Policy Advocacy Coordinator – Zimbabwe Network of Early Childhood Development Actors (ZINECDA) 

About
Zimbabwe Network of Early Childhood Development Actors (ZINECDA) in partnership with the National ECD Coalition of Lesotho (NECDOL), and the Malawi ECD Coalition are implementing a transnational project on strengthening the capacity of ECD coalitions for improved ECDE legislation, policies and measures in Southern Africa (TRANAC). The ZINECDA Alliance seeks the services of a Policy Advocacy Coordinator to implement an ECDE regional advocacy project in Southern Africa. The Policy Advocacy Coordinator will report to the National Coordinator. S/He will possess the following skills and competencies: Communication – speaks, writes and listens well; Problem-solving; Interpersonal; Strategic thinking; Report writing; Policy advocacy; Team building; Facilitation; Strategic planning.

Duties And Responsibilities

The following are some of the tasks required by the position

Policy advocacy
Proven experience in developing and implementing strategies in policy advocacy; Develops, plans, implement / oversee, and coordinate policy advocacy strategies and programs at national and SADC regional levels on early childhood development; Develop and implement national and regional policy advocacy strategy plan; Identify strategic partners and build national and regional policy advocacy teams for inclusion of ECD policies and frameworks in national and regional decision-making spaces; Build the capacity of partners, teams and employees in policy advocacy processes for ECD; Oversee and draw terms of reference for ECD policy advocacy monitoring, learning and evaluation; Oversee media strategy development and implementation.

Projects planning, coordination and reporting
Plan, coordinate and oversee all ECD policy advocacy programs, evaluation and reporting; Produce draft narrative quarter, annual and projects / institutional policy advocacy, membership and networking reports; Develop and produce planning, coordination and reporting frameworks for projects; Develop and implement programming systems and structures for efficient and effective management of ECD policy advocacy, capacity building, networking and knowledge generation; Monitors and approves programming budgets.

Knowledge generation and networking
Identify research gaps, trends and policy analyses; Design research and evaluation studies; Develop terms of reference, recruit, implement and review research studies; Facilitate validation and sharing of research.

Resource mobilization
Identify gaps and niche ideas for proposal development and resource mobilization; Develop fundable proposals for all programming projects; Build a diversified programming funding portfolio.

People management
Recruit, mentor, motivate and capacity build an efficient and effective programming team; Develop individual and team key performance / results areas for the programs; Appraise programming staff performance quarterly and annually.

Relationship building
Assist in forging memorandum of understanding with various government, intergovernmental and civil society organisations for ECD policy advocacy, capacity building, networking and research; Represent ZINECDA on programming issues at national, regional and as assigned by the National Coordinator.

Qualifications And Experience

Qualifications and experience
Possess bachelor’s and master’s degrees in any of the following combinations: public policy analysis, international relations, education especially in early childhood development (ECD), strategic management, law, developmental studies; Have knowledge of influencing governments and international government organisations; Have experience of or worked in government or in international NGO environment; Has excellent protocol, writing and communication skills at high level; Possess reporting, research skills and coordination; Is articulate in facilitation and presentation; Is able to mentor, train, motivate and coordinate other people in a unit nationally and regionally; Is a proactive thinker who identifies, prevents and solves challenges before they manifest; Is able to write winning proposals and mobilise resources for the unit and organization; Can work without much supervision.