Head of African Union Advocacy and Liaison Office

Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty. That means we tackle the inequality that keeps people poor. Together we save, protect and rebuild lives. When disaster strikes, we help people build better lives for themselves, and for others. We take on issues like land rights, climate change and discrimination against women. And we won’t stop until every person on the planet can enjoy a life free from poverty.

Oxfam in Africa (OiA) embraces all the Oxfam stakeholders’ entities (countries, clusters, advocacy offices and affiliates) on the continent and seeks to enable and enhance impact through collaboration and integration.

The Africa platform will deliver Oxfam’s impact and Influence in Africa. The plural and robust leadership team will represent the different Oxfam stakeholders in the continent. It will include Oxfam in South Africa (OZA)’s Executive Director (as the only affiliate currently in the continent and the new ones will be included in due time), the Country Directors, SAF Cluster Director from the programmes in Africa who will be leading on specific themes/priorities within Oxfam in Africa and the Africa Platform Senior Leadership Team (SLT). There will be collaboration with the North Africa cluster especially on the influencing work but no direct management relationship.

The Africa Platform aims for a collective leadership approach. The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) which comprises the Africa Director and their direct reports (the 2 Africa Deputy Directors [ADD]-, Director of Programme and Influencing, Head of People & Culture and Head of Business Operations); will be responsible for developing, implementing, and coherence of the Africa Horizon Planning. This team will ensure that the new ways of working, collaborative approach, brokering relations, and feminism principles guide the Africa Platform organisation and work in the continent. The SLT team will guarantee accountability towards 1) the people with and for whom we work, 2) partners and other external entities, 3) the Oxfam International Executive Leadership Team (OI-ELT), and whatever form of Africa Governance is established as part of ongoing governance reforms as well as other internal Oxfam entities. Programme impact, influencing and quality will be the core responsibility and accountability of the Programmes and Influencing Director, working together with their team, the two ADD, and the countries and cluster leadership on the continent. The Director is accountable for ensuring the development and proper monitoring of the Africa Humanitarian strategy while their direct report, the Head of Humanitarian, is responsible for the strategy development and implementation.

About the role

Oxfam in Africa is seeking a Head of the African Union Advocacy and Liaison office to lead the Oxfam confederation’s engagement with the AU and its organs.  Based in Addis Ababa and reporting to the Oxfam Africa Director, the role is Oxfam’s representative to the African Union and builds relations with the AU, AU Commission, organs, agencies and specialist technical committees, and ambassadors to the AU. The role undertakes to influence directly and manages the engagement of country and thematic teams across the whole continent with the AU.  

Key Responsibilities (Technical, Leadership, People and Resource management)

• Strategic influencing: Provide strategic direction to have a measurable influence on the policies and practices of the AU institutions and African diplomatic missions. Deliver integrated strategies comprising research, policy, lobby, media and other advocacy tools to achieve impact. Develop and lead all OI advocacy strategies which focus on the AU.
• Representation: Maintain a high profile, build external relationships, and engage with AU targets in Addis Ababa to ensure access and influence for Oxfam’s messages and objectives. Represent Oxfam at consultation meetings and conferences across the breadth of Oxfam’s areas, including on policy, influencing and funding. Engage in bilateral lobby meetings and meetings concerning Oxfam’s programs and funding.
• Target manager: Act as target manager for the AU institutions on all public and private engagement of Oxfam towards the AU, with sign-off and decision-making on all policy, advocacy, and media products relating to the AU institutions.
• Analysis: Conduct and maintain a robust political economy analysis of the AU for the purpose of informing all of Oxfam’s effective engagement and influence across the continent.
• Spokesperson: Act as a general media spokesperson for Oxfam International on AU-related matters, giving media interviews and speaking publicly.
• Coordination: Facilitate a high level of collaboration between Oxfam in Africa, affiliates, countries, and regions on AU-targeted advocacy to contribute to influencing priorities multilaterally, at member state, and country level.
• Strategic: ensure linkage between a) AU spaces, policy processes and strategies and b) the Programme and Influencing Team in general and Advocacy staff in particular.
• Management: Manage the AU advocacy team and manage the AU office (working environment, human resources, budget, MEAL) in order to provide an effective work hub to the Oxfam Confederation.
• Work with and support Programmes and Influencing Directors and Country Directors to leverage resources for influencing from donors and affiliates ensuring a role division that maximizes the Africa Platform influencing role over the AU and related institutions.

Essential Criteria.

• A track record of delivering ambitious influencing strategies with a thorough understanding of the multiple tactics necessary to achieve impact.
• Exceptional influencing skills –ability to negotiate effectively and excel in formal and informal leadership in a multi-stakeholder, networked environment, and in alliances.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with the ability to liaise with a wide range of people, both internally and externally, and at many levels, with credibility, tact, and diplomacy.
• Experience in managing and developing others, including through direct and matrix management, and the ability to motivate and empower staff to deliver through the creation of an enabling context for success.
• Demonstrable organizational and problem-solving skills, and ability to manage multiple projects to deadlines.
• Experience in budget, HR and performance management.
• High level of verbal and written English communication skills. The ability to work in French is highly desirable.
• A minimum of ten years of professional experience, with substantive experience in or influencing the AU, including senior leadership and/or managerial positions.
• Experience in working with multi-cultural senior staff and teams across borders.
• Excellent understanding of commitment to and experience of embedding and continuously learning to embed a decolonial, anti-racist, intersectional feminist and partner-led approach in your work.
• Deep understanding of Africa’s current development discourses and proven experience working on the African Continent, and sound understanding of the working of the African Union system and the African socio-economic and political context, including the drivers of inequality and poverty.

The most relevant Oxfam Leadership competencies for this role:

• Relationship building
• Enabling
• Strategic Thinking and Judgment
• Decisiveness
• Influencing
• Vision Setting

How to apply

Closing date: 25^th June 2023

To apply please click ‘apply for job’

As part of the application process kindly submit your CV and a cover letter, preferably in MS Word. All application documents (cover letter and CV) should be submitted in English.

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Please name your submitted files with the following reference: OIA_HAU

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