and coalitions or with key partners at national and regional levels to feed the analyses and promote HI positions; identify opportunities for, and collaborate with the AIR team on collective advocacy initiatives
• Maintain contacts with key decision makers at national and regional levels through regular meetings and exchanges
• Take part in events and conferences and ad hoc meetings with decision makers at global level in coordination with the AIR team
• When appropriate, liaise with the medias on advocacy related issues with the support of the federal Communication, and AIR teams

Ensure HI internal communication and ownership

• Disseminate advocacy- and policy- related information within the HI network through appropriate channels, including by feeding HI internal communication tools and platforms
• Contribute to internal advocacy related working structures, and other relevant internal meetings to provide updated information and discuss advocacy developments; liaise as necessary with AIR, Federal Communication, HI Institute, or National Associations
• Inform and provide support to key operational staff and local/national partners on HI advocacy activities
• Assess needs and provide trainings accordingly on principled humanitarian action and HI ethical guidelines to staff as well as local/national partners when appropriate

Contribute to fundraising efforts

• Identify funding opportunities for advocacy and positioning activities and staff, including through incorporating advocacy activities into field projects and new project proposals

Mission 3: STANDARDS and EXPERTISE – Contribute to raising the quality and internal ownership of HI advocacy work

• Comply with and promote HI quality standards and internal procedures relating to advocacy
• Report to line manager, the regional advocacy and communication officer, the AIR Humanitarian Advocacy Manager any issues of compliance
• Contribute to the design and delivery of presentations and training tools on advocacy
• Provide advocacy-related inputs into internal processes as requested

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POSITION:

This position is based preferably in Beyruth, but can be based in Amman, with frequent movements to Beyruth.

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