Centre for Disaster Protection - Senior Policy Engagement Adviser

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DAI

London

GBP 60,000 - 80,000

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Job description

Senior Policy Engagement Adviser

Background

The Centre for Disaster Protection works to prevent disasters devastating lives, by helping people, countries, and organisations change how they plan and pay for disasters. We focus on disaster risk financing to help ensure that money and plans are in place before a disaster strikes, so that the poorest and most vulnerable people are better protected. We are committed to work in partnerships across sectors and geographies to drive more impactful and more equitable disaster risk finance that leaves no one behind. Specifically, through a focus on:

Delivering excellent client outcomes and promoting lasting disaster risk finance expertise. We provide clients with impartial and evidence-based advice, quality assurance and training that meets their needs and drives more effective disaster risk finance.
Quality evidence and learning. We work to strengthen the evidence base for prearranged financing and document and share what shows the greatest potential to achieve system change.
Impactful communications and global policy engagement. We seek to engage and influence through evidence-led policy and inclusive policy dialogue that bridges both ‘local to global’ and the humanitarian development climate nexus, targeting the bottlenecks key to effect transformative change of the international crisis financing architecture.

Additionally, we are focused on building effective systems and processes for people and operations that support the Centre to rapidly, yet strategically, scale and grow in a way that supports our people to do their best work through safe challenge, promoting and integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The Centre is funded with UK aid through the UK government. Read more about our strategy (2022-2025) and find out more at www.disasterprotection.org.

The role

We are recruiting a Senior Policy Engagement Adviser to support and accelerate the delivery of the Centre’s ambitious workplan.

The Senior Policy Engagement Adviser will work closely as part of the Engagement & Communications team to deliver an ambitious evidence-led globally focused policy agenda, partnerships, influencing and engagement strategy. The Senior Policy Engagement Adviser will also work closely in coordination with our Evidence and Learning team, Project Leads and other specialist team members within multidisciplinary teams of Centre staff, as well as with external consultants, and partner organisations.

This role will work to support and shape the Centre for Disaster Protection’s engagement in global and regional policy processes and international fora, focusing on development and climate finance diplomacy and reform and engaging with a broad range of stakeholders, including governments, multilateral agencies, civil society networks, and others.

Specifically, the role will help to translate evidence-led policy insights, through shaping and supporting the Centre’s external affairs. The ideal candidate will have experience in engaging with and influencing policy decision makers and demonstrable understanding and knowledge of key intergovernmental processes and multilateral institutions.

The role will be responsible for initiating and managing strategic engagement initiatives, delivering policy and evidence influencing strategies and working through partnerships, as well as fostering stakeholder relationships. As well as helping translate developments and opportunities to inform, equip and build confidence of Centre team colleagues in influencing system-level change at global and regional levels.

The Senior Policy Engagement Adviser will work closely as part of the Engagement & Communications team to engage Centre audiences in an ambitious series of policy-focused thought-leadership events and local-to-global policy dialogues.

In addition, the Senior Policy Engagement Adviser will also:

Uphold the organisation’s values and contribute to a positive organisational culture.
Help to build the Centre’s external reputation through professional and effective engagement with stakeholders and clients, including at senior levels.
Contribute to working creatively and collaboratively across teams to solve issues and get things done.

The Senior Policy Engagement Adviser will work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team of Centre staff and consultants, reporting to the Associate Director-Strategy and Engagement and working closely with the Policy Engagement Lead, Policy & Strategic Partnerships Officer and our expert Evidence, Communications, Advisory and Training and Operations functions.

The role is ideally suited to someone who enjoys variety of tasks and working in multidisciplinary teams, with excellent and demonstrable analytical and communications skills, with an understanding of how our stakeholders’ impact, and are impacted by global and regional policy agendas.

Role responsibilities

Identifying and exploiting opportunities for strengthening the Centre’s strategic engagement with key stakeholders and for influencing decision-making.
Shaping and implementing influencing strategies that help to drive change at the global and regional -system level, in close coordination with Centre teams.
Providing policy, influencing and strategic engagement support on agreed priorities, undertaking policy analysis, and monitoring developments in the political landscape.
Distilling and clearly articulating complex messages - providing high-quality written outputs.
Advancing the Centre’s policy thought-leadership agenda through effective storytelling (working closely with the Head of Communications and Communications Manager), highlighting the Centre’s evidence, experimentation, and learning.
Leading engagement with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders from across sectors and geographies, and a diverse range of professional, cultural, and social backgrounds.
Represent the Centre’s work externally in policy forums, meetings, and events.

Skills and experience

Successful candidates will be able to demonstrate the following skills and experience:

Confidence in managing stakeholder relationships.
Experience of designing and delivering impactful influencing strategies.
A strong understanding of the key actors and policy environment of the international development, climate change of humanitarian architecture.
Ability to work enthusiastically as a collaborative team member.
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.
Ability to tailor communications to a range of audiences and to explain complex data in digestible, impactful formats.

Successful candidates should:

Demonstrate experience across policy, influencing and engagement initiatives.
Demonstrate a passion for building resilience and reducing vulnerability in low and middle-income countries and thinking creatively to evidence harder to measure change at systems level.
Demonstrate willingness to learn key principles, features and functions of disaster risk financing to a level where you can critically engage and challenge.
Work collaboratively and excel in building networks and coalitions of support with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders from across sectors and geographies, and a diverse range of professional, cultural, and social backgrounds.
Demonstrate experience of taking initiative and working proactively and effectively as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team in a hybrid working environment.
Whilst a significant amount of travel is not anticipated, applicants should be willing, if required, to travel to international locations as needed including lower income and fragile, conflict-affected contexts.
Demonstrate a commitment to ongoing learning, including technical and non-technical skills.
Uphold the Centre’s values and contribute to a positive organisational culture.
Build the Centre’s external reputation through managing relations with clients and partners across the development, humanitarian, financial and academic sectors.
Collaborate effectively with teams of Centre staff and consultants.

The offer

This role is expected to be offered on a fixed term contract basis, anticipated to start in early 2025 and continuing to June 2029, with an initial probation period of up to 4 months. The role will be contracted by DAI Global UK (or local partner/representative), who are the Centre’s managing agent.

The position is offered in the first instance as a position based in the UK, Nigeria, or Pakistan. Whilst the role is primarily remote, regular visits to the Centre’s office in the City of London will be required (UK based employees are encouraged to be in the office a minimum of five days per month). Flexible, part-time, and remote working arrangements will be considered. Applicants for the role must already have the right to work in the UK/Nigeria/Pakistan as relevant.

Other locations of employment may be considered, subject to feasibility. Candidates based elsewhere who fulfil the above skills and experience and person specification criteria and have interest in the role, may contact the Centre on the enquiry e-mail below in the first instance, to enquire whether the role could be offered in their preferred location.

A competitive salary and benefits package will be offered depending on experience (indicative gross salary range between £38,000 to £48,000 per annum where the role is based in the UK). The proposed salary will be confirmed at the offer stage.

The Centre is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workplace and so we particularly encourage applications from diverse backgrounds that are typically under-represented in this sector and from citizens of countries affected by disasters.

DAI is a global development company with corporate offices in the USA, the UK, the EU, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Palestine, and project operations worldwide. DAI tackles fundamental social and economic development problems caused by inefficient markets, ineffective governance, and instability; it works on the frontlines of global development, transforming ideas into action—action into impact. DAI is committed to shaping a more liveable world.

Application process

Interested applicants should apply via DAI’s recruitment portal, including a concise CV and a supporting statement (no more than 500 words) outlining your motivation for applying (250 words max) and the key qualities you would bring to the role (250 words max).

Any reasonable adjustment requests or questions about the role or the recruitment process should be sent to: jobs_centre@disasterprotection.org (please do not send applications to this email address).

The deadline for receiving applications is 11:59 pm (UK time) on Monday 27th of January.