CARE International

Senior EU Advocacy Advisor

CARE International

Brussels, Belgium

Supervisor: Director and EU Representative
Supervises: EU Advocacy Assistant
Location: CARE International AISBL, Brussels, Belgium
Type of Contract: CDI under Belgian labour conditions and regulations

1. BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW

CARE International (CI) is among the world’s largest international non-governmental humanitarian relief and development Confederations. Drawing on its 75 years of experience, through its 20 Members, Candidates and Affiliate, CI’s work reaches over 100 countries worldwide to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice.

At the core of the Confederation is a small, globally distributed Secretariat, which provides coordination and support to its Members, Candidates and Affiliate in the areas governance, policy and accountability, advocacy and communications, coordination and engagement with the EU, and external representation globally at the United Nations and European Union.

CI is governed by a representative Assembly, made up of delegates from its membership, and by an Executive Committee. The Executive Committee oversees the performance of the CI Secretariat. CI is registered in both Switzerland and Belgium as an Association and regulated by respective Statutes in each country.

The impact we want to achieve will only be possible if we continue to transform how we organize ourselves, become more diverse, networked, agile and accountable. Therefore, the central part of CARE’s 2030 Vision is to strengthen the diversity and legitimacy of CARE’s global presence and membership, as well as to support effective membership engagement and accountability. While our network has grown because of expanding our membership, affiliations, and partnerships, we will continue to evolve and innovate different collaborative models and structures, with a portfolio of country offices, transitioned presences, new members and affiliates, effective equitable partnerships with local actors, social enterprises, and more.

2. POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior EU Advocacy Advisor will be based at CARE International AISBL’s office in Brussels, Belgium. Under the direction of the Director and EU Representative, they will lead the CI advocacy work at the European Union level in order to build relations with the EU institutions, strengthen CARE’s representation to the EU, and influence EU policies that have an impact on CARE International’s programmatic objectives. The EU Advisor will also manage the EU Advocacy Action Plan and coordinate the advocacy work of European CARE offices towards the EU.

The Senior EU Advocacy Advisor works in close collaboration with the CI Global Advocacy and Communications team, CI Belgium colleagues and CARE International Members and Country Offices for the fulfilment of their objectives.

3. MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES – specifically but not limited to

The Senior EU Advocacy Advisor will provide strategic guidance to and implement CI’s advocacy work at the European level, particularly on the priority areas for CI and the CI Belgium office, namely: gender equality; countries in crisis; humanitarian policy; climate change; food and nutrition security; and external action budgets.

The Advisor will also follow and provide limited support in other priority policy areas under Vision 2023 strategy, participatory governance, and in other issues related to development and humanitarian aid policies impacting on CI’s work.

1. Leading CI’s European Advocacy work (approximately 65%):

• Identify and act on opportunities to support the implementation of CI’s global advocacy priorities through CI’s interaction with European institutions in Brussels, including CARE’s commitment to cede space to local and national women leaders;
• Monitor and influence policy developments at the EU level;
• Undertake research and analysis on relevant EU policies and identifying opportunities;
• Draft updates, briefing notes, policy positions and talking points on relevant EU processes;
• Support the organisation of advocacy meetings and events;
• Maintain and further develop a network of contacts within EU institutions and Civil Society Organisations in Brussels;
• Actively represent, participate in and influence European NGO networks, namely CONCORD, VOICE, CAN Europe, Crisis Action and EPLO, and create other alliances as required to achieve CI advocacy objectives;
• Through advocacy work, identify and create opportunities to position CI for EU funding, in liaison with EU funding team;
• Participate in key meetings, briefings and conferences organised by EU institutions, UN agencies, and other NGOs;
• Provide overall supervision of the EU Advocacy Assistant.

2. Contributing to strengthening coordination and information sharing on European advocacy (approximately 20%):

• Lead the work of the European Advocacy Group, including assuming responsibility for developing and monitoring implementation of the EU Advocacy Action Plan;
• Coordinate the interaction of CI’s European members and the European Advocacy Group, and country offices with the EU around EU policy processes and decisions;
• Support the organisation of the European Advocacy annual meeting, bi-monthly and ad-hoc calls, and other relevant meetings as required;
• Provide ad hoc support and advice to European members’ advocacy teams.

3. Participating in and supporting the work of CI Brussels office and the CI Secretariat advocacy team lead by the Director of Global Advocacy and Communications as required (approximately 15%):

• Assist in the preparation of annual operating plans, reports, and MEL for CI Brussels’s advocacy work;
• Represent CI in meetings/conferences;
• Support global advocacy efforts beyond Europe as required and feed in CI EU and European perspectives into global advocacy efforts and working groups;
• Organize conference calls, meetings and workshops, including preparatory processes, documents and reports;
• Participate in relevant internal meetings;
• Support administrative functions as needed.

4. KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal:

• CI Director of Global Advocacy and Communications;
• CI Senior Humanitarian Policy & Advocacy Coordinator & UN Representative and Humanitarian Advocacy Coordinator in Geneva;
• CI UN Representative, New York and UN Policy & Advocacy Advisor;
• Advocacy staff of all CI members, particularly European members, and country offices.

External:

• Advocacy staff in peer organizations and Brussels based networks;
• Contacts in EU Institutions.

5. QUALIFICATIONS (key selection criteria)

Education or work experience:

• At least 8 years of working experience in advocacy with an NGO or relevant international organisations towards EU Institutions in the areas of development and/or humanitarian policy;
• Master’s degree (or a combination of a Bachelor degree and/or relevant experience) in social sciences, such as political sciences, international relations, development studies, economics or law.

Essential technical competencies for the role:

• Proven experience in CI priority thematic areas such as gender equality, humanitarian aid and conflict issues, climate change, or food and nutrition security;
• Strong knowledge of the decision-making and policy processes of the European Union and how to influence them;
• Strong analytical and research skills and ability to both handle detail and to assess the “big picture”;
• Proven ability to produce advocacy materials and to develop mechanisms to share and manage advocacy information and knowledge;
• Self-motivated and proactive, with the ability to work independently within a small team and flexibility to respond to rapidly evolving work priorities within a complex organisational setting;
• Excellent inter-personal, organisational and communication skills, including facilitation and networking.

Other essential competencies for the role:

• Committed to CARE’s vision and mission and to achieving gender equality;
• Diversity: A global citizen that seeks inspiration through working with diverse individuals and teams;
• Inclusion: Committed to a just world where all people live in dignity and security and equality is a reality.

Languages:

• As a global organisation we celebrate those that can bring different languages to the workplace;
• Our official working language is English. However, fluency in our other working languages such as French, Arabic or Spanish are also an advantage.

We are committed to preventing all unwanted behaviour at work. This includes sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, and child abuse. We expect everyone who works for us to share this commitment by understanding and working within the CARE Safeguarding Policy and related framework.

CARE International has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a vulnerable adult or child by any of our staff, representatives, or partners. CARE International reserves the right to seek information from job applicants’ current and/or previous employers about incidents of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment the applicant may have been found guilty to have committed or about which an investigation was in the process of being carried out at the time of the termination of the applicant’s employment with that employer.

By submitting the application, the job applicant confirms that s/he has no objection to CARE International requesting the information specified above.

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. We will seek at least two references, one of which must be your most recent employer. We participate in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By applying, you confirm your understanding and agreement of these checks.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested and qualified candidates should submit their CV and a brief covering letter of interest in English to cirecruitment@careinternational.org by August 12, 2024 COB. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Only candidates with the relevant work authorization will be considered.

More Information on CARE International is available at www.care-international.org.

CARE puts gender equality and social justice at the front of our work. We seek to ensure that who we are as an organisation reflects our vision of a world where ALL people can live in dignity and security. Our diversity is our strength. We encourage people from all backgrounds, nationalities, abilities, beliefs, genders, and experiences to apply.