Local Humanitarian Leadership Influencing Lead Full Time

TEAM PURPOSE:

OXFAM is a global movement of people who are fighting inequality to end poverty and injustice. Across regions, from the local to the global, we work with people to bring change that lasts. Our work is grounded in the commitment to the universality of human rights. Driven by diversity and founding our asks in evidence and experience, we take sides against poverty and injustice everywhere. Feminist approaches guide all our analysis, action, and interaction.

Oxfam in Kenya is a development, humanitarian, and campaigning organization that works with others to alleviate poverty and inequality. Oxfam envisages a transformed Kenyan society in which each individual, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, or social standing, is able to access basic services, and fully participates in decision making processes on issues that affect their lives and can be heard. In addition, Oxfam in Kenya believes that every Kenyan has a right to make free and informed choices to build sustainable livelihoods and resilience to external shocks. Oxfam in Kenya works on the premise that; poverty and powerlessness are avoidable and can be eliminated by human action and political will.

Since 1963, Oxfam in Kenya has worked with partners in long-term development programmes, humanitarian assistance, peace and conflict resolution programmes and actively engaged in campaigning for better governance and equitable access to services. Gender justice, climate justice and natural resource management are the other core programme areas for Oxfam in Kenya.

The humanitarian team works with a number of local and national actors to support their ambition of rapid, quality and principled response in crisis affected regions, especially the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) in Kenya. As a multi-mandated organization, Oxfam focuses on the work needed to coherently address people’s vulnerability before, during and after crises, and thus contributing to resilience building of the vulnerable communities with the “humanitarian-development-peace” nexus approach in our programming. Oxfam’s support to partners includes 1) Providing access to information and people, 2) Connecting and convening diverse groups, 3) Providing technical advice, and 4) Providing access to resources. Oxfam believes in the power of local action and is intentional to facilitate local humanitarian leadership and equitable partnerships in Kenya.

JOB PURPOSE:

Oxfam has secured a multiyear, multi-country and multi-partner grant from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. This project “Humanitarian System Transformation through Local Humanitarian Leadership (HST-LHL)” aims to influence the humanitarian system to be more equal, risk-informed, and better funded locally led system through three mutually reinforcing outcomes:

1. A more equitable and locally led humanitarian system – including through strengthening local networked responses, increasing visibility and representation, and reinforcing country-specific localization accountability mechanism.
2. A more risk-informed and safe humanitarian system – including through multistakeholder collaboration in identifying and managing risks
3. Increased quality and quantity of humanitarian funding – including exploring through innovative financing mechanisms

This is a knowledge and learning project contributing to influencing at national and global levels to transform the humanitarian system through local humanitarian leadership. The project is being implemented in Colombia, DR Congo, Indonesia, Kenya, Myanmar, South Sudan and Yemen from July 2024 to December 2027.

The Local Humanitarian Leadership (LHL) Influencing Lead will provide overall leadership and technical oversight to the project and play anchoring role in bringing all the different stakeholders together for collaborative knowledge, learning and research processes envisioned in the different outcome areas of the project. S/he will coordinate all the project activities with different partners, ensure there is cross-learning and collaboration among the partners, establish and maintain regular coordination and information exchange with the project management unit which coordinates with all the participating countries.

The role will be responsible for ensuring in-depth understanding, practical application and periodic monitoring of Oxfam’s partnership principles and ways of working, including Oxfam’s commitments to the Charter for Change, the Grand Bargain, Pledge for Change, and the Humanitarian Principles of Partnership. The role will also support institutional strengthening of civil society organisations through capacity sharing and exchanges as well as connecting them to the relevant technical focal points of humanitarian aid delivery, peacebuilding, development, durable solutions, nexus programming, CSO networking and alliance building, as per the needs of the respective local actors.

The role will be responsible for effective communications, visibility of partners’ work on LHL and partnerships, coordination with all stakeholders involved, coordination of capacity strengthening and exchange processes in the country.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

Project Management (HST-LHL project): Coordination and Convening

• Develop, implement and monitor the influencing strategy for this project in close coordination with the PMU influencing lead and the line manager.
• Lead in bringing all the different stakeholders together for collaborative knowledge, learning and research processes envisioned in the different outcome areas of the project.
• Establish and maintain regular coordination and information exchange with the project management unit which coordinates with all the participating countries.
• Coordinate with partner organizations to ensure that all reports are submitted in a timely manner and in accordance with donor and Oxfam requirements, collaborating early to identify potential delays, challenges or capacity gaps and coordinating with colleagues to address and rectify.
• Represent the country team in partnership and localization focused coordination meetings (such as Kenya C4C working group, AHN processes and as advised by the line manager) and Oxfam internal planning processes.
• Support on partner-led advocacy, influencing and communications activities, in collaboration with the policy and communications/media leads.
• Work closely with the partners at country level as well as at PMU and global level to ensure strategic influencing at national, regional and global levels, including supporting policy and advocacy colleagues to work with programme colleagues to deliver their products to the highest standards.
• Contribute to identifying gaps and needs regarding humanitarian finance, humanitarian system reform, local humanitarian leadership policy and contribute to policy development with the relevant teams and partners at country, PMU and confederation level.
• Strengthen external networks and engagement, in close collaboration with the Director Humanitarian Systems, to increase impact of the influencing agenda and to support partners’ visibility and leadership.
• In close collaboration with Kenya C4C working group and the ASAL Humanitarian Network (AHN), facilitate and contribute to the development of the localization accountability tool for Kenya, and facilitate/support annual reporting on the same.
• Encourage and support civil society organizations, AHN members, WROs etc. to take part in formal coordination structures and activities that will amplify voices of Kenyan local actors.

Partnership Management:

• Ensure and support partnership-centric ways of working throughout the different projects and program management cycles in close collaboration with the programme managers and technical coordinators.
• Working with the MEAL Advisor, ensure that partners are equal stakeholders in project management, reporting, and CAMSA, and that the way that we engage with partners in these areas are empowering, principled and fully aligned with the Oxfam LHL & partnership strategy.
• Support Senior Management Team (SMT) and MEAL team in conducting annual partnership learning and review meetings and see through the implementation of agreed action points.

Capacity sharing and exchanges:

• Support in the identification of capacity strengthening needs, the development and the delivery of capacity sharing strategies and activities, in collaboration with the programme managers, and technical teams.
• Ensure programme managers and country teams are familiar with Oxfam’s principles of partnership, including the commitments to the localization agenda, Pledge for Change, Charter for Change, Grand Bargain, etc.

Other:

• Required to adhere to Oxfam’s principles and values as well as the promotion of gender justice and women’s rights
• Understanding of and commitment to adhere to equity, diversity, gender, child safety and staff health and wellbeing principles.

Person specification

Most importantly, every individual at Oxfam needs to be able to:

• Live our values of INCLUSION, ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT, COURAGE, SOLIDARITY and EQUALITY (read more about these here).
• Ensure you commit to our ORGANIZATIONAL ATTRIBUTES (including adhering to the Code of Conduct).
• Be committed to our feminist principles, and to applying them in your day-to-day behaviour and your work. Be ready to keep learning, with accountability to those who experience oppression as a result of their identities, such as their gender, race/ethnicity, disability, class, or LGBTQIA identity.”
• Be committed to undertaking Oxfam’s safeguarding training and adhering to relevant policies, to ensure all people who come into Oxfam are as safe as possible.

Technical skills, knowledge and experience

Skills

• Education (master’s degree level) preferably in social sciences, international law, or related humanities field.
• Good understanding of Kenyan, African and International policy context on key themes related to Localization, Local Humanitarian Leadership, Charter for Change, the Grand Bargain, Pledge for Change, Principles of Partnership.
• Strong soft and hard people and project management skills, with experience working in diverse alliances.
• Strong interpersonal skills that include experience with mediation and consensus building.
• Good organizational skills including accuracy, consistency, attention to detail, tenacity, and the ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to lead projects and programmes in a clear and constructive way that inspires people to deliver.
• Ability to manage budgets and processes for results and impact.
• Ability to work independently and with diverse multi-cultural and virtual teams.
• Ability to liaise with a wide range of people, both internally and externally and at many levels, with credibility, tact, and diplomacy.

Knowledge

• Good knowledge of and experience in developing learning, advocacy and campaign strategies and plans and successfully achieving external impact and change.
• Excellent understanding of, and experience with, brokering, developing and managing (humanitarian) partnerships with and among CSOs, INGOs, government, private sector, federations, networks and platforms, academia and research institutions etc.
• Strong knowledge and understanding of development and humanitarian architechture including the political environment, sensitivity to working with CSOs within Kenya and the East African region.
• Knowledge of and demonstrated commitment to Oxfam’s values, mission and work including feminist approach to humanitarian responses and Oxfam’s partnership principles.
• Strong programme management and quality knowledge, with the ability to ensure consistent quality against standards and to implement effective monitoring and evaluation systems to assess and adjust performance.
• Commitment to and good knowledge of working with networks, coalitions, and a partnership approach across the spectrum of Oxfam’s work, including innovative approaches to capacity strengthening.
• Fluency in English with knowledge of Swahili an added advantage.

Experience

• At least ten years of relevant experience in development and humanitarian work.
• Demonstrated competencies in partnership development and management, particularly in humanitarian partnerships and promoting local humanitarian leadership.
• Excellent and demonstrable people, collaboration, and networking skills.
• Effective communication internally and externally towards government and NGOs, donors, and internally towards management, program managers, technical experts and business support specialists.
• Strategic planning skills with ability to contribute to overall programme strategies.
• Good assessment, analytical and planning skills, incl. project management experience.
• A proven capacity for mentoring, facilitation, training, capacity sharing and coaching.

Essential

• Self-Awareness: Ability to develop a high degree of self-awareness around own strengths and weaknesses and impact on others.
• Agility, complexity and ambiguity: Ability to scan the environment, anticipate changes, are comfortable with lack of clarity and deal with a large number of elements interacting in diverse and unpredictable ways.
• Mutual accountability: Ability to explain our decisions and how we have taken them based on our organizational values.

Tagged as: Kenya, Oxfam GB