Public Advocacy and Engagement Officer - World University Service of Canada

WUSC (World University Service of Canada) is a Canadian non-profit organization working to create a better world for all young people. We bring together a diverse network of students, volunteers, schools, governments, and businesses who share this vision. Together, we develop solutions in education, economic opportunities, and empowerment to overcome inequality and exclusion for youth around the world, particularly young women and young refugees. WUSC currently works in 25 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, with an annual budget of approximately CAD $40 million. We have over 90 staff in our Ottawa office, and over 200 people overseas implementing 16 development projects in collaboration with donors such as Global Affairs Canada, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.

Job Description

• ELIGIBILITY Local National, must be legally entitled to work in Ghana
• REPORTS TO INVEST Project Director
• CONTRACT TERM 2 years with possibility of renewal
• APPLICATION DEADLINE January 5, 2021
• EXPECTED START DATE February 22, 2021

Are you an expert in social marketing and behavior change communications? WUSC is currently looking for a Public Advocacy and Engagement Officer to deliver public engagement activities for the INVEST project. 

The INVEST Project

The Innovation in Non-Traditional Vocational Education and Skills Training (INVEST) project is a 5-year initiative that will build sustainable pathways to enhanced economic empowerment, well-being and inclusive growth for 5,000 urban poor young women in Accra, Kumasi, and Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. Working in high growth sectors, the initiative will test and scale innovative, sustainable models to improve the enabling environment, reduce gender-specific barriers to women’s economic participation, and enhance access to decent work for marginalized women in non-traditional sectors.  Using an inclusive market systems (IMS) approach, the project will INVEST in women, institutions and the labour market system of high-growth sectors to achieve transformative change that is sustainable and scalable.

This entails examining and acting upon the root causes of gender and social norms that negatively affects women’s economic empowerment as well as the labour market demand / supply constraints within the Ghanaian society that intensify these negative impacts. A wide array of stakeholders on both the supply and demand sides of the labour market, including training providers, employers, industry bodies/associations and CSOs, will be engaged to sustainably improve labour market outcomes for young women in Ghana.

This integrated, holistic approach will contribute to reducing the multiple dimensions of poverty experienced by urban poor young women. Key aspects include: supporting women’s full participation in economic decision-making and leadership, promoting women’s equal access to finance, improving technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for women, motivating industry to hire, retain and promote women, and improving the ability of women to access business development services and/or participate and exercise their rights in the workforce.

Nature and Scope

WUSC Ghana seeks to hire a Public Advocacy and Engagement Officer to provide a central role to the INVEST project’s advocacy and communications objectives. The Public Advocacy and Engagement Officer will have a proven track record in stakeholder engagement and curating advocacy campaigns at local and national levels. The candidate should be accustomed to working independently and in a team environment to translate strategy into action. The officer will be responsible for managing subcontractors associated with communications and advocacy activities not limited to coordination, streamlining activities in implementation and capacity building and training services. The officer will liaise and consult on an ongoing basis with the main project partners, including technical and vocation training providers, women and youth focused organizations, government, industry associations and coalitions to ensure project activities are executed within  a gender sensitive manner that promotes the inclusion of women in high-growth and non-traditional sectors. Knowledge and experience working with media actors and the TVET sector a plus.

The Public Advocacy and Engagement Officer will report directly to the INVEST Project Director and work closely with the INVEST Gender and TVET Advisors.

RESPONSIBILITIES

We are seeking an experienced Public Advocacy and Engagement Officer to deliver on key activities contributing to outcomes for the GAC-funded INVEST project:

Public Engagement

• Support the development of strategies, plans and implementation of activities of the project relating to outreach and advocacy in connection with the engagement of communities, project partners, stakeholders, and the general public on women in non-traditional TVET;
• Contribute to the establishment and strengthening of the capacity of project partners for outreach, community dialogue and gender-sensitive communications;
• Support partners to implement the project’s communications strategy in Ghana;
• Proactively manage INVEST’s stakeholder engagements by building relationships with key stakeholders and understanding their interests.

Advocacy

• Provide oversight on general publicity of project content and goals in Ghana;
• Contribute to stories and publications that effectively communicate “evidence of impact” in alignment with the organization’s strategic priorities;
• Develop and cultivate relationships with key target audiences e.g. partners, general public, stakeholders, beneficiaries, media to build WUSC’s profile and generate interest and action, mainly through digital engagement and events;
• Implement engagement and knowledge sharing initiatives and assist the INVEST team in planning and delivering various gender sensitive and inclusive events for various stakeholders (e.g. forums, gatherings, roundtables, digital sessions, training);
• Arrange for strategic speaking opportunities for WUSC representatives;
• Contribute to media engagement on pertinent gender, social inclusion, and TVET issues which may require profiling and advocacy interventions.

Communications

• Lead in developing project-specific gender sensitive and inclusive communication materials and ensure their dissemination to relevant stakeholders;
• Develop and maintain strong media ties to confirm widespread outreach of project themes and content to stakeholders and the general public;
• Develop creative content for WUSC communication assets and social media platforms;
• Prepare and oversee yearly communications calendar for the collection and dissemination of project success stories and lessons learnt etc using a range of tools, (video, story telling);
• Regularly liaise with the HQ communications team to for alignment of INVEST communications priorities with WUSC global communications and PE priorities;
• Regularly liaise with project teams to prepare and update public facing events / documentation to ensure alignment with project and WUSC communications and brand standard;
• Review all published project content to ensure alignment with GAC Visibility and Recognition requirements;
• Monitor and evaluate event activities and outcomes, and adapt event strategies accordingly;
• Contribute to a process of continuous learning on appropriate communication systems, processes and tools as appropriate for INVEST and WUSC.

Required Skills or Experience

• Degree in Communications, Public Relations, Marketing or other relevant degree or adequate experience;
• At least 3 years experience in advocacy and communications in a role focused on government, community and/or stakeholder engagement required;
• Strong experience in program management, creative content development and national social and behavioural change campaigns;
• Significant experience helping design and execute plans for public campaigns, including digital campaigns, and consultations, community liaison, events and outreach, educational programs and other engagement initiatives. 

Competencies

• Willingness to travel frequently to Western and Ashanti Regions;
• Proficiency with information technologies (multimedia) and social media;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated capacity and willingness to work in partnership and with different cultural groups, staff and volunteers;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English at least 1 local language, and a demonstrated capacity to adapt communications for diverse audiences;
• Familiarity with inclusive market systems approaches to international development;
• Experience in building the capacity of staff and partners, both formal and informal; 
• Ability to actively participate as an effective member of a team and take initiatives to strengthen the implementation of the project; 
• Proven ability to work productively with various stakeholders and to meet tight deadlines with a focus on producing quality products; 
• Knowledge of, or willingness to learn and use google applications (google docs, google hangouts, etc.; 
• Demonstrate a commitment to gender equality, social inclusion,  and youth empowerment;
• Curious, enthusiastic and willing to innovate and adapt.