Mercy Corps

• Location
  London, United Kingdom
• Sector
  Non Profit
• Experience
  Mid Career

Position description

Mercy Corps’ mission is to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities. In more than 40 countries around the world, over 5,400 team members work side by side with people living through poverty, disaster, violent conflict, and the acute impacts of climate change. Mercy Corps supports communities and those most vulnerable within them to cope, adapt and thrive in the face of these challenges, with a priority focus on improving food security, water security, economic opportunity and governance and peace.

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

The Program / Department / Team

The Mercy Corps Global Policy and Advocacy (GPA) team works to support Mercy Corps’ mission by advocating for better policies and practices of bi-lateral donors, multilateral institutions, national governments and other powerholders to enable Mercy Corps’ programs in fragile and conflict-affected countries to achieve greater impact.  The GPA team includes a US-based team focused on the US government, a European team focused on European governments and other Europe based institutions, and team members based in regions/countries of operation.

The European Policy and Advocacy team focuses on influencing key decision makers in the UK, Brussels, Netherlands and other European governments and institutions to change, influence and improve relevant policies, practices and decisions affecting vulnerable communities affected by conflict and climate change.

The European Policy and Advocacy team also manages a climate resilience advocacy grant (‘ZFRA’) which funds both country programs and three climate resilience advocates based in Europe - who would work in partnership with the Policy Advisor.

The Position

The Policy Advisor will influence the policies of governments and institutions in the UK and Europe related to climate policy, with a particular focus on supporting adaptation and loss and damage in fragile and conflict affected places and water security. The Policy Advisor will work closely with and support the Senior Climate Policy & Advocacy Advisor in Washington DC, the ZFRA team, and key Mercy Corps technical, research, programming and media and communications teams working on climate adaptation and resilience (the ‘Climate Matrix Team’). The Policy Advisor will be responsible for designing and delivering a climate influence strategy in Europe in partnership with the ZFRA team that complements Mercy Corps’ global climate policy agenda. Specifically, this will include:

-          Private and public facing advocacy to ensure: delivery on climate finance commitments and policy change to ensure that finance is reaching those in fragile and conflict affected states and investment in effective policy and practice interventions that effectively build resilience and adaptation of those facing the heaviest burden of climate change.

-          Raising Mercy Corps’ profile and policy positions including through: representation at external events, panels; developing written policy documents for external dissemination; supporting Mercy Corps’ grassroots advocacy efforts; and liaising with and traveling to Mercy Corps field and HQ teams.

-          Working with the Senior Policy Advisor, Research and Technical teams to shape and disseminate Mercy Corps research, evidence and technical expertise.

Essential Responsibilities

STRATEGY AND PLANNING

• Works with and supports the Senior Policy Advisor (US), the ZFRA team and the Climate Matrix team to develop Mercy Corps overall strategy on influencing policy and practice regarding climate change and water security issues.
• Leads strategy development for the European influencing and profile on climate change and water security in tandem with the ZFRA team.
• Supports country- and region-focused advocacy efforts, primarily focused on increasing community resilience to climate change’s impacts, and increasing water security.

EXECUTION

• Develops and manages the climate, water, and other advocacy portfolios by:

• Implementing policy-focused advocacy and outreach strategies, in cooperation with Mercy Corps colleagues and partner agencies.
• Drafting policy documents in support of policy and advocacy goals:
• In cooperation with the Media Relations and Digital teams, support written products as appropriate for use with various audiences, including policymakers and the general public.
• Draft policy briefs, op-eds and case stories.
• Draft internal information and messaging for Mercy Corps staff.
• Track relevant funding, legislation and policies of key institutions.

• Leads advocacy efforts through collaborative work within the NGO sector and among other NGO, governmental, and private partners. May also be called on to help lead internal Mercy Corps policy coordination through the climate matrix team.
• Engages substantively with Mercy Corps’ climate matrix team, working across multiple internal teams to develop global policy priorities for the portfolio.
• Publishes and speaks publicly, when appropriate, to advance thought leadership on climate adaptation, loss and damage and water policy issues and to elevate the importance of Mercy Corps’ relevant programming and research.
• Researches and analyzes selected issues through a variety of means, including field visits.

INFLUENCE AND REPRESENTATION

• Represents Mercy Corps with key institutions in Europe, significant global policy forums and public forums, think/policy tank panel discussions and briefings, and relevant international and multilateral institutional events.
• Builds and maintains strong relationships with senior level officials in the UK, Brussels and other European capitals.
• Contributes to or leads on written pieces including policy pieces, thought leadership and other external facing communications.
• Supports Mercy Corps senior leadership’s engagement on climate issues at high level events, through media engagement, and other fora, including through drafting remarks, developing policy positions, and providing staffing assistance.

Supervisory Responsibility

None, except for occasional interns.

Accountability

Reports Directly To: Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy (Europe)

Works Directly With: Senior Policy Advisor, Climate and Water Security (DC), ZFRA Team, Climate Matrix Team, Global Policy and Advocacy Team, Regional and Country Teams; and Technical Support Unit.

Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Minimum Qualifications & Transferable Skills

• Bachelors degree in international relations, development, public policy, law or related fields of study.
• 5 years of relevant professional experience working on climate change, water security, and/or development policy issues.
• Professional experience in humanitarian, development, and national security sectors.
• Strong political and strategic skills, with a demonstrated ability to advance policy priorities individually and through coalition work.
• Proven ability in researching, analyzing, and reporting on policy issues.
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to effectively gather and utilize large amounts of information from various sources towards clear policy goals.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• Demonstrated sensitivity, skill and experience in working diplomatically and effectively within different cultural settings and in public relations and correspondence with a wide variety of public constituents.

Preferred Qualification

• Graduate degree in international relations, development, public policy, law or related fields of study.
• Experience working in policy and or advocacy to European institutions.
• Experience with international relief and development fieldwork, and familiarity with emerging development and humanitarian issues.
• Proficiency in one or more foreign languages, particularly French, Spanish or Arabic.

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