Head of Policy and Advocacy

CARE Canada is looking for a Head of Policy & Advocacy

ABOUT THE ROLE / WHAT THE ROLE OFFERS

CARE Canada’s bold new Strategic Plan, From Caring Comes Courage (2021 – 2025), sets out CARE Canada’s commitment to bring all our resources, talent, and expertise together to unlock women’s leadership for a gender-just future. It recognizes that to lead change and realize a better life for herself and her community, every woman needs to be safe, healthy and have a dignified livelihood. It also fundamentally realizes that ‘business as usual’ is no longer good enough: this Plan challenges us to reimagine how we achieve our mission, inspire Canadian investment in that mission, and transform our organization to be future-ready.

CARE Canada’s Global Programs Team is responsible for developing and managing the organization’s programs in both development and humanitarian assistance focusing on the injustice of poverty and gender inequality. The new Strategic Plan reaffirms our gender-equality focus and our dual-mandate status. Our ultimate impact goal is to support women’s leadership for a gender-just future grounded in strong programs supporting safety/protection, health and dignified livelihoods across both humanitarian and development settings. The Global Programs unit is responsible for the overall management of CARE Canada’s global programming circa $50-60m annual development and humanitarian programming portfolio.

As the Head of Policy & Advocacy you will uphold effective advocacy for CARE Canada that is aligned with our mission and strategic plan. In accordance with our values, you will be central to advancing and upholding CARE’s reputation and relationships with key decision-makers and policy influencers. You will be in the know for any new policy and legislative developments that could affect CARE’s objectives and will translate relevant developments for peers, senior leaders and the Board of Directors. In this role, you will also support our broader public engagement and programmatic work by upholding a variety of types of outreach and communications with key government, community, and other stakeholders.

This role reports to the Chief Programs Officer and works closely with senior leadership team members and experts in our Global Programs team. The role is a member of the Global Program Executive Team (GPET) and Global Program Managment Team (GPMT).

WHAT YOU OFFER / ABOUT YOU

• Proven experience in stakeholder and government relations or 8+ years related experience
• Ability to work and communicate successfully with senior executives and officials
• Ability to research, write and present in appropriate formats for a wide range of audiences on legislative and policy matters
• Strong written and oral communication skills and the ability to succinctly articulate ideas and opinions that involve analysis, interpretation, assessment in an engaging way
• Exceptional relationship building skills and leverage an external network to increase the awareness of CARE
• Well-developed judgment and problem-solving skills sufficient to interpret and/or analyze factual and conceptual information
• Ability to develop materials and have an excellent command of common desktop applications including Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, etc.
• Bilingualism in French and English is an asset

• Strong understanding of Canadian politics and global trends in poverty, humanitarian action, and gender equality
• Degree in international relations, development, political science, law or relevant field or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU EXTRAORDINARY

• Previous experience working in an internationalNGO
• Previous knowledge of overseas benefits and risks
• Additional language skills, especiallyFrench

REQUIREMENTS

Promote and maintain an organizational culture that advances gender equality, reduces power abuse and inequalities, and fosters trust and safety.

Create an environment within CARE’s workplaces, programming, and communities where CARE works that is free from sexual harassment, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation and child abuse (SHEA-CA).

Ensure high standards of prevention and response measures for SHEA-CA are in place consistent with the CARE International (CI) Safeguarding Policy and Safeguarding Code of Conduct.

WHAT WE OFFER / ABOUT CARE

• Starting Salary Range between $92,000 – $97,000.
• Comprehensive benefits package and confidential employee assistance program services available to you and your dependents from your first day of employment.
• 3 weeks of annual leave (increases to 4 weeks from 2nd year of employment).
• In addition to annual leave, we offer a December 24-January 1 office closure so we can all recharge simultaneously.
• Inclusive holiday policy.
• Paid sick leave.
• Parental leave top-up.
• Employer contributions to group pension plan after first year of employment.
• Optional participation in group RRSP.
• International and domestic travel opportunities.
• Annual all-staff retreat in Ottawa.
• Learning and development opportunities and specialized training.
• Flexible work hours to support employee wellbeing and productivity.
• A focus on wellness and work-life balance.
• Amazing colleagues who are very committed to CARE’s mission.

If you are someone who thrives on challenge, loves to be part of a dynamic team and you are passionate about making a difference, then this opportunity is for you! Don’t think you check all the boxes? Reach out anyway – we would love to hear how your experience translates to this role! Please apply directly by April 10, 2024. Please note resumes will be reviewed on an ongoing basis and the advertisement will be removed once a candidate has been identified. We are only able to consider candidates who currently have the right to work in Canada.