The Senior Specialist, Government Relations and Advocacy sits within the Urban, Land and Policy Team of the Housing and Human Settlements Department of the Asia Pacific Office in Manila, Philippines. S/he is primarily responsible for technical expertise and capacity building related to government relations in support of resilient, pro-poor housing in urban contexts, and ensuring their relevance and accountability to community needs. Reporting to the Senior Manager, Urban, Land and Policy, the incumbent will lead and support relationships between Habitat and public agencies, advocating for Habitat’s interest. S/he will develop new and maintain existing strategic partnerships in the region, in close collaboration across the Habitat organization – national offices, Asia Pacific area office teams, headquarters technical counterparts, etc. S/he will also support the successful delivery of the Asia Pacific Housing Forum. The ideal candidate should possess a sound working knowledge of pro-poor urban and housing development with focus on slum upgrading, as well as experience working with both state and non-state actors in support of resilient housing programming.
The Senior Specialist, Government Relations and Advocacy will work collaboratively with other functional areas in the AP Housing and Human Settlement team to achieve a coordinated approach for addressing the challenges of resilient and pro-poor housing, particularly in urban contexts. In addition, s/he will work closely with partner teams within the Asia Pacific office, such as Programs, Resource Development, Communications, Finance, and the Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter. Finally, the Senior Specialist, Government Relations and Advocacy will build and maintain relationships with relevant partner organizations, representing both Habitat International as well as national teams in forums as necessary.
- Support the timely and effective management of the APHF in collaboration with the AP Communications team
- Provide support in implementation of various APHF events (e.g. HHS team led learning events and Urban Thinkers Campus) as well as technical support to the Philippines National Housing Forum.
- Contribute to/lead in documentation of various APHF sessions as and when required National Program Implementation Support and Capacity Building: Supports national teams to effectively implement resilient and pro-poor housing programs, particularly in urban contexts. This support should promote holistic solutions that emphasize good governance, community engagement, and considers sectors that housing impacts, such as health, education and livelihoods. This includes but is not limited to:
- Support national teams to identify strategic partnerships and implementation models (such as People, Public, Private Partnerships) which enable the achievement of resilient and pro-poor housing, particularly in urban contexts.
- Support national offices to collaborate with external actors for joint program implementation or policy change initiatives, organization of events, coalition building or joint country strategy development.
- Provide technical assistance on urban planning issues to national offices, local authorities and communities in order to promote resilient and pro-poor housing programs, particularly in urban contexts; this support should ensure linkages to local government urban or housing development plans.
- Support national offices to develop proposals, concept notes, concept papers, and provide technical guidance and support to grant and program development.
- Provide relevant technical input and guidance to national offices strategy development.
- Support and advise national offices in the recruitment, orientation and training of suitably qualified and experienced staff to implement resilient and pro-poor housing programs, particularly on government relations and/or advocacy, provide ongoing support to those staff.
- Assist in the coordination and facilitation of relevant technical learning events or workshops.
- Lead individual learning sessions related to urban shelter programming as and when called upon Regional Technical Expertise and External Relations: The Sr. Specialist, Government Relations and Advocacy builds technical expertise in the area office related to government relations/Advocacy as well as people, public, private partnerships that can be punctually deployed. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Develop and execute a plan to expand the area of advisory services of People-Public-Private-Partnership in support of delivery of shelter programming in the AP region. Success Criteria:
- Undertake scoping visits to least 2 NOs in each financial year to gain insight on support needed to support relations with public agencies to support advocacy initiatives
- Support at least 2NOs in identifying specific housing advocacy issues in country policy frameworks that hinder equitable access to housing or secure tenure for the most vulnerable
- Participate in the bi-weekly HFHI’s Global Advocacy Team meetings to highlight advocacy efforts within the region.
- Support the development of at least 1 proposal in each financial year that incorporates advocacy-related issues · Lead or contribute to the development of at least 2 reports related to NO programmatic activities, knowledge sharing products or position papers in each financial year
- Represent HFHI in at least 2 country-level/regional level/global forums in each financial year to share knowledge and expertise on advocacy-related issues
- Actively participate in the conduct of the 2019 Asia Pacific Housing Forum (e.g. through speaker identification, documentation of sessions
- Advanced degree a plus 5 years increasingly responsible and successful development experience, preferably in the aid community, program management, government relations, developing policy or other related experience.
- At least 3 years’ experience working on pro-poor housing policies particularly in an urban context
- Experience working or coordinating with other policy actors such as UN, World Bank, national governments, the US Government, the European Union, INGOs, and INGO coordinating bodies, etc.
- Active support of HFHI Values: Team Collaborator – Good Steward – LEAN/Continuous Improvement – Graceful Candor – Heart for the Mission – Personal Integrity