Manager, Policy and Research

Summary

• The Manager, Policy and Advocacy will generate lead thinking on our policy agenda, with a particular emphasis on responsive primary health care, supply chain integration and health finance and investment. The Manager, Policy and Advocacy will provide policy analysis and keep abreast of innovative analysis across the suite of issues to support VillageReach’s advocacy agenda. Specifically, they will undertake research and policy analysis, identify policy and advocacy opportunities and prepare documents on critical policy issues. The position reports to the Director, Advocacy and Partnerships. VillageReach has an established staff presence: Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa or Cote d’Ivoire.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following.

• Lead VillageReach’s policy thinking and review research on responsive primary health care, supply chain integration and health finance and investment, including developing strategy, identifying policy objectives and key advocacy and campaign opportunities.
• Engage with country offices and the global team to identify key policy and advocacy opportunities and coordinate policy guidance on driving VillageReach’s core advocacy priorities.
• Develop high-quality policy and research outputs, sometimes at short notice, that are focused on winning arguments to effect change, and that can be used by senior leadership and colleagues across the organization.
• Coordinate with VillageReach’s Research, Evidence and Learning team to understand what programmatic data and evidence is generated internally and contribute to determination of the organization evidence and learning agenda based on advocacy priorities.
• Forge partnerships with a range of research and policy experts, institutions, and other stakeholders to leverage knowledge-generation activities.
• Produce documents on key policy issues and identify forward-looking trends for – position papers, blogs, talking points, and briefings for senior leadership, senior policymakers and principals.
• Engage with VillageReach’s communications team to develop, plan and deliver organization-wide policy campaigns.
• Represent VillageReach in external policy and advocacy meetings and engagements related to their portfolio, including high-profile meetings as appropriate.
• Build and maintain positive and productive relationships with key stakeholders.
• Other duties, responsibilities, and activities as assigned by the supervisor or the designee.

Competencies:

The following competencies reflect what is expected of all VillageReach employees; including examples of how one might demonstrate each of these competencies in one’s role.

• Think for the long term and drive scalable solutions: VillageReach leaders think broadly about solutions that can be scaled to multiple countries and adapted to different circumstances. They don’t just think about immediate short-term solutions or band aid fixes.
• Ability to see big picture and to dive into details and get to root causes: VillageReach leaders are able both to see the larger context across the mission, organization and region, but also know how to ask the right questions and drive the process to drill down to the root cause of issues/problems to drive effective solutions. They implement effective systems/processes to monitor, identify and mitigate issues before they become too big. They understand the financial and impact drivers of our business and are able to consider both in how they manage and mitigate risk and opportunity.
• Communicate effectively and listen authentically: Leaders communicate concisely and tailor their style to the audience. They understand how to flex their communication style when speaking with board members versus front line contributors. They seek alternative/diverse perspectives and are genuinely willing to shift their thinking.
• Demonstrate commitment to diversity and inclusion: Leaders focus on attracting and retaining diverse talent. They create safety on their teams by genuinely listening, seeking diverse perspectives and connecting with people, personally, not just professionally. They treat people with respect and show sensitivity to gender, cultural, and religious differences.
• Effective decision making: Leaders are willing and able to make decisions, while recognizing the collaborative nature of VillageReach’s culture. They seek input from subject matter experts and those impacted by the decision, and bring that perspective into their decision-making. They demonstrate excellent judgment and think through the implications of decisions, the change management needed to implement them, and how to communicate them.
• Collaborate effectively: Leaders aren’t territorial and do not operate their teams in silos. They seek to collaborate with others both internally and externally. They give credit versus taking credit. They prioritize mission, organization, team and leave self for last. They are driven by the broader goals of the mission. They seek ways to have a bigger impact by supporting or enabling the work of others.

Requirements

• To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• This position has no supervisory responsibilities but this might change in the future and may include supervision of interns from time to time. Supervisory responsibilities will be carried out in accordance with the organization’s policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning and directing work; monitoring performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; and addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Education & Experience:

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in public policy, public health or any development-related field with 5-7 years of direct work experience.
• Significant research, policy analysis and policy advisory work in public health particularly in Africa
• Significant experience of working on development policy in an NGO, think tank or government agency.
• Experience of developing and overseeing the implementation of strategy
• A demonstrable understanding of the links between advocacy, campaigns, policy-making, legislation, and implementation of programs.
• Excellent research, writing, and analytical skills with the ability to synthesise complex policy documents and translate these for a wider audience
• Superb professionalism and diplomacy; ability to interact with high-level individuals internally and externally.
• Entrepreneurial spirit; does not mind unstructured and sometimes unpredictable environments.
• Quick turnaround research skills-must have the ability to seek out key facts and statistics that help explain complicated policy topics to broad audience.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, with shifting priorities and occasional heavy workloads
• Ability to work as part of a global team

Other Qualifications:

• Comply with VillageReach’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.
• Established cultural competency in partnering with racial, cultural and linguistically diverse groups.
• Demonstrated understanding of challenges with working in rural, underserved and low-income context; experience living in and/or working in a low-income country a plus.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel) and comfortable in a fast-paced technical environment.
• Oral and written English fluency is essential