The Director will provide leadership and strategic thinking to amplify the agency’s policy and advocacy impact on issues related to advancing gender equality and empowering girls internationally. This portfolio is part of Save the Children’s global campaign on exclusion called Every Last Child. Over the next several years, Save the Children is committing to do its part to tackle the barriers that exclude millions of children from making progress towards our three 2030 breakthroughs: that no child under five dies from preventable causes; all children learn through quality education; and violence against children is no longer tolerated. Our campaign will help bring to life our strategic focus on the most deprived and marginalized children -- with a specific focus in our international advocacy on reaching girls.
The Director, in close coordination with other senior staff, will develop and implement policy proposals and advocacy strategies to strengthen U.S. and global policy on issues related to gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment. This includes developing and implementing strategies to advance Save the Children’s priorities around gender equality with the U.S. government and contribute to the global policy development within Save the Children International. The Director will collaborate with SCI staff, Save the Children members and country offices and various NGO coalitions to advance our advocacy efforts on gender equality around the world. The Director will also collaborate with Save the Children program colleagues to leverage expertise from our country programs and to contribute to gender mainstreaming within the organization.
- Gender Policy Analysis & Advocacy Strategy (20%): In partnership with the Associate Vice President of Public Policy and Advocacy, serve as the gender policy and advocacy lead for Save the Children. In this role, the Director will implement Save the Children’s U.S. policy and advocacy agenda on gender equality and girls’ empowerment issues with Congress, Administration and other key stakeholders;
- Management of Global Gender Policy & Advocacy (20%): Help to support the AVP of Public Policy and Advocacy in her role as the Co-Chair of the Save the Children Every Last Girl campaign on project management and to advance research and advocacy on ending child marriage and other global issues;
- Coalition Management (15%): Provide leadership/staffing for the Big Ideas for Women and Girls Coalition, with expertise in policy analysis, writing, and advocacy strategy with a particular focus on data, financing and institutionalizing gender mainstreaming;
- Management of Gender advocacy staff (15%): Recruit and manage a Gender Specialist in the department to support the U.S. and global gender policy and advocacy work.
- External Representation (10%): Serve as a gender policy representative for Save the Children in external working groups and coalitions on gender and girls and develop strong partnerships with key stakeholder, positioning Save the Children as a key policy thought leader on gender equality and girls’ empowerment issues;
- Internal Gender Mainstreaming (10%): Serve as a member of the internal Save the Children Gender Hub as the policy and advocacy lead and contribute to integrated advocacy and programming projects;
- Fundraising (10%): Work within and across departments to help to build gender policy and advocacy into fundraising proposals.
- Seven to ten years of professional experience with four years of experience specifically focused on advancing a policy agenda related to women’s and girls’ empowerment and/or gender equality internationally
- Experience leading an advocacy coalition
- Experience managing and mentoring full-time staff
- Established networks with the gender advocacy community that advocates to the U.S. government. Experience in designing and implementing policy and legislative strategies to influence U.S. Congress and/or the Administration on foreign policy issues
- Strong project management skills and ability to juggle multiple work streams with competing deadlines
- Strong skills in writing and internal and external communication;
- Proven track record in policy analysis (both legislative as well as executive branch policy)
- Ability to adapt to a dynamic and fast-paced work environment with a learning mindset
- Excellent team player with strong collaboration skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced degree in international relations, development or related field
- Expertise in global financing for gender equality; gender data; and/or girls and governance
- Experience working in large, complex, matrixed organization
- Knowledge of advocacy at the country level (in Africa, Asia or Latin America) working on a globally coordinated campaign
- Social media and communications savvy
- Meaningful work, with a knowledge that you are changing the lives of children all around the world
- A family friendly work environment
- Highly collaborative and innovative teams
- Generous paid vacation days, holidays, family leave days, and sick time
- Healthcare plans including medical, dental, and life insurance
- Retirement savings account with matching company contributions
- Structured and formalized management development and coaching programs for mid and senior level managers
- Extensive e-learning opportunities on a variety of topics offered through our affiliation with several prestigious universities as well as language learning opportunities