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Technical Advisor: Influencing, Communications and Youth Engagement job at Future Options Consulting Ltd | Apply Now
Kampala, Uganda
Full Time
Are you looking for Public Relations jobs in Uganda 2025 today? then you might be interested in Technical Advisor: Influencing, Communications and Youth Engagement job at Future Options Consulting Ltd
About the Organisation
Future Options Consulting is a leading management consultancy firm in Uganda, specializing in providing comprehensive human resources solutions, business advisory services, and capacity-building programs. Established to address the growing needs of organizations for strategic management and operational efficiency, Future Options Consulting has built a strong reputation for delivering high-quality, tailored services that drive organizational success.
The firm offers a wide range of services including recruitment and executive search, HR outsourcing, training and development, organizational development, and market research. These services are designed to help organizations optimize their workforce, improve performance, and achieve their business objectives. Future Options Consulting's team of experienced professionals brings deep industry knowledge and expertise, ensuring that clients receive insightful and practical solutions to their challenges.
Future Options Consulting is also known for its innovative approach to talent management, utilizing advanced tools and methodologies to identify and develop high-potential individuals within organizations. The firm’s training programs are highly regarded for their focus on skill enhancement and professional growth, helping employees at all levels to excel in their roles and contribute to the overall success of their organizations.
Organization details
Our Client is an independent development and humanitarian organization that advances children’s rights and equality for girls. We believe in the power and potential of every child. However, this is often suppressed by poverty, violence, exclusion and discrimination, and it is girls who are most affected.
Working together with children, young people, our supporters and partners in more than 70 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas, the Organization’s purpose is to strive for a just world that advances children’s rights and equality of girls. We support children’s rights from birth until they reach adulthood. We enable children to prepare for – and respond to – crises and adversity. We drive changes in practice and policy at local, national and global levels using our reach, experience and knowledge.
Job Title
Technical Advisor: Influencing, Communications and Youth Engagement job at Future Options Consulting Ltd
Future Options Consulting Ltd
Job Description
Job Title: Technical Advisor: Influencing, Communications and Youth Engagement
Organisation: Future Options Consulting Ltd
Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda
Job Summary: The Technical Advisor: Influencing, Communications and Youth Engagement is responsible for leading the implementation of the Organization Influencing, communications, and Youth Engagement Strategy by taking an integrated approach to policy change and influencing with a strong link to campaigning and communications. The position ensures excellence the Organization’s public and private advocacy in full alignment with the Country Strategy and the Organization’s Global Strategy. S/he works with Director of Programmes Strategy Execution and Implementation (DoPSE&I), Technical Advisors, Regional Managers, and Project Managers to develop key advocacy messages, defining effective tactics and strategic partnerships, leveraging our influencing strength to mobilise support and raise awareness in Uganda and also externally with donors.
ROLE DIMENSIONS:
The Influencing & Communications Technical Advisor is a member of the extended Country Management Team and also works directly with the Country Director and DoPSE&I to support on strategic-level Influencing and Communications. The job-holder makes an important contribution to the design of the Organization’s projects, ensuring that any Influencing or Communication that is necessary for project success is factored into the plan and budget, and aligning project activities to the Country Strategy. Additionally, the role is responsible for leading high-profile campaigns, which have the potential to change mindsets and behaviour nationwide.
The Influencing & Communications Technical Advisor masterminds the design of the Organization’s influencing interventions and must therefore be a skilled strategist, as well as bringing significant technical experience and skill in communications and the psychology of influencing, as well as an understanding of how social and policy change happens and how to systematically engage and influence power holders in the development and humanitarian settings. S/he is responsible for both the quality and effectiveness (impact) of the Organization’s external communications.
This position is responsible for managing a departmental budget of around €100,000 annually. Additionally, the job holder directly influences the Influencing & Communications components of project budgets.
The key challenge for this position is around the profound difficulty of driving change when mindsets are fixed and vested interests lock people into the status quo. In addition, the job holder must coordinate with staff and partners to deliver against Influencing & Communication targets, without having line-management authority. This requires the job holder to:
Have an outstanding ability to think strategically and conceptually, analysing complex, multi-dimensional systems and hypothesizing logical theories of change.
Review current research findings and identify gaps or new possibilities that will take the Organization into previously unexplored areas
Lead the team to innovate – developing new influencing interventions and utilising MERL approaches to test their effectiveness and adapt or pivot strategies in order to optimise impact, and supporting effective engagement and leadership of children and young people in influencing activities
Demonstrate highly effective influencing skills both within and outside the organisation engaging and inspiring others to achieve the Organization’s important goals
Level of contact with children
This position has been classified as “mid contact”: Occasional interaction with children
Duties, Roles and Responsibilities
KRA 1: Thought Leadership & Research
Act as a thought leader in Influencing and Communications, contributing to the development and adaptation of new strategies at both organisation and intervention levels:
Identify research opportunities working with the Programme team and MERL Manager to strengthen the Organization’s influencing work and ensure that its evidence based
Ensure comprehensive mapping of the key stakeholders who can influence the success of the Organization’s strategy, at national, project and thematic levels; define key influencing opportunities, targets and tactics at district and national levels and align programme and project design to these targets
Work closely with Technical Advisors to ensure the Organization is always well informed of changes in the policy landscape through regular intel gathering, liaising with key UN, Government, NGOs and other interlocutors in the country so that Programmes are fully informed and addressing policy gaps (and gaps between policy & practice)
Advise the CLT and Country Management Team on key advocacy issues, such as developing position papers, managing potential communication risks and leading on a range of cross-organizational priorities and strategies
Create relationships, systems and pathways to ensure that our influencing work is well integrated into the organisation at all levels so that we can fully realise our potential for campaigning, quality learning and impact reporting
KRA 2: Intervention Design
Lead the development, implementation and adaptation of the Country Influencing Strategy and the public relations and corporate communication for the Organization, ensuring compliance with Organisational Branding and communications guidelines:
Through line management of the Communications Coordinator, ensure the Organization complies with the Organization. Branding Guidelines and with donor visibility requirements
Play a proactive role in the development of project concepts and high-quality project proposals; support the integration of Influencing & Communication into proposals for all technical areas – Gender & Inclusion, Youth Economic Empowerment, Early Childhood Development, Education, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, Protection from Violence and emergency response
Support the development of detailed implementation plans and budgets; ensure that there is clarity over what activities will be managed by the PD&Q team, and what will be managed by the Programme Implementation team
In collaboration with MERL and Project Managers, devise effective monitoring frameworks that will support quality assurance of influencing / communications interventions and yield important insights on how to change mindsets and behaviours for the benefit of vulnerable children and youth (especially girls)
Lead the development of the annual plan and budget for the Influencing & Communications team, with objectives and operational plans to deliver the Organization’s trategies
Lead the development and implementation of a youth engagement strategy to support youth activism and participation of young people in the Organization’s governance through the Youth Advisory Panel (YAP)
KRA 3: Strategic Relationship Management
Strategically plan and implement stakeholder engagement and develop relationships to increase the Organization’s profile amongst target, influential audiences and to reach policy makers:
Work closely with Technical Advisors and relevant project staff to initiate and build relationships of influence with key stakeholders; maintain regular and structured communication with key stakeholders (government, CSOs, private sector), staff at local, district, national, regional and international levels
Build strategic partnerships with organisations and key stakeholders that will assist the Organization in meeting its influencing and policy agenda outcomes
Represent the Organization at national and international level, at all times behaving in line with the Organization’s values and Code of Conduct (CoC) to give a faithful representation of the organisation
Lead the proactive involvement of the Organization in key UN human rights mechanisms processes, especially on CRC and CEDAW; engage with UN agencies and key human rights stakeholders to ensure the Organization’s active involvement
Facilitate media interviews and act as spokesperson when required; provide strategic guidance to Senior Management on critical messaging and talking points
KRA 4: Ensuring Impactful Implementation
Co-ordinate the roll-out of the Influencing Strategy, and the departmental annual work plan; continuously monitor its effectiveness and impact, analysing learning and making adjustments as required:
Lead the development of an annual Influencing Action Plan activities to coordinate across programmes and projects, and to ensure alignment with the Influencing Strategy and effective and efficient use of resources
Lead the development of clear and consistent advocacy messages, ensuring that all advocacy messages, and strategic communication is evidence-based, drawn from field experience and assessments, of high quality and effective
Lead the development of high-quality analysis, policy briefing, recommendations and positions relation to the Organization’s influencing priorities
Together with the HoPDQ, Programme teams and the Communications Coordinator, prepare media briefs as needed; undertake media outreach where necessary
Work with CLT and CMT to identify potential reputational risks through media tracking and proactively develop appropriate protocol / messages and other risk management strategies
KRA 5: Functional Leadership & Youth Engagement
Lead the Influencing & Communications team in a manner that empowers them to deliver high quality, timely, support to the wider organisation:
Develop and oversee implementation of an annual workplan and budget for the Influencing & Communications Department; manage the finances of the department, ensuring good value for money and compliance with the Organization’s policies and procedures
Regularly review the team staffing levels to ensure that required service levels can be realistically delivered, at the same time ensuring that staff are fully occupied and working efficiently; recruit staff or procure consultants as required
Lead and manage the team towards high standards of performance through clear roles & responsibilities and provision of appropriate support; coordinate effectively with others to ensure high performance within the Organization’s matrix operating structure
Develop and encourage talent through on-going staff development, succession planning, career management; proactively address poor performance through timely constructive feedback, coaching and appropriate corrective action
Foster an inclusive environment by implementation of policies and ways-of-working that provide for diversity and equal opportunities and utilisation of a leadership style that will drive employee engagement
KRA 6: Safeguarding, Gender Equality & Inclusion
Ensure that the Organization’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in accordance with the principles and requirements of the policy including relevant Implementation Standards and Guidelines as applicable to their area of responsibility. This includes, but is not limited to ensuring staff and associates are aware of and understand their responsibilities under these policies and the Organization’s Code of Conduct (CoC), their relevance to their area of work, and that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
SERVICES
COMMERCIAL
SERVICES
INDUSTRIAL
SERVICES
RESIDENTIAL
Qualifications, Education and Competencies
A master’s degree in any related field such as human rights law, international relations, communications/journalism, public relations, politics or social science
Qualifications or experience in Development Communications are desirable
Details of experience
A minimum of 10 years of experience in the International NGO sector with at least 7 years spent in strong Influencing and communications work
Working with Young people: demonstrated experience in engaging and working with young people and Youth including youth led communication and advocacy
Knowledge, skills and competences
Leadership Competencies
Myself as a Leader
Uses own behaviour to role model the culture change we need, upholding our values and accelerating progress towards gender equality inside the Organization, with our partners and in wider society; effectively manages strategic change initiatives.
Lasting Impact
Develops and communicates an ambitious vision for enhancing impact, or contributing towards organisational effectiveness; makes timely decisions, even in uncertainty and when information is imperfect.
Open & Accountable
Maximises our progress by aligning work priorities and resource deployment in own area with the Organization’s wider goals and longer term direction.
Work Well Together
Represents the Organization at national, regional and global levels with all key groups including politicians and the media, building relationships to increase our influence, make new opportunities and manage risks.
Inclusive & Empowering
Celebrates success, calls out the contributions of others, and is generous with praise; motivates others by describing how their work effort can (or does) contribute towards achievement of the Organization’s purpose and strategy.
Skills & Knowledge
Creates space for reflection and uses external evidence and internal evaluation to identify what and how we need to improve; creates a safe environment for others to challenge self or raise concerns; leads the team to implement changes as a result of what has been learned.
Critical Business Management Competencies
Broad and deep understanding of the political, social, financial and cultural drivers of inequality; with practical experience of developing and implementing strategies for change
Demonstrated expertise in designing and leading the impactful implementation of significant projects; utilising good practice in MERL to set targets and adaptively managing to ensure achievement of results
Outstanding ability to analyse and interpret complex data-sets, both internal and external, to spot trends and patterns, opportunities and risks, and to inform decisions and action (even when the information is incomplete or ambiguous).
A deep understanding of how change impacts people and experience of successfully leading significant organisational change initiatives, demonstrating strong communication skills and a track record of empowering others to engage willingly in necessary change.
Outstanding communication skills with an ability to deeply understand the starting position of an audience and produce compelling written and/or spoken communications that effectively influence others.
Outstanding interpersonal skills with an ability to relate effectively to a wide range of people from diverse backgrounds; proven track record of leading collaborative working relationships and resolving conflicts between parties with differing interests.
Critical Technical Competencies
Experience of influencing and advocacy work including lobbying, policy development and information provision in humanitarian issues.
Experience in networking and coordination, planning and implementing campaigns and events that drive influence and stakeholder engagement.
Excellent skills in advocating towards government officials and understanding of UN and donor operations at country level, including UN human rights reporting mechanisms.
Superior communication and writing skills with the ability to translate complex issues into a level appropriate for the general population and policy makers.
Skills in working with children and facilitating child participation is desired
How to Apply
All interested and qualified persons are strongly encouraged to apply by email: vacancy@futureoptions.org clearly indicating the Position Title in the email subject line.
Deadline: 25th May 2025 at 11:59 pm (EAT)
